Apne Aap Women’s Collective (AAWC) is an anti-trafficking organization that provides tools and resources for brothel-based sex workers and marginalized children in Mumbai’s largest red light area, Kamathipura. AAWC works to address needs in outreach, finance, health, education, empowerment, recreation, and shelter for the women and children they work with. Through three age-based programs formed from their target demographics, AAWC provides age-relevant tools and resources in an effort to empower women trafficked into brothel-based sex work and to prevent intergenerational prostitution.
Our job with AAWC was to assist in creating materials that would support the organization’s goals. Our tasks included the creation of a sex education lesson plan to be used by AAWC to educate women and girls (above age 10) about sexual health, the reproductive system, human development, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We also assisted in AAWC’s plans of conducting an ethnographic study of the red-light district by creating a tool and questionnaire for the study. Our time with AAWC allowed us to learn a great deal of information while also providing us with essential skills that we will use outside of our GEI work.
