by FARAHNAZ ZAHIDI MOAZZAM
The “Apni Taleem” Project of SHEED promises a chance at non-formal education for children of sex workers.
“I want to be a doctor. That is my ultimate dream and God willing I will be one day,” says Zainab (name changed), a resident of Lahore’s red light area, Heera Mandi.
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Maham (name changed), is 25-year-old commercial sex worker in Heera Mandi, also known as Shahi Mohalla. Sitting on a charpoy in her small, dirty room, which serves both as her and her two children’s living quarters and her workplace, she shares how she and her three sisters are the fourth generation of prostitutes in her family. Her three year old daughter Shaani tugs at her clothes as Maham talks. “But I do not want Shaani to go through this despicable life. I am struggling to get her an education,” she says with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
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