Magicians Without Borders

My first day at Prerana


August 28, 2010

My cab pulls onto Shuklaji Street, I am aware of the looks I am receiving
from the people in the street. Shuklaji is the main street running through
the red light district of Mumbai and I am sure they imagine I am heading to one of the hundreds of brothels in the lanes off of Shuklaji Street. My cab stops at the corner of Shuklaji and Lane #7, where the UN honored Anti-Trafficking organization, Prerana has one of its main centers.

For over twenty years Prerana has worked with sexually trafficked women and their children. Prerana began primarily as a night care center to provide the children with a safe, nurturing place to stay at night while their mothers are working. Before Prerana, many of these children roamed the streets at night or were drugged and put under brothel beds to sleep while their mothers worked on top of them.

Over these twenty plus years, Prerana has grown into a complex effective program providing not only shelter but education, vocational training and counseling to the moms and children. They are putting an end to second generation trafficking for thousands of children. Without Prerana, at least 70% of these children will end up in the sex trade as prostitutes, pimps or drug peddlers. Check out their web site http://prerana.org/ for more details on the wonderful work they are doing . Two quotes from Prerana:

In a community where women are bought and sold like slaves, their children
live in constant danger of sexual exploitation, and at a tender age helplessly
witness their mothers stripped of all dignity at the hands of pimps, customers,
and brothel keepers.

40% of Mumbai's prostitutes are estimated to be children, with girls aged
10-12 being viewed as lucrative commodities.

When I got out of the cab, Saumya and Vaishali were there to meet me. Saumya and Vaishali are two Prerana workers who will assist me in my work with the twelve Prerana children. Janet and I had come here six months ago to perform for a couple hundred of Prerana's children. That visit led to me coming here today to begin a whole new Magicians Without Borders project. I have made a commitment to Prerana to come every three months and train these children to become magicians. My hope is, like the children we have been training in El Salvador these past six years, the Prerana children will learn not only magic but more importantly they will develop self esteem, self confidence, focus, discipline and a deep sense of personal power and presence. I began to see that happen as the first two days unfolded. Next entry you will meet some of these delightful children as they began to become magicians. Namaste.