Project Shohay: Book auction to support sex workers

Project Shohay, a fundraising campaign organised by youth-led sexual awareness organisation Bodol, launched on Tuesday, May 18, with the aim of creating employment opportunities for women in "floating" sex work. The campaign includes a virtual book auction to be held in Litmosphere's Facebook group, with all proceeds going to the offering of skills training, shelter, education, and supplies of food, medicine, and menstrual products for sex workers operating in the streets of South Dhaka.

"Every Ramadan, the Litmosphere team tries to arrange a fund-raising event fueled by the members' passion for reading", Sabiha Younus, an administrative member of Litmosphere, told The Daily Star. "Book auctions have been arranged by Litmosphere before as well. Currently we have around 9,000 members throughout the country, so we are hoping we can raise enough funds to help team Bodol meet their goals".

Bodol is aiming to help at least 10 sex workers become financially independent and leave the sex trade. They have set up tea and paan stalls for the women to manage, an initiative through which one woman, so far, is earning Tk 250-300 per day. Other plans include setting up a cooperative society through which they can contribute to and save emergency fund reserves.

The schedule for the virtual book auction, whose proceeds will add to these efforts, has been uploaded on the Litmosphere Facebook group. Interested donors can fill up a short form to sign up and donate books; bidders can purchase the books using bKash, Nagad, and Western Union. Litmosphere will be conducting the auction throughout the month of May, and may also host a few in June depending on the turnout and target budget.

Tanisha Samreen, founder of Bodol, said, "When we reached out to some of the sex workers, they were well aware that their line of work is not sustainable and that in the near future they would have to look for other options. However, on account of COVID-19, we cannot yet conduct [in person] sessions to give them the proper knowledge. We will be conducting the [entrepreneurship training] sessions over phone calls." Bodol volunteers will follow up on the efficacy of the initiative every two weeks for up to six months after the programme.

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