Kat Katha is a Delhi based NGO, which works to provide an alternative livelihood choices to the sex workers on GB Road and and a conducive growth environment to their kids, to save them from the inferno that we all know as GB Road. Our aim is to convert GB Road from a road of sex workers and slaves to “Pyaar Ka Mohalla”( Street of Love).  

Kat Kalrav is our Annual event which aims to bring our Didis (Sex workers) and the mainstream society on a common platform and break the glass barrier between the existing realities of our society. Kat Kalrav is also the birthday of Kat Katha.

Please contribute and pour in your love.

What Are we Fundraising For?

India has over 15 million sex workers largely operating out of three red-light districts of Sonagachi (Kolkata), Kamathipura (Mumbai) and GB Road (Delhi). 98% percent of them have been forced into sex work through trafficking. They are slave to an organised system of negligence on the part of government and the civil society and are the victims of abuse, physical and mental.

To these women on the GB Road Kat Katha provides a chance to come out of their regular lives of oppression and misery. The road whose pavements and footpaths are full of these women who usually solicit customers will be for one day be a road of love and celebration of self-”Being the celebration”, and be decked in bridal beauty. For our Didis, 15th August will be the day when they experience real freedom, the one we read about in our textbooks.

Your love and contribution can change the lives of these women on GB Road.

How the funds will be used?

Kat-Kalrav is a platform for our Didis, our Kids, and all of us who are associated with the cause of ending forced sex work to showcase their skills and spirit and experience the joy of being part of a family. This one day will empower the women and the kids to experience a different dimension by stepping out of a confined and constricting domain. Just like the previous year, your contributions ,your love, and blessings can make our dream come true.

Your money will be used to put up a tent across the road, rent a stage, lights, food ,and music to transform the road. The stage will be the stepping stone for the Didis and their kids to the world inaccessible and unaccepting, on which they will dance and sing and perform theatrics.

Your funding will also be used to clean the dirty walls and footpaths of GB Road. The walls which until were open urinals will house beautiful murals which will tell a tale of empowerment and of changing times. Due to shortage of funds last year we could only paint 5 walls but this time we plan to paint 25 walls. Your money can help us transform the road into a canvas of love and hope.

The kids of Kat Katha who were camera shy and scared to face the outside world are slowly stepping out of their cocoon and are taking it head on. The money that you give us will be used to train these kids in dance and drama from professionals. Our kids are also very fond of photography and aspire to become successful photographers one day. The money you pour in will be used to buy for them a camera. Our kids will put up a photo booth at Kat-Kalrav 2015 where they will ask everyone to get their picture clicked, and to see how beautiful they truly are.

Our Didis, some of whom are excellent cooks are learning to bake and will put up a cupcake stall where they will sell cupcakes sweetened with their love and joy. Your contribution can help them get all the raw materials and put up the stall and earn some extra money for their and their kids brighter and secure future.

Kat Katha has also invited artists from the famed Kathputli Colony (puppet colony).  These artists are world renowned and carry the legacy of age old performing arts. Despite their talent and skills they live in abject poverty and neglect. Hence, these traditional artforms are slowly dying. Your contributions can provide these artists with money which will ensure a full meal and fees for their children's education and help resuscitate the dying art forms.

Your love and generosity is greatly appreciated. Your contribution can change the lives of millions of such women and their kids.

FAQ’s

What is the mission of Kat-Katha and what activities are undertaken to fulfill the mission?

Identifying the core needs of sex workers and their children and building networks to bring the required services to red-light districts, which hitherto have been neglected and isolated from mainstream society. Our model focuses on “RISE” namely Rights as Citizens, Integration into the mainstream of public life, Skills Enhancement to have an alternate earning capability and Education for holistic growth.

What is the specific problem Kat-Katha is trying to resolve?

India has over 15 million sex workers largely operating out of three red-light districts of Sonagachi (Kolkata), Kamathipura (Mumbai) and GB Road (Delhi). 98% percent of them have been forced into sex work through trafficking. Every year over 200,000 women and children from Nepal, Bangladesh and Rural India are purchased at prices from 17$ to 800$ and housed here. They live in brothels as slaves without an identity of their own, sexually abused economically and socially disempowered.

Kat-Katha works on four aspects of empowerment.

Rights: We collaborate with varied government agencies to provide Identity Proofs and Citizenship Rights. For Legal rights we have created a Lawyers Collective to help victims of constant abuse and other atrocities.

Integration: Through Quarterly Mainstreaming events and volunteer programs with national universities, we seek to dispel misconceptions about people living in the red light district.

Skills: We train women on certain skills such as tailoring, book binding, and crafts and soon plan to establish a Vocational Training Centre. We also plan to enable them to create “self owned cooperative businesses”

Education: Children living in brothels are being provided socio-emotional support and academic training to send them to formal schools. An adult literacy program for women is operational and plans to inculcate health and financial literacy are underway.

Challenges

One of the main challenges both Kat-Kalrav, and Kat-Katha as a whole faces is public acceptance. A margin of this was overcome by gaining permission from the government to host this event, which will promote engagement from the wider community. However, the issue of acceptance does not stop here, and is further perpetuated with the taboo that surrounds Delhi's GB road. This has been a major point of concern for the Kat-Katha team, as many people refuse to even acknowledge the issue, as talking about GB road, and what goes on there, often causes people to break social taboos.

Many of the Didis feel scared to face the world outside of GB road, as they feel they don't deserve to be with respectable people. But now, through their arts and crafts, they have started to open up and make beautiful jewellery that will be ready to sell during Kat-Kalrav 2015. So this year, with 4000 women and your support, we will be able to come up with more products for the Didis to make and sell, so please help them feel that they  can earn a living without relying on sex work, and can be loved and accepted by the wider community.

To further overcome this challenge (as has been stated above), much of Kat-Katha's energy goes into integrating GB road, and those who live and work within it, into mainstream Delhi life. Through Quarterly Mainstreaming events and volunteer programs with national universities, we seek to dispel misconceptions about people living in the red light district.

So in addition to your generous donations, one way you can help us overcome the negativity surrounding GB is by showing your support through social media, so give us a like on Facebook by following the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kat-Katha/631917190…

and here's our Instagram account:

https://instagram.com/katkathastories/

Please reach out to us at katkathaa@gmail.com for any queries and questions.