An area where brothels are common is seen in India.If you go
The Shine fundraiser is Saturday, April 9 at The Venue On Market at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. for those with VIP tickets).To purchase tickets, visit shine.lovewithoutreason.org.To learn more about Project Butterfly and Love without Reason, visit lovewithoutreason.org.
When East Brainerd resident Susan Mathews went to Mumbai last month, she didn’t go to see any of the tourist attractions. In fact, her destination was a part of India that sightseeing tourists typically avoid: the brothels.
There, she met with the women who worked in them. She also met with their children.
“They had a lot to share,” said Mathews. But her goal was to do more than simply strike up a dialogue.
“Just like all mothers, they want the best for their child and are looking for any opportunity, not only for themselves, but for their child or children to grow up safe.”
It is those opportunities that Mathews is hoping to create for more of these women – for them and for their children.
“They grow up there,” she said of the little ones, adding that many of the women working there had grown up there as well. “It’s all they know.”
Many told Mathews they had tried to leave, once they opened up and began to trust her. But jobs were scarce. Starting a business with no prior experience was a challenge. And with small mouths to feed, it seemed impossible. So they returned to what they knew.
Others had come before Mathews, the women told her. They had toured the same brothels, coaxed stories out of the same women, promised aid and opportunity.
“They say they will send money, but then they never come back,” Mathews said. “The money never comes.”
But Mathews went back.
She shared her own story of a struggle that seemed impossible to overcome: the birth of a baby boy diagnosed with Goldenhar Syndrome and not expected to live.
“But the impossible happened,” she said.
Her son is now 15.
“It’s not the same story,” she acknowledges, “but it’s an identity thing. We are all moms. We were all handed what we thought was an impossible situation.”
Through her family’s struggle, Mathews knows the seemingly impossible is possible. First for her son in East Brainerd, and now for former strangers in Mumbai.
Her dream is to establish a full-service training center to teach skills such as sewing, jewelry crafting, makeup; anything these women believe they could turn into a career. Other aid organizations are already involved in similar operations, but with limited resources, they focus on starting to get these businesses off the ground. They aren’t able to follow the women and help to make sure they succeed, she said.
“Even for a normal business, it takes a year or more to get on their feet,” said Mathews. “So for these women, it’s even more of a problem. They might have help at the beginning or for a few months, but not enough to help them get off the ground.”
Currently, sewing is the only option offered. The station is in the brothel, where the women are more comfortable and can work together.
Mathews is calling her new mission Project Butterfly. Several of the women are already stretching their wings, she said.
Their work will be sold at Mathews’ second annual Shine Fashion Event. Proceeds will go back to the women, whom Mathews has already paid through her nonprofit, Love Without Reason.
So far, the initial women’s efforts have piqued the interest of 50-60 other women in the brothels, Mathews said. And hopefully more will come.
“I will never forget their faces,” she said of her first experience walking through the streets. “I thought I was prepared, but I wasn’t. You could see women just sitting outside of their door. They are watching you but you can see in their eyes: They seem to have no hope. They don’t know anything else. And we have to change that. For them and for their children.”