The Sunday TimesPlus

26th May 1996

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Victims of law and society

By Kishali Adhikari

Seen against the late evening dirt and grime of the Fort Railway Station, her eyes reflect the pathetic hopelessness of a small animal caught at bay. She sways slightly as she talks to us.

"Is she on drugs?" 'I ask her pimp who is hovering protectively nearby. He replies in the negative, adding that she is one of the few "clean ones", still operating in that area.

She agrees to talk to us about her life. "You can call me Mangalika", she says. Her story makes us question some of our cosy assumptions about what we term as "bad" or "good" in life.

Mangalika had been a prostitute or in more euphemistic terms, a sex worker for over eight years. She gives her age as twenty seven years even though she looks a bare sixteen years old. Her parents had died when she was ten years old and she had been brought up in a children's home. Her one elder brother had run away from the home two years after her parents had died. Todate, she had no knowledge of his whereabouts. Her childhood at the home had been miserable, among quarreling children with inadequate attention, little education and almost no love. It ended inevitably. At sixteen years of age, she ran away with a boarder who had the grace at least to marry her.

"I had two children by him", she confides in us with a rare smile breaking through. It was subsequently when her husband left her for another woman that her world collapsed again around her.

"I had my two children to look after, but I had nowhere to live, none to turn to," she explains. She had tried to eke out a living by starting a small business with the little earnings that she had. Ultimately she had been reduced to selling betel on the streets but this business too had been one day destroyed by the police out of sheer cussedness.

"The only way I could have survived was by being a prostitute. So, I took to the streets," she says matter of factly.

Mangalika earns Rs 350-400 on her "good" days. On some days she goes without a single client. It is on these earnings that she maintains herself and her children. Her eldest son who is eight years old is being looked after in a children's' home. But she is mindful of giving him the care and the attention that she did not receive when a child. She herself sleeps on the pavement with her younger child who is left unattended when she is "on duty."

But, what of her own safety? She is after all, a streetwalker, quite different to her more high profile sister who meets only carefully vetted men in the luxury of five class hotels. Mangalika's guarantee to some measure of safety is that she - accompanies her clients only to certain specified "safe" hotels in the vicinity of the Railway Station. She does not go with men to private lodgings or houses. But anything might still happen.

Just last week, a prostitute was found horribly mutilated and killed in Fort. Are you not afraid of meeting the same fate? Mangalika shrugs philosophically.

"I have been in the business for sometime, I know how to size up prospective customers. But the risk is always there. I ignore the risk. What else is there for me to do?" she asks.

Apart from one risk of being physically assaulted, sex workers also run a high risk of contacting venereal disease or AIDS. Mangalika is however, one of the more enlightened sex workers, in that she attempts to practice safe sex and gets her blood tested regularly at the VD clinic. She points out that however careful she is, there are times when her clients refuse to use protection.

"Sometimes they are drunk and turn - physically abusive if I do not do what they say. So I agree. Ultimately, it is they who decide. I have no choice in the matter," she says.

But, do you not know that AIDS is fatal and there is no hope of a cure if you contact the virus? She stares blankly at us. All at once, her bravado disappears and she speaks in a frantic rush of words.

"All I can hope is that I will die after I have provided for my children to live a better life. Mine is already finished. This is the one purpose I have."

Taken aback by this sudden outpouring of emotion, her pimp comes closer to us. We terminate the interview. It is interesting to observe that Mangalika refuses to accept any money for talking to us, neither does she like to accept any food or drink. It is only after much persuasion that she agrees to take some packets of biscuits for her children. Some distance away, a police jeep which had been parked all the while pulls away, its officers indifferent to the many sex workers soliciting clients all around them. This is always the case.

The police turn a blind eye to prostitution, taking a prostitute into custody only if the underworld network protecting that prostitute breaks down or they are pressurized to make some necessary entries in order for the record book to look good. A police officer attached to the Fort area who wished to remain unidentified tells us scathingly, "Prostitution being illegal is the biggest joke of all. It is a joke on the law. Nobody cares. It happens all the time. We have other things to be bothered about."

On the rare occasions that prostitutes are taken into custody, they are compelled to pay a fine once produced before a court. Mangalika herself had been caught once by the police. At that time, she had been fined only a hundred rupees, which she had paid. Now, however, the magistrates are sterner. Streetwalkers caught and produced before the courts are liable to be fined up to Rs. 10,000, a princely sum for most Sri Lankans, let alone streetwalkers. In addition to the fine, they are also required to produce the Grama Sevaka's certificate and the entry at the police station, all of which can be obtained only by paying bribes. Meanwhile, court officials themselves sometimes ask for hand outs. As a result, prostitutes unable to find the necessary cash for their release crowd the remand - prisons. Mangalika herself was able to personally identify at least forty such fellow streetwalkers.

In Colombo, prostitution had long since become a highly organized racket. Streetwalkers come lowest on the ladder but they too are compelled to brand - themselves into groups, functioning under one particular "protector". It is to him that they have to hand over "protection money" and refusal to do so would be considered a betrayal of the worst kind. Streetwalkers have been clubbed, beaten and knifed to death for being "disloyal." Higher up the ladder, brothel, massage parlours and the call girl system are run by criminal syndicates often with powerful political and law enforcement connections. The more sophisticated prostitutes have strong links with the tourist industry and the entertainment industry. Prostitution therefore, has a strong economic base and interacts with the rest of the economy in a very distinctive fashion.

This reality contrasts very sharply with Sri Lanka socio legal attitudes towards prostitution which persist in seeing female prostitution only in narrow moralistic and extremely hypocritical terms. In Sri Lanka as well as in Asian in general, prostitution serves male interests in a very effective manner. Respectable young virgins must not allow their lovers to cross the boundary of sexual intercourse before marriage and therefore respectable young men use prostitutes to gain experience. In order to avoid mental conflict and financial predicaments arising from situations such as inheritance and property, wives would accept their husbands visiting prostitutes rather than their having mistresses (Hanborkul 1991)

Prostitutes are thus regarded as being morally deviant and are used to distinguish the "good" woman from the "bad" woman in actual fact, there is no such difference. As in Mangalika's case, the vast majority of streetwalkers in particular turn to prostitution as a means to earn their livelihood through sheer desperation given a chance to change their profession for a more respectable job. They would not hesitate to take the opportunity. Studies on prostitution have shown that child sexual abuse by a male relative father or step-father, forced sale of virginity by parents, unwanted motherhood, pressure by husband or boyfriend and divorce, separation or desertion by husband are some of the other reasons why women turn to prostitution. In addition, village girls who migrate to the city to find jobs in the FTZ often end up working in bars, night clubs and massage parlours, jobs that ultimately lead to prostitution.

In all instances, the woman is the victim. In law and in the eyes of society however, she is the perpetrator of anti social conduct to be hunted and punished. Men who are active participants as organisers pimps and participants in the prostitution racket are completely ignored.

Sri Lankan law makes prostitution or the act of immoral earnings from sexual services illegal. The relevant laws are set down in the Brothels Ordinance and the Vagrants Ordinance both of which are quaint nineteenth century. Victorian laws that view the woman as the offender rather than as the victim of sexual exploitation. Private prostitution is not catered to by the law which regulates only street prostitution. Street prostitutes are considered to be " idle and disorderly persons," who are vagrants and cause a public nuisance by offending the sense of "public decency and morality". Every such 'Common prostitute" is liable to be imprisoned with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding fourteen days or fine which any person soliciting any other person for the commission of any acts of illicit sexual intercourse could be imprisoned up to six months or fined. Arrest could be made without a warrant.

The pimp procurer or client who solicits privately and the entrepreneur in the sex industry however, escapes scot free. If frequent complaints made in the court moreover is that it is difficult to bring in modern sex institution within the outdated definition of brothels as set down in the Brothels Ordinance. The law therefore needs to be righted through the chances of it happening right now are minimal. Interestingly enough however, 1995 saw a rather innovative proposal in Parliament to legalise prostitution. The fate of this private members motion remains uncertain.

Sri Lanka could benefit from experiences in South East Asia which have shown that strict measures taken against female prostitutes have not curbed prostitution to an appreciable extent. Now the focus has been turned towards examining the law to discover the loopholes through which prostitutes are victimized and enforcing the criminal law on their pimps, procurers and clients. In the process, it is inevitable that powerful vested interests, both of the State and private lobbies would be more too pleased.

In the meantime, it is also imperative that we stop working at female prostitution through the distorted eye glass of morality. Looking at it in this manner only helps to conceal the many tragedies that can befall any woman in situations of socio economic vulnerability.

Prostitution should therefore be brought out of its moral and legal isolation and prostitutes should be encouraged to enter into a dialogue with the community. The isolation in which a prostitute is viewed does not lessen prostitution. Rather, it makes their access to public education and public health very much harder. It is high time that this ambiguity is effectively addressed.

Next week: Ongoing efforts by social service organisations to help educate prostitutes.


Relationship built on trust and confidence

By Jennifer Paldano

Counselling involves a relationship. A relation-ship built on trust and confidence, said an alcoholic. He walked into a counselling centre when he realised that time was running out for him and that his addiction had detached him from his loved ones, his only 'friends' being fellow alcoholics.

This young man admits that he was unable to cope with his feelings and urges. His personality he claims was weak, thus he succumbed to alcohol. But just when he thought he had no hope of getting out of the habit and the rest of his days doomed, a family friend had told him of a counselling centre. For this man counselling was the only hope.

Many alcoholics are unaware that help is at hand. In Sri Lanka where alcohol addiction has become an insidious and deadly problem. Several institutions have sprung up recently solely for counselling and rehabilitating alcoholics. The process is long. Yet counselling is the best method available to rehabilitate alcoholics.

Mrs. Nalini Ellawala, a counsellor at Mel Medura says that it is important to keep in mind when dealing with someone who is an alcoholic is that their person has an ambivalent personality and has been unable to cope with life's difficult situations.

"Counselling involves changing an adult's entire lifestyle. His friends and his job environment have to be changed if he is to get out of his addiction. The most difficult task is changing the individual's personality which has been moulded by his environment. The entire process of socialisation has to be changed."

In counselling the 'unburdening' factor is essential. Unburdening reduces stress. A counsellor is a person who is willing to listen positively, without being judgemental. Once a bond is established between the counsellor and the addict, the process begins. Counselling does not end within a few weeks or few months with the victims entirely forgotten. It is a slow process, sometimes continuing up to two years.

After the victim builds an effective relationship with the counsellor he drops in at the centre from time to time, just for a 'chat', just like one would with an old friend, maybe to share his problems. Problems that have been hidden in his subconscious. Problems that may have been the cause for his addiction.

The counsellor does not take decisions or find solutions on behalf of the victim. It is a process whereby the counsellor works with the addict helping him to change his behaviour.

Today even forty year old men walk in with their mothers to get help. Distancing this mother-son bond is an equally difficult task. This unusual closeness sometimes could be the cause of his addiction, Mrs. Ellawala feels. Often mothers are over protective and the sons as adults lack the maturity to make their own decisions, she says.

"There are typical personality characteristics of so called alcohol addicts. They are jealous, have low self-esteem, get hurt easily, they harbour fear, false pride, etc. We also have to identify certain issues like family disarray, job instability, lack of proper housing, etc."

Today nearly 25 per cent of alcoholics who seek help at Mel Medura are in their 20s. Alcoholics between the ages of 30 and 50 can also get help. But Mrs. Ellawala pointed out that they are reluctant to get involved with alcoholics above the age of 55. "These people have almost lived their lives and do not have adolescent children."

Group counselling is a novel counselling technique introduced in a alcohol rehabilitation. This according to many counsellors is a powerful tool where the entire group share their strengths and weaknesses and also share their opinion on different individuals and their situations. Group counselling is of immense help as it makes up for the lack of professional counsellors in the field of rehabilitation.

Different counselling centres follow varied methods of rehabilitation. At Mel Medura the process is long and it is up to the individual to return to the centre to talk to his counsellor. On the other hand the Alcohol/Drug Rehabilitation and Family Welfare Service runs a counselling centre for the family members of the addict.

Upali Jayamaha, the founder of this centre and an ex-addict himself, said that counselling begins with the family. Family members are counselled on ways and means of coping with the situation. Assistance for the victim, stresses Jayamaha, must start with the family. "Some families find it so difficult to cope that they are on the point of breakdown. So we teach them to get along with the victim. It is through them that we get to the addict."

Details about the victim are obtained from the family members as well as from his work place. Mr. Jayamaha has even counselling centres spread around Wattala, Ja-ela, Negombo and other areas. The majority who come for help are from the coastal areas and mainly fisher-folk. Victims are brought to the centre by members of 'Pubuduwa' a charismatic organisation attached to the Catholic Church. "This organisation helps victims to realise that they have help."

Unlike other organisations this particular centre is run solely by Mr. Jayamaha and there are no funding agencies. "Being an ex-addict I realised that I had to do something for alcoholics. I visited counselling centres and seminars before setting up this institution."

According to him an addict must be motivated if he is to be rehabilitated effectively. Some of them are very difficult to handle while others come for help because of pressure from home.

Residential counselling is not favoured by Mr. Jayamaha, as he believes that the victim must be rehabilitated in a natural setting. He must learn to control himself while living in familiar surroundings, Mr. Jayamaha is critical of some counselling centres that have definite work hours. For them counselling is money and not a service', he says.

Mr. Jayamaha spends his own funds for the institution's upkeep. He also has a vocational training programme in masonry, which he hopes to expand to a vocational training centre. "Job stability is very important for an individual. Therefore I try to get them jobs so that they may not have a reason to go back to alcoholism. The victim's children are also given jobs."

All victims however don't respond positively to counselling. As Mrs. Ellawala pointed out, certain individuals who do not get out of the habit at her centre sometimes get out of the habit completely after being counselled at another centre, having responded to a different approach. Some centres follow an informal procedure like the Al-Ano Club of Wennappuwa.

Al-Ano was started by Dr. Cyril Waas in 1976 with a few alcoholics. Today his son is continuing with the club. The process at Al-Ano is informal. Alcoholics come to the club and share their experience. Meetings and discussions are held on a chosen topic. The club does not have professional counsellors. Ex-addicts help the new members to get out of their habit.

Dr. Waas admitted that although the success rate was about 30% there was an equal rate who succumbed to addiction. "There are those who come in too late or don't respond positively." The first step is to give medical treatment for delirium tremors. Some addicts suffer from trembling. Therefore the initial step is to give them medication. Although the patient is treated for withdrawal symptoms, it does not mean he is completely cured of his addiction.

However, at Al-Ano, the aim is not to try to change the addict's lifestyle or work environment, but rather help him cope and accept his situation. "We cannot suddenly change the environment the victim is so used to. But an effective relationship can help them to accept their situation" said Dr. Waas.

Unlike other institutions Al-Ano is not funded by an agency. Those seeking help have to pay for their stay.

The main problem counsellors face is that alcohol is accepted by society and not viewed as a harmful or destructive habit. Counsellors find it hard to get their message across, as long as people and society accept one set of drugs as legal and another illegal. "Society attaches respectability to certain drugs and so we cannot get our message across. It will be difficult for us to draw victims as long as their addiction is justified by society. When society has such a stance, addicts will not realise the harm they are bringing on society and upon themselves" said Mrs. Ellawala.


Your Health Column : Waterworks and beer teatment

By Dr. Sanjiva Wijesinghe

I met my old friend Reggie at the SSC last Sunday, just as he was finishing his third bottle of Lion Lager.

Now I myself am not averse to an ice-cold beer on a hot Sunday afternoon - but for Reggie to be downing three bottles all on his own, I thought, was a bit much.

Reggie, sensing my un-uttered thoughts, explained. "I have to drink all this beer entirely to treat my kidney problem". Apparently Reggie had been getting recurrent urine infections over the past year, and despite several courses of antibiotics from his doctor, he had found the symptoms coming back every time he stopped taking the antibiotics.

Plagued with having to pass urine every half hour or so, and experiencing severe burning in the urinary passage whenever he passed these small quantities of water, Reggie had made the serendipitous discovery that putting a regular large dose of Lager would produce a good flow of urine, flush the system, and relieve his symptoms for a while.

This problem of urine infection is one that many of us treat lightly - or just seriously enough to be taken with a large draught of Lager. The truth is that urine infection, especially in adult males, can often be a sign of some more serious problem in the urinary system: if not treated properly, it could lead to damage to the kidneys.

There is an old adage 'Stasis is the basis of infection' and it is usually the case that urine infection occurs when there is stasis or stagnation along the urinary tract. In adults, one of the commonest causes of such stasis is enlargement of the prostate gland, which lies at the bottom of the bladder: as a man gets older, the gland enlarges and by the time he reaches retirement age, the gland had become of sufficient size to partially block off the outlet of the bladder.

Obstruction to the smooth flow of urine can also occur due to narrowing of the urethra, the tube that goes from the bladder to the outside.

A further cause of stagnation is the formation of a Diverticulum - a tiny pouch of the bladder wall that fills with urine from the bladder but, unlike the bladder, does not empty when one passes urine. Since the diverticulum allows urinary stasis, bacteria can multiply in this stagnant urine and provide the basis for repeated infection.

If one gets an episode of urine infection (an infection that is proved to be so after proper testing and culture of the urine), it should be treated with a full course of the antibiotics to which the bacteria identified on urine culture are known to be susceptible. After the infection is controlled, it is wise to have the urinary system fully examined and also do a few tests to make sure there is no basis for stasis. The simplest tests are an ultrasound scan (which will not only demonstrate the kidneys but will also show if the bladder is emptying properly) and a micturating systogram. This latter test involves putting a little dye into the bladder and taking X-rays while one is passing urine - and can show up defects in the bladder such as a diverticulum or prostatic obstruction. Other tests such as an IVP and isotope scan can also be done to get more information.

If a defect such as an enlarged prostate, a narrowed urinary passage or a diverticulum is demonstrated, it should be operated upon - because until such a defect is corrected and urine can flow freely again, infection cannot fail to recur.

Taking repeated courses of antibiotics or drinking innumerable bottles of beer (however pleasant such a method of treatment might appear) is certainly no way to clear the waterworks.

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