The Day My God Died

In my last post, I mentioned the documentary, The Day My God Died. Although it is an extremely heart wrenching film, it contains valuable information about the conditions in Kamathipura. I think it is important to begin this by sharing more about The Day My God Died. The Day My God Died was directed and produced by a man named Andrew Levine. After seeing the atrocities in Kamathipura, Levine said,

“It was that exact moment when I realized the first step was not to write a fictionalized screenplay. Rather, the first step should be to document the real story by combining real word and real statistics with pictures that don't lie.

There are so many stories of strength and resiliency. So many unanswered prayers and so many betrayals left unaccounted for. It is my hope to allow these children the opportunity to tell their stories, and by doing so share their hopes, dreams and unanswered prayers.”

The film depicts the lives of the women and children who lived in the Kamathipura district. The Day My God Died gives appalling information about their living conditions. According the film, the United Nations has released information estimating around 2,500 women and children disappear everyday to be sold into sexual slavery. Girls are often drugged, sold, and eventually wake up in their new homes: the brothels. The captive population of Kamathipura is greater than that of Salt Lake City.

The girls are forced to have sex with any customer that comes into the brothel. If they refuse, they are held down, beaten, raped, and sometimes even murdered. Men will burn the girls with acid and cigarettes if the girls do not agree to do what the customers ask. Girls will sometimes have up to 30 or 40 customers a day that they must entertain. When one of the girls becomes pregnant, she will have to have an abortion, and she will not be given any time to recover before another customer comes in.

The average age for a girl in the brothels is 14 years old. The myth is that if a man has HIV or AIDS and sleeps with a virgin, he will be revitalized or even cured. There is also the myth that if a man sleeps with a young virgin he will not get a disease. Due to these myths, HIV and AIDS have spread in massive amounts.

The film contains much more important information. Also the website provides a good source for facts about Kamathipura.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/daymygoddied/

Kamathipura

Some of you may be wondering why I have chosen such a strange name for this blog. Kamathipura is located in Asia and it is one of the largest red-light districts in the world. For those of you that do not know, a red-light district is basically a place that prostitution and the sex trade rein. There are girls in this place that have been kidnapped and forced into this sexual slavery. After much though, I realized this issue is not one many people will find pleasing to read about, but it is an issue that needs to be addressed. People need to know about the lives these women and young girls are living.

I will start by explaining how I have recently become more aware of this subject. Prior to this past summer I had heard about the sex trade and trafficking of young women and children. I had always thought of it as a problem, but it had never taken a place of priority in my mind. This summer I began to hear stories about the children in Africa who are currently being sold into sexual slavery. The more I heard, the more I began to think about the issue. In late July I saw a documentary called, “The Day My God Died.” The documentary tells the stories of young girls in the Kamathipura red-light district located in Bombay (also known as Mumbai), India. After seeing this documentary, my heart was broken for the young women and children.

I have decided to dedicate this blog to spreading awareness about the women and children who have been forced into lives of sexual slavery. I do not want to merely discuss this issue though. I want a change to be made in the lives of these women and children. I am not satisfied living a comfortable life when atrocious things are happening in India. Although my focus is currently on the Kamathipura district of India, it is important to note that this is occurring in all parts of the world, including the United States. Throughout this semester I hope to gain a better understanding of what is occurring in Kamathipura. This blog will become my first step towards helping these women, by telling others of their situation.