DOCSLIB.ORG

Poverty of Opportunity for Women Selling Sex in Lahore, Pakistan Knowledge, Experiences & Magnitude of HIV & Stis

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Poverty of Opportunity for Women Selling Sex in Lahore, Pakistan Knowledge, Experiences & Magnitude of HIV & Stis Thesis for doctoral degree (Ph.D.) 2011 Poverty of Opportunity for Women Selling Sex in Lahore, Pakistan Knowledge, Experiences & Magnitude of HIV & STIs Mohsin Saeed Khan All previously published papers were reproduced with permission from the publisher. Published by Karolinska Institutet. Printed by Larserics Digital Print AB. © Mohsin Saeed Khan, 2011 ISBN 978-91-7457-332-9 There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy William Shakespeare Hamlet Act I, scene V, 166-167 ABSTRACT Background According to the UNAIDS’ estimates, the incidence of HIV infection has decreased by 19% over the last ten years. WHO estimated in 2005 that approximately 448 million cases of four major curable STIs occur in adults in the age group 15-49 years. Most at risk populations including women selling sex engage in behaviours that lead to HIV transmission. Health care providers are considered to play a pivotal role in the provision of preventive and curative services to individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS and STIs. The HIV epidemic in Pakistan is concentrated among injecting drug users and Hijras (transgenders). Methods The research involved both qualitative and quantitative research methods leading to Paper I – IV. In Paper I, individual interviews were conducted and then analyzed using the content analysis method. Respondent driven sampling was used to collect data for paper II and III, where in addition to administering a structured questionnaire, biological samples were collected to estimate the prevalence of HIV, T. pallidum, N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis and T. vaginalis. Furthermore, structured questionnaire was administered to collect data for paper IV among health care providers. Results Limited opportunities, poverty, financial burdens, and the desire for more material assets have made girls and married women in Lahore enter and become trapped in a “web” of selling sex. Whereas 91% of women selling sex were married, 0.7% were infected with HIV, and an additional 18.5% were suffering from different curable STIs. Only 19% and 83% of the participants were aware of the terms HIV and AIDS, respectively, and only 37% had correct knowledge about transmission and prevention of AIDS. The odds of being infected with C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae were 2.1 (CI 95%; 1.1-3.8) and 1.9 (CI 95%; 1.1-3.5), respectively, if women reported “not always” using condoms as compared to if they reported “always” using condoms. There were varying knowledge levels and misconceptions regarding STIs. Approximately two thirds of the women considered themselves to have had STIs in the six months preceding the survey. Women selling sex who reported consistent condom use were 1.5 times (CI 95%; 1.1-2.2) more likely to seek treatment than women who did not consistently use condoms. The treatment received did not follow any standard treatment guidelines, influencing both effectiveness and compliance. Forty-five percent of the healthcare providers had correct knowledge about the transmission and prevention of HIV, and 82% were not aware of syndromic management of STIs. Only 10% could cite the ‘correct treatment’ of gonorrhoea, syphilis and vaginal discharge. The odds of having the ‘correct knowledge’ of diagnosing gonorrhoea and syphilis were 2.1 (CI 95%; 1.2–3.8) if the healthcare provider was a female medical doctor working in the public sector. Conclusions Poverty, the drive for materialism, and the desire for money are the major driving forces for resorting to selling sex, depicting a social behavioural change. HIV infection and STIs among women selling sex were relatively low in this study, which is possibly due to a high condom use, relatively low numbers of sexual partners and availability of clinical services, including syndromic management. However, there exists a high risk for a concentrated HIV epidemic among women selling sex due to their low level of knowledge about HIV, attitudes, risk behaviour and sexual practices. The level of knowledge about STIs remains low among women selling sex in Lahore, Pakistan. Furthermore, health-seeking behaviour for STI treatment is influenced by ability to pay and ease of access, as well as availability in the private sector. Even though health care providers in Lahore were providing health care for both HIV/AIDS and STI patients, the low levels of knowledge and practices and poor attitudes regarding the management of HIV infection and STIs emphasize that further intensive training is needed to improve their ability to correctly diagnose and subsequently treat patients infected by STIs. Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Sexually Transmitted Infections, Respondent Driven Sampling, People Living with HIV, Women Selling Sex, Poverty of Opportunity. List of Publications I. MS Khan, E Johansson, S Zaman, F Jalil, Naveed-i-Rahat, M Unemo, C Stålsby Lundborg. Poverty of Opportunity forcing women into prostitution - a qualitative study in Pakistan. Health Care for Women International. 2010;31(4):365-83. II. MS Khan, S Zaman, M Unemo, C Stålsby Lundborg. HIV and STI prevalence and risk behaviours among women selling sex in Lahore, Pakistan. BMC Infectious Diseases 2011;11:119 III. MS Khan, S Zaman, M Unemo, C Stålsby Lundborg. Health seeking behaviour of women selling sex in Lahore, Pakistan. International Journal of STD & AIDS (Accepted – February 2011). IV. MS Khan, S Zaman, M Unemo, C Stålsby Lundborg. Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome and sexually transmitted infections among health care providers in Lahore, Pakistan. Journal of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad 2009;21(4). The papers are referred to in the text by their Roman numerals I-IV. Contents 1. Background......................................................................................................2 1.1 Global HIV epidemic .............................................................................2 1.2 Sexually Transmitted Infections ............................................................6 1.3 Reaching Most at Risk Populations.....................................................10 1.4 The context of selling sex ....................................................................11 1.5 Concurrent Partnership ........................................................................12 1.6 Health Systems.....................................................................................13 1.7 Islamic Republic of Pakistan ...............................................................17 1.8 HIV in Pakistan....................................................................................19 1.9 The bridging populations .....................................................................20 1.10 The context of women selling sex in Lahore.....................................21 1.11 Typology of Women Selling Sex in Lahore......................................22 1.12 Women Selling Sex – The Scale! ......................................................22 1.13 The legal, social and religious context of sex work in Pakistan .......23 1.14 Health System of Pakistan .................................................................23 Health Care Delivery System of Pakistan........................................23 Health Care Providers ......................................................................24 1.15 Policy Guidelines ...............................................................................24 National Health Policy - 2009..........................................................24 National HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework-2007 – 2012 of Pakistan.............................................................................................25 1.16 Rationale.............................................................................................26 2. Aim ................................................................................................................27 2.1 Specific Objectives...............................................................................27 3. Methods .........................................................................................................28 3.1 Study Design ........................................................................................28 3.2 Paper I...................................................................................................29 3.3 Papers II and III....................................................................................30 3.4 Paper IV................................................................................................34 3.5 Ethical Issues........................................................................................35 4. Results............................................................................................................37 4.1 Poverty of Opportunity Forcing Women into Prostitution - A Qualitative Study in Pakistan (Paper I)......................................................37 4.2 HIV, STI Prevalence and Risk Behaviours among Women Selling Sex in Lahore, Pakistan (Paper II) .............................................................39 4.3 Health Seeking Behaviour of Women Selling Sex in Lahore, Pakistan (Paper III) ...................................................................................................40 4.4 Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding HIV/AIDS/STIs among Health Care Providers in Lahore, Pakistan. (Paper IV).............................42
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 'Skill Vs. Scale': the Transformation of Traditional Occupations in the Androon Shehr1
    CHAPTER 16 ‘Skill vs. Scale’: The Transformation of Traditional Occupations in the Androon Shehr1 ALI KHAN, MANAL M. AHmaD, AND SANA F. MALIK INTRODUCTION eople often view the ‘Old City’ or Androon Shehr2 of Lahore as a ‘repository of memories and the past’, and a receptacle of cultural traditions and values. However, a walk down any of its crowded, winding streets reveals that the ‘historic core’3 of Lahore is not Psituated on any single plane—it is neither wholly ‘traditional’, nor wholly ‘modern’, neither old nor new, poor or rich, conservative or liberal. It is, in fact, heterotopic4—a synchronized product of conflicting elements. Heterotopia, or, in other words, dualism, is a structural characteristic of all Third World cities.5 That a dichotomy exists between an ‘indigenous’ culture and an ‘imposed’ Western culture in every postcolonial society is an established fact. This dichotomy is especially apparent in the economies of Third World cities—what Geertz has described as the ‘continuum’ between the ‘firm’ (formal) and ‘bazaar’ (informal) sectors.6 The Androon Shehr of Lahore is no exception; what makes the Shehr a particularly interesting study is that here the paradoxes of postcolonial society are more visible than anywhere else, as the Shehr, due to certain historic, physical and psychological factors, has managed to retain a ‘native’, pre-colonial identity that areas outside the ‘walls’ altogether lack, or have almost entirely lost, with the passage of time. This supposed ‘immunity’ of the Androon Shehr to the ‘disruption of the larger economic system’7 does not mean that the Shehr is a static, unchanging society—it simply means that the society has chosen to ‘modernize’8 on its own terms.
    [Show full text]
  • Eid-Ul-Adha Plan
    Eid ul Adha Plan 2017 Page 0 PREFACE This is LWMC’s Eid-ul-Azha plan 2017. This plan will cover detailed information regarding Solid Waste Management (SWM) services, which shall be provided by LWMC during Eid days. LWMC is going to make special arrangements for Solid Waste Management (SWM) on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. LWMC in coordination with Turkish Contractors (M/s. Albayrak & M/s. Ozpak) will attempt to offer exemplary cleanliness arrangements on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. The standard SWM activities will mainly focus on prompt collection, storage, transportation and disposal of animal waste during all three days of Eid. All the staff of LWMC will remain on board during Eid days to provide efficient SWM services to the citizens of Lahore. LWMC will establish Eid Camps in each Union Council of Lahore, not only to address the complaints of the citizens but to efficiently coordinate cleanliness activities in the respective UC’s as well. Moreover, awareness material and garbage bags for animal waste will also be available in these camps. A control room will be established in LWMC head office with special focus to coordinate collective operational activities during Eid days. In order to manage animal waste, LWMC is going to distribute 2 Million garbage bags in Lahore. The garbage bags will be made available free of cost in respective UC Camps / Zonal Office, Major Masajids / Eid Gahs. Similarly, for prompt collection of animal waste, LWMC will hire pickups 2 days before Eid for garbage bag distribution, awareness & waste collection. 1089 pickups will be hired on first day, 1025 on second and 543 on third day of Eid.
    [Show full text]
  • Categorywise Localities of Rating Area Lahore-Ii (Zone-1)
    CATEGORYWISE LOCALITIES OF RATING AREA LAHORE-II (ZONE-1) Categories Detail of Localities COMMERCIAL Haq Nawaz Road,Shalimar Link Road, G.T. Road (Bengumpura to Sukh B Nehar) Kohloowali Gali, Bano Bazar, Post Office wali Gali, Jehangir Road (Canal Bank), G.T. Road (Suk Nehar to Chungi Warra Sattar) Pakistani C Bazar, Nadia Ghee Mills Road (Sukh Nehar to House Asghar Patwari), Daroghawla Bazar, G.T. Road (Do Mooria Pull to Begumpura). G.T. Road (Chowk Daroghawala to Wara Sattar),Circular Road (Do Mooria Pull to Railway Station), Approach Road, Maskeenpura, Nizamabad, Main Bazar Ghaziabad, Shama Park, Bogiwal, Sahowari, Punj Peer, Sabzi Mandi, Singpura, Mujahidabad, Ramgarh, Fazal Ellahi Road, College Road, S.A. Rehman Bazar, Bogiwal Road, Sher Shah D Road, Ghore Shah Road, Tangewala Adda, China Scheme, Bund Road, Bhama, Janipura, Mohallah Islamabad, Ghaus Park, Begumpura, Hajipura, Singpura, Suleman Park, Mohallah Younaspura, Nizamabad, Multani Colony, Kot Kh.Saeed, Shamasabad, Gujjarpura, Shanoor Park, Qamar Park, Wagonwala Adda, Tandoorwala Chowk, Bholla Street, Fazalpura, Rehmatpura. Saleem Park, Maqsoodanpura, Data Park, Mominpura Pind, E Muhammad Din Colony, Multani Colony, Libiya Colony, Usman Nagar, Nizamabad. Notwithstanding the above categorization of localities (commercial), the property units falling in the above mentioned markets being established/ recognized commercial centers shall be considered as properties Note situated on main road, irrespective of the fact that the roads in the markets are less than 30-feet, for the purpose of application of respective valuation tables in pursuance of Notification No.SO.TAX(E&T)3-38/2014 dated 26.06.2014. RESIDENTIAL C Angoori Bagh Scheme, Inayat Bagh, Mian Park, Surraya Jabeen Park.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of the Conservation Significance of Pirzada Mansion, Lahore, Pakistan
    A STUDY OF THE CONSERVATION SIGNIFICANCE OF PIRZADA MANSION, LAHORE, PAKISTAN A. M. Malik* M. Rashid** S. S. Haider*** A. Jalil**** ABSTRACT 1050, which shows that its existence was due to its placement along the major trade route through Central Asia and the Built heritage is not merely about living quarters, but it Indian subcontinent. The city was regularly marred by also reflects the living standards, cultural norms and values invasion, pillage, and destruction (due to its lack of of any society. The old built heritage gives references to the geographical defenses and general over exposure) until past, the way people used to live and their living 1525, when it was sacked and then settled by the Mughal arrangements. This is done by understanding the spatial emperor Babur. Sixty years later it became the capital of the layouts of that particular built heritage. This research aims Mughal Empire under Akbar, and in 1605 the Fort and city to focus on documenting a historic building from the colonial walls were expanded to the present day dimensions. From period located in the walled city of Lahore, to highlight the the mid-18th century until British colonial times, there was need and significance of conservation of these historical a fairly lawless period in which most of the Mughal Palaces buildings that are neglected and under threat. The method (havelis) were destroyed, marking a decrease in social norms of research adopted for this paper was to document this and association with the built environment, that has continued building via an ethnographic analysis using photographic unabattingly till today.
    [Show full text]
  • Andheroon Shehr by Neiha Lasharie
    Andheroon Shehr by Neiha Lasharie The Heart of Pakistan. Along the perennially tense border between India and Pakishan lies a city so old its beginnings are lost to myth and legend; the historic capital of the land of Five Rivers, the province Punjab. Some legends, such as those in the Ramayana epic, suggest Lahore was known in olden days as Lavapuri, founded by Prince Lava, a son of the Hindu god and goddess Rama and Sita; other historical accounts of the city date back to the 1st Century AD, where it is referred to as Labokla. But whether two thousand years old, or 4000 years old, Lahore is a city unlike any other, a testament to the glory of truly organic, truly city-cities. So perhaps it is a little jarring that you arrive in Lahore the way anyone would to a big city in this day and age. Navigating your way though Allama Iqbal International Airport, you can see the city lights in the distance, but first you attempt to get out of the airport. Gently - and then slightly more forcefully - you shrug off the laymen-porters' offers to load up a taxi with your luggage. You look back at the airport, in its vaguely modern glory, and note the inherent Mughal influences - Lahore can't seem to divorce itself from that part of its history. Allama Iqbal International Airport, named after the poet-philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal, one of the visionaries behind what is now Pakistan. I have visited his grave before, a red brick structure in the Old City of Lahore, within what is called the Lahore Fort.
    [Show full text]
  • 2663-7197 the Dancing Girls of Lahore: Book Review
    Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies (JHSSS) ISSN: 2663-7197 www.hsss.org The Dancing Girls of Lahore: Book Review Hassan Bin Zubair PhD Scholar (English Literature), Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Pakistan Corresponding Author: Hassan Bin Zubair, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT The dancing girls of Lahore inhabit the Diamond Market in the shadow of a Received: July 17, 2019 great mosque. The twenty-first century goes on outside the walls of this ancient Accepted: August 13, 2019 quarter but scarcely registers within. Though their trade can be described with Published: September 30, 2019 accuracy as prostitution, the dancing girls have an illustrious history: Beloved Volume: 1 by emperors and nawabs, their sophisticated art encompassed the best of Issue: 5 Mughal culture. The modern-day Bollywood aesthetic, with its love of gaudy KEYWORDS spectacle, music, and dance, is their distant legacy. But the life of the pampered courtesan is not the one now being lived by Maha and her three girls. What they Dance, Girls, Prostitutes, Sex do is forbidden by Islam, though tolerated; but they are gandi, "unclean," and Trade, Red Light Area, Maha's daughters, like her, are born into the business and will not leave it. Pakistan Sociologist Louise Brown spent four years in the most intimate study of the family life of a Lahori dancing girl. With beautiful understatement, she turns a novelist's eye on a true story that beggars the imagination. Maha, a classically trained dancer of exquisite grace, had her virginity sold to a powerful Arab sheikh at the age of twelve; when her own daughter Nena comes of age and Maha cannot bring in the money she once did, she faces a terrible decision as the agents of the sheikh come calling once more.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dancing Girls of Lahore: Book Review American
    American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (AJHSS) ISSN: 2663-7177 The Dancing Girls of Lahore: Book Review Hassan Bin Zubair PhD Scholar (English Literature), Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Pakistan Corresponding Author: Hassan Bin Zubair, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT The dancing girls of Lahore inhabit the Diamond Market in the shadow of a great mosque. The twenty-first century goes on outside the walls of this ancient quarter but scarcely registers within. Though their trade can be described with accuracy as prostitution, the dancing girls have an illustrious history: Beloved by emperors and nawabs, their sophisticated art encompassed the best of Mughal culture. The modern-day Bollywood aesthetic, with its love of gaudy KEYWORDS spectacle, music, and dance, is their distant legacy. But the life of the pampered courtesan is not the one now being lived by Maha and her three girls. What they Dance, Girls, Prostitutes, Sex do is forbidden by Islam, though tolerated; but they are gandi, "unclean," and Trade, Red Light Area, Maha's daughters, like her, are born into the business and will not leave it. Pakistan Sociologist Louise Brown spent four years in the most intimate study of the family life of a Lahori dancing girl. With beautiful understatement, she turns a novelist's eye on a true story that beggars the imagination. Maha, a classically trained dancer of exquisite grace, had her virginity sold to a powerful Arab sheikh at the age of twelve; when her own daughter Nena comes of age and Maha cannot bring in the money she once did, she faces a terrible decision as the agents of the sheikh come calling once more.
    [Show full text]
  • We Walk Lahore Honi Ryan We Walk Lahore Honi Ryan
    WE WALK LAHORE HONI RYAN WE WALK LAHORE HONI RYAN III/IV 2 3 bustle, beep, a clamour of rickshaw, we’re there, long stare, bricks, dust, an invitation, hot corn bites, bikes, ladies sitting side saddle, scarf colours whirl, children on handlebars, a call to prayer, donkey cart laden with bananas, the next with chains of dried figs,feet on the road, ornately carved doorways, barbed wire crowns a fence, cut glass in cement, red pomegranate juice like blood pouring from narrow alleys with children playing, cricket balls, piles of broken bricks saved for later, piles of stone, it once was, ruins remain, rubbish in piles, rubbish burning in smoke, choke, lush green foliage, women covered, bras for sale strewn on the fence, tea boiling in milk and sugar transferred to small porcelain cups with saucers, generous encounters, hostile glances, sheep bellies strung like baskets, heads on the counter, hoofs, a clay oven built into the front steps, fresh naan, potato on sticks, mixed chai sips, a hole underfoot, don’t look, tent homes, beggars ask, deserted marketplace, forgotten fruit flies, itchy eyes,blink , soot, a stack of fabric seduces with colour, black burqa, water pipe spurt, pot hole, cars exhaust, makeshift table and chairs in the middle of the street. sit. eat. 4 Honi Ryan would like to thank everyone who has supported and contributed towards this project, particularly all those who participated in the walks and generously shared their presence, knowledge and reflections while walking in Lahore. Participant responses and conversations are contributed by Attiq Ahmed, Eemaan Kaleem, Farrukh Adnan, Mariam Ansari, Mariam Waheed, Munadi Ahmed, Naira Mushtaq, Naveed Alam, Rida Fatima, Stefan Winkler, Sultan Ali, Waleed Zafar, Wardah Naeem Bukhari, and others who contributed anonymously.
    [Show full text]
  • Bapsi Sidhwa and Mohsin Hamid's City Fictions
    This is a repository copy of Lahore Lahore Hai : Bapsi Sidhwa and Mohsin Hamid’s City Fictions. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/110606/ Version: Accepted Version Book Section: Chambers, Claire Gail orcid.org/0000-0001-8996-4129 (2016) Lahore Lahore Hai : Bapsi Sidhwa and Mohsin Hamid’s City Fictions. In: Chakraborty, Madhurima and Al-Wazedi, Umme, (eds.) Postcolonial Urban Outcasts. Routledge , New York, NY , pp. 113-30. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 6 Lahore, Lahore Aye Bapsi Sidhwa and Mohsin Hamid’s City Fictions Claire Chambers Introduction In November 2013 an Indian television advertisement for Google entitled “The Reunion” went viral on YouTube, garnering over four million hits from India, Pakistan, and the wider world in just five days (Associated Press; Google India). The advert pivots on the friendship of two boys from differ- ent religious backgrounds who were separated due to the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloads/PIM-BRT.Pdf 95
    - !"# $$%& ' ()(* +, $$%& !" # "$%&''('))& $%&''(*'&(+ &0 1 -/ 2 -/ # "$%&'&''**)+ " $ , -' ."$///' -' All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission of the publisher. © 2015 ALHASAN SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED A Hi-Tech Knowledge Management, Business Psychology Modeling, and Publishing Company 205-C, 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex, Sector F-5/1, Islamabad, Pakistan 44000 Landline:+92.51.282.0449, +92.51.835.9288 Fax:+92.51.835.9287 195-1st floor, Deans Trade Center, Peshawar Cantt, Peshawar, Pakistan Landline:+92.91.525.3347 Email: [email protected] Website: www.alhasan.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/alhasan.com Twitter: @alhasansystems w3w address: *Alhasan 220 p.; 10x13 ISSN: 2312-3575 ISBN: 978-969-638-003-0 (Paper Book) 978-969-638-004-7 (Digital/ E-book) DISCLAIMER ! "!#!$#%#&'# ( ( ) ) ) ( * + ( ( ( , ) ( - ! "!#!$ #%#&'# ( . / 0 ) / 0 ! ( 1 2 ) ) ) 3 $ ( ( ( ( () () ( - ( ( , ! "!#!$#%#&'# ) ( - ( ( ) * . - ! "!#!$#%#&'# ( (4 ( 3 ) ! "!#!$#%#&'#
    [Show full text]
  • 1545-6196 Review of the Dancing Girls of Lahore
    1 Wagadu Volume 8 Fall 2010 Review of The dancing girls of Lahore: Selling love and saving dreams in Pakistan’s ancient pleasure district by Louise Brown, London, Harper Perennial, 2009. Treena Orchard The Dancing Girls of Lahore by Louise Brown provides a richly detailed and insightful account of the lives of several Pakistani kanjar (traditional caste of entertainers, including prostitutes) women as they shift under the weight of new socio-economic and political conditions that are restructuring the traditional system of prostitution that has been their life blood for centuries. Positioned as a documentation of the change and the disappearance of an era, this book does infinitely more as it operates almost like a dual biography of Heera Mandi (the Diamond Market) and the key players living there who invited Brown into their lives. Taken from her diary and recorded over the course of four years, the chapters unfold according to the seasons of her fieldwork and in many ways trace the arc of the life cycle of not only the newly emerging system of prostitution and the neighborhoods in which it takes place, but also the lives of the different women, men, and children who make up the world of the Diamond Market. The many topical vignettes that are featured in the chapters provide the reader with insight into the diverse and complicated personal and geographic terrains within Heera Mandi as well as some of the humorous and often colorful slices of life that make up daily living within the walls of Lahore’s ancient pleasure district. The pages of this book introduce readers to women of all sorts, men of all sorts (including the khusras, transgendered prostitutes), the small group of local men who are addicted to licit and illicit substances, Tariq the sweeper, the newly arrived Bangladeshi villagers, Iqubal the painter, and the lively and fastidiously followed festivals and religious activities that punctuate the Muslim calendar.
    [Show full text]
  • Akhuwat Microfinance with a Difference
    Akhuwat Microfinance with a Difference 1 Index 1. Institutional profile 5 2. Microfinance with a difference: 20 Dawood Ghaznavi, Sara Ahmad (Lahore University of Management Science) 3. Akhuwat: Malcolm Harper 29 4. Microcredit Success Story: Zofeen Ebrahim 40 5. Microfinance made easier: Muhammad Ali 43 6. I feel really enlightened: Arshad Rafiq 46 7. Story of interest-free brotherhood 47 8. Comments & Views 50 9. Board of Directors 61 10. We Support Akhuwat 63 11. We Seek your Support 66 *Note: This introductory book is published by “Friends of Akhuwat” Akhuwat may or may not agree with the opinions expressed in different articles. 2 Where hope for the future blossoms… Akhuwat is dedicated to improving the lives of the poor; those who are financially abused, abandoned and disregarded by society. As a registered non-governmental organization, Akhuwat provides the poor with interest-free loans so that they may acquire a livelihood and the skills and support they need to reach their full potential. To this end, Akhuwat raises its funds from Civil Society. It does not depend on international funding; instead it uses the spirit of volunteerism and the tradition of giving, a cardinal principle of all religions. Akhuwat derives inspiration from the Muslim spirit of muakhaat or brotherhood. The earliest example of muakhaat was first displayed by the citizens of Madina at the dawn of Islam, when they shared their wealth with the muhajirin of Mecca. Akhuwat’s philosophy is based on the principle of Qarze-e-Hasna, helping someone in need with interest-free loans, which is favored over charity.
    [Show full text]