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When: Sept 25 - Oct 9, 2010
Where: Mumbai, India
Who: Primary Medicine & Dentistry, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Nurses & limited Logistics (non-medical helpers). In addition to those in primary medicine (physicians, PAs, NPs, RNs), we also desire an Ob-Gyn and a Dermatologist. This will be a smaller team of 12 participants maximum.
Status: Accepting Applications
Special Travel Announcement: All participants must travel to/from India as a group. No deviations in travel will be allowed without prior approval from GHO Director.
Project Fee: $2,000 plus international airfare (subject to change)
Team Leader: Mike O'Callaghan, DDS
To read Dr. O'Callaghan's biography, Click Here.
Trip Details: God has sovereignly opened a new door of ministry for GHO in the largest “red light district” in the world, Kamathipura. This densely populated slum is located in urban Mumbai, India. This area has the greatest number of commercial sex workers (CSW) in the world, over 15,000 persons, mostly female. The vast majority of these individuals have been either been abducted or sold by their family into the life of forced prostitution.
Our national partners, Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC) is a highly respected ministry that for 20 years has ministered in the name of Christ to these victims of sex trafficking and their families.
This trip is unlike many other GHO trips. We will be working in
a densely populated urban area. Our patient population will
consist largely of human trafficking victims working as
prostitutes. Many of these patients are HIV positive and active TB
is common. These victims hail from many different people
groups in India, Nepal and many nations.
As difficult as it is to fathom, it is estimated that nearly 100% of these commercial sex workers have been forced into sex slavery, usually either by deception or by their own family. Many are rural poor who have been lured into the city with the hopes of finding a job and a brighter future only to be confined essentially to a prison cell within the brothel. It is common practice to deprive these new initiates even of a view of sunshine for two to three months. After that time, which includes countless rapings, beatings, and other heinous depravations, the victim is usually “broken”. Other CSWs are the sole support of family members who depend upon their work as a prostitute to survive ... which is a different kind of bondage.
Culturally it is unacceptable for them to return home. They feel shamed. They trust no one. The vast majority of them live lives apart from the saving knowledge of God in fatalistic desperation … with no apparent option but to go through this existence until they eventually succumb to the ramifications of disease.
BTC was founded in 1990 by Mr. K. K. Devaraj. He was saved in Iran while working there in the petrochemical industry. Once converted, he felt the call of God on his life, returning to India for theological training. Sensing the clear leading of God to minister to the downtrodden, Mr. Deveraj and his young family bought a one way ticket to Mumbai with their very last financial resources. In obedience to God, they began this ministry and in the intervening 20 years the Lord has continually blessed their efforts and expanded their outreach.
The ministry’s name (Bombay Teen Challenge) does not reflect the full scope of this holistic ministry. They have over 150 employees many of whom continue to live incarnationally in this same Red Light District neighborhood they were saved out of.
Current ministries within the confines of the Red Light District include a church that has ministered to people from dozens of nations, a shelter for sex workers and street children, a home for AIDS orphans, day care/night care for children of CSWs, feeding programs, free HIV medical clinic (with observed daily dose of ARV meds for most patients), a fledging new free HIV dental clinic and a rescue program for drug addicted “street boys” … all of these within the Red Light District. All services are provided at no cost to recipients.
Besides operating the pharmacy and medical-dental clinics in the Red Light District, we will worship with the BTC’s church in the Red Light District on Saturday afternoon. The next day, Sunday we will visit with those already rescued through the ministry of BTC. This will be a tremendous blessing! Outside the city of Mumbai (2 hour drive each way), BTC has separate homes for males and females (teens and older) who have been rescued from prostitution in the brothels. For many of these folks, to remain within the Red Light District would be dangerous as they might be injured by their pimps or brothel owners in retaliation for leaving the “trade”. BTC also operates a vocational/ educational program for males and females.
Additionally BTC has separate homes for younger boys and girls who have been rescued from life in the Red Light District (often these children are given over to the ministry by their prostitute mothers to escape the cycle). All together there are about 250 residents in these facilities. This is an anointed work of the Lord, close to the heart of God, caring for the “least of these”. It is our prayer that God will lead a team of His servants to come alongside the staff of BTC in caring for those still trapped in and those already rescued from the evil snares of human sex trafficking.
Amid this needy population, we will offer the best health care that we can, we will provide a loving touch and shine the light of the gospel in a very dark place. Also we will be mutually encouraged as we work shoulder to shoulder with the godly staff of BTC including their staff physician (Dr. Prashant) and their staff dentist (Dr. Swapneel) supporting this vital ministry and helping them expand their tent pegs.
The GHO team will be well cared for in Mumbai. October is a good time to visit Mumbai. Temperatures are in the mid 70’s to low 90’s with little rain. The team will stay in a very suitable facility just several minutes from the Red Light District (YMCA International Guest House) with clean spacious rooms, hot showers, buffet breakfasts and dinners, no bugs and air conditioning. Though the area around the medical and dental clinic is poor, the team will be quite safe as we follow some simple, basic precautions that will be clearly communicated. All of our licensed professional GHO team will be granted temporary licensure to work as volunteers for the duration of our trip.
Per Dr. Prashant, the BTC physician, the most common medical diagnoses he sees are (not in order): HIV, TB, skin/fungal diseases, iron deficiency anemia, malnutrition, cold/flu viral infections, gastric complaints, diabetes mellitus, COPD, arthritis, musculo-skeletal pain, STDs. Dr. Prashant estimated that 40-50% of the children he sees are malnourished.
Per my observations when working there and in talking with Dr. Swapneel, BTC’s dentist, the greatest dental health needs are the usual mix of caries, missing teeth, and periodontal conditions. Additionally we saw a number of oral fungal infections.
GHO participants will need to get a tourist visa for India in advance
obtained through Travisa Outsourcing. For additional information
please email Dr. O’Callaghan at mikeocal@charter.net or call his
cell at 616.886.2817
To apply for this trip, Click Here. GHO Home
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