Breaking the bias, discrimination and stigmization – the first step towards realizing gender equality today, based on the leaving no one behind principle.

Project RAHAB – Lacing of the Scarlet Thread

Theme: “Despite hardships and persecution, my friend has tied a scarlet thread on her home and her life.”

RAHAB was offered to participants as a closed-off session from the media and public given the sensitivities. The project created a safe space that brought together 12 voluntary women employed in sex work to dialogue on their lived experiences. They also shared about their paths, shaped by childhood experiences of trauma, sexual exploitation, abuse and neglect, and were given the opportunity to share visions of a different path they want to take for the future.

The story of Rahab, the heroine from the Bible, was used to inspire faith and self-worth amongst the women. Through the art of storytelling and dialogue, depicted by weaving together three strands of cloths (to mirror the lacing of Rahab’s scarlet thread or cloth in the Bible) the women learned about self-worth and restoring dignity despite one’s circumstances. Expert facilitators were engaged to converse with the women and to share hopeful perspectives of engaging if one gets left behind.

Project RAHAB for vulnerable women, such as those engaged in sex work, was run in partnership with the Samoa Fa’afafine Association (SFA) and the United Nations Development Programme, supported under the European Union and United Nations Spotlight Initiative in Samoa. The Spotlight Initiative, through its work across policy and engagement with civil society organizations including SFA, ensures the voices of all women, including those who face discrimination, stigmization and multiple vulnerabilities, are heard and prioritized.

“My name is Puna. I engage in sex work to provide for my children. Yes, it is shameful, it is degrading and frowned upon. But my children don’t know that. All they know is that they are fed, they go to school, and they are loved. I’m not like most women, but it doesn’t make me any less of a mother, a provider, a daughter and a woman doing what I can to survive,” said one participant.

“Call me Nina. I started sex work when I was 16. I am now 19 and six months pregnant with my fourth child. All I want in this world is for my baby to be born healthy, but for now, I’m only after a place to sleep, food to eat and a place to clean myself daily. Life is a struggle, and my line of work is the only opportunity a woman like me can have. I don’t know any other option,” said another participant.