"It was my dream": Urmi was born in a brothel, now she provides healthcare to its workers

Urmi was born the daughter of a sex worker in Daulatdia, Bangladesh, one of the world's largest brothels. At age 23, she's back in Daulatdia – working as a paramedic, caring for the next generation of sex workers serving in the century-old brothel village. "It was my dream to provide health services to the sex workers of the brothel who do not get proper care usually. I also feel my mother's sufferings," Urmi told.

After her birth, her mother sent baby Urmi to live with an aunt in a different district, but Urmi recounts that she was neglected there. Urmi stayed at the MMS children's shelter until she was seven years old. After that, she went to a "safe home" in Goalanda Upazila, not far from the brothel. There, she grew up, continued her education and achieved a Higher Secondary School (HSC) certificate education. Her next stop would be a paramedic's training course.

Urmi has been working as a paramedic in MMS for around half and three years now. It was seeing the suffering of the brothel inhabitants, she said, that inspired her to become a health worker in the first place.

Read the full story:

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/born-brothel-now-working-healthcare-provider-its-community-sex-workers