More than 1,000 followers of a multi-religious sect in northern India have pledged to marry female sex workers who want to escape exploitation.
A religious group, the Dera Sacha Sauda led by Chief Ram Rahim Singh has started a new campaign to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and the exploitation of sex workers. More than 12,000 followers have already signed pledges to marry a sex worker. Singh's followers include
Muslims, Hindu's and Sikh's.
Already nearly 100 young sex workers have contacted the DSS - from Calcutta's Shonagachi red light district to brothels in Delhi and Mumbai.
The DSS has had its share of controversy. As with any organized religion it has the potential to be quite dangerous. I have mixed feelings about the "marry a sex worker" campaign. On the one hand, if its done responsibly and the rights of the women and their families are the number one concern then... how can it not be a good thing? Especially in countries where they live with a caste system. Its probably safe to assume that many of these sex workers were merely born into a lower caste and therefore cursed to spend their lives working as prostitutes.
But then on the other hand, part of me can't help but think that this current campaign is a way to gain publicity and ultimately power in countries where poverty and exploitation are the common denominator.
More than 1,000 followers of a multi-religious sect in northern India have pledged to marry female sex workers who want to escape exploitation.
Craaaazy. These $10 mittens are only available at the Bay & Zellers. I saw them once and didn't buy any thinking I'd go back another time and get them. After several failed attempts trying to find them again I managed to convince one of the girls at Zellers to put some on hold for me the next time they were in stock. When they finally came in and I was at customer service collecting them another lady in line begged me for some. Said she had been all over the city looking for these red Olympic mitts. I took pity on her and gave her 2 pairs. Apparently Zeller's Grant Park sold several hundred pairs of these mittens over the weekend. 
Cats are amazingly cunning. I got up from this exact spot only moments earlier to fetch myself a cup of tea and she planted herself in my warm spot. When I came back to reclaim my spot she screamed at me and I ended up having to sit somewhere else. 
I finished my New Years baking. From past experience I made sure to calculate my cookie production according to freezer space. I managed to almost exactly fill each cookie container and my freezer to capacity with space left for my veggie chicken nuggets and veggie "meat" balls. 
Ugh! I'm going to curl up in bed and watch a movie. I was going to walk down to the mall and finish some last minute Xmas shopping but I'm not brave enough today.
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