Breaking the Cycle of Sexual Exploitation

With a focus on Women and Girls, the 2026 Helping-Hand Appeal will feature stories from The Salvation Army’s project in Bangladesh. Walking alongside women and children who have experienced or are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, this project provides care, guidance and practical support creating pathways towards safety, dignity and a brighter future.

The temperature hovers in the mid-thirties. Whilst monsoon season is coming to an end, humidity clings to the air, intensifying the heat.

On the main road, drivers of easy bikes and auto rickshaws – known locally as CNGs, after the fuel that powers them – jostle for space, horns blaring to announce their presence. Their passengers are bound for work, the market, school, home. It’s a chaotic choreography as vehicles thread their way through the crowd, reaching their destinations without incident.

Turn down a single-lane road and the volume softens, though it lingers in the background. Overhead a tangle of power lines connects the buildings. Halfway along, you reach The Salvation Army’s Health Care and Counselling Centre – a name that reflects its origins – first opened more than 30 years ago to support women living with HIV.

Now, as you ascend the winding stairs to the third floor, the noise of the street gives way to the sounds of something hopeful. Two classrooms embrace groups of children leaning in to hear their teacher’s lesson. The alphabet spoken and echoed back, numbers 1 to 10 carefully etched on chalkboards.

This classroom is a haven from home, which lies just a few metres away in Jashore’s brothel district, five narrow lanes where their mothers are trapped in a cycle of exploitation.

The paths that lead women there are many – debt, deception, abandonment – but choice is not one of them. In Jashore, as in so many places, choice is an illusion dressed up as opportunity. The project responds with a simple conviction: if exploitation is a cycle, then intervention must be a rhythm – proximate, consistent, reliable. This is quiet, radical work, rooted in compassion and sustained by professional resolve.

For over three decades The Salvation Army has maintained a steadfast presence, evolving and adapting the project focus over the years to meet changing needs. The current phase, which began in 2024, prioritises community-driven solutions, building trust, listening to women to understand their challenges and engaging them in setting priorities.

Alongside regular outreach – where a Salvation Army chaplain meets women in their homes within the brothel to listen, advise and support – community organisers travel to neighbouring villages to raise awareness of child marriage, gender discrimination and human trafficking, to drive social change and address the push factors that feed exploitation.

This situation is complex and nuanced and there isn’t a single, simple solution. Women need stable income to be able to pay off debts, exit the brothel and support themselves. The Salvation Army partners with local organisations to provide skills training and pathways to just and sustainable income opportunities or employment. Staff practise trauma-informed care, recognising that leaving the brothel is only the beginning of a longer journey of healing and rebuilding.

The drop-in centre for children opened in 2021. It was born out of the concerns that the women shared with project staff: that their children would be drawn into the same life as them. As part of the project, the children’s team provide education, creative activities and nutritious meals in a safe, caring and engaging environment, with compassion and care shown practically to children at risk of abuse and neglect.

Each weekday morning, the staff gather for a time of reflection and worship. As well as spending time in prayer, reading Scripture and singing together, this space offers an opportunity to speak openly about the concerns that weigh heavily on their hearts. It’s a time to support one another which has become an important rhythm in the week.

Barna, one of the children’s workers, outlines the pastoral and practical care that they provide: ‘If children don’t arrive at the centre, I go over to the brothel to collect them. We give them snacks and make sure they have the appropriate clothes and books for school. For the children who are still going to school, we check that they have done their homework. For those that don’t go to school, we play with them a little and then teach them basic lessons.’

For Barna, this isn’t just a job, it’s a vocation: ‘I love being with the children. It is very important because when I go to the brothel … sometimes I have seen children tied up there. The brothel is not a healthy place for children. When the customers come to the mothers, the children are sent out and they are just roaming around.’

Reflecting on the centre’s impact, Barna said, ‘This centre is changing children’s lives. Without the centre, the children can easily get into trouble. We are educating them and teaching them a good way to live. The most beautiful thing is when I see children who have been to the centre, who are grown up and are in a good place now. When I see that they are doing well, it brings joy to my heart.’

Helping-Hand Appeal

Each year the Helping-Hand Appeal focuses on a different area of The Salvation Army’s international work. Whilst the appeal videos and resources for 2026 will highlight this project in Bangladesh, money raised will be added to the international women and girls fund and used to support upcoming projects in this area of work.

Helping-Hand 2025, which is supporting our Food Security projects, will run until the end of this year. There is still time to support this year’s appeal either by using the free online resources to raise awareness, taking part in a fundraiser, or making a donation. Visit salvationist.org.uk/helpinghand for more information.

By Hayley Still