Diana lives in the brothel town of Daulatdia in Bangladesh. Her mother, Rabeya, is a sex worker.
It’s the only way Rabeya can make enough money to feed her five children.
Diana wants to be a doctor so that she can help the people that live in her town.
Diana has to walk these muddy and often dangerous alleyways through the brothel to get to school each day. But she doesn't mind it, because she wants to be a doctor.
Daulatdia is home to 1,500 women who sell their bodies to over 3,000 men each night. Their children live with them, the little ones often hiding under the bed while their mothers service their clients.
Open drains run down the narrow alleys and crumbling lanes, often clogged with rubbish and human waste. The passageways are full of market stalls, people cooking, and sex workers advertising their services.
A dangerous walk to school for boys and girls.
Daulatdia brothel is home to 1,500 sex workers who depend on prostitution for their survival. Such places are deliberately kept in obscurity and hidden from the eyes of the mainstream society.
Truck drivers make up the largest number of men who visit Daulatdia brothel, Trucks transporting rice, jute, sugar cane and fish across the country, queue here for two, sometimes three days, waiting for the ferry that will carry them over the river. While they wait, many of them pass the time in the alleyways and rooms burrowed inside Daulatdia, paying for the company of women who depend on the meagre income these grim interludes bring.
Daulatdia brothel is one of the largest brothels in the world. It is, in fact, so large that it has developed its own economy, with tailors, beauty shops, cigarette shops, phone shops and food stores.
It is here, in unmarked graves, in the rocky, rubbish-strewn field behind Daulatdia brothel that most of the women who live here will end their days. The social status of sex workers in Bengali society is considered so low, that regardless of whether they are Hindu, Muslim or Christians, the sex workers who live here are denied burial on consecrated ground.
“Growing up in the brothel is very hard. We have to be home before dark because it’s really dangerous at night. The men sit around drinking, and they make us children fetch them alcohol and drugs, and they use such dirty language and call us names. I wish I could go far away from here.”
Despite this seemingly horrific situation, Rabeya only wants the best for Diana.
Diana’s mother told us: “I wasn’t able to go to school when I was a child because my family was so poor. That’s why I want all of my children to get an education. The only reason I do this ugly profession is so that my kids can keep going to school."
In 1997, Save the Children opened the first and only school in Daulatdia, where children were able to get health care, meals, an education and lots of love from trained teachers.
Diana loves going to the KKS School, run by Save the Children. Her favourite subjects are social science and maths.
The school is a haven for girls like Diana, who desperately wants to have a better life outside of the brothel. “I want to continue my studies so I can move away from the brothel. Educational opportunities for children like me is good motivation to be a good citizen and lead a happier life.”
Diana is such a dedicated student, and she's always helping friends and neighbours with their school work.
Diana and her friends skip rope in the school yard during lunch time.
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Primary school aged children are going to school, where they are learning how to read and write and getting the education that will prevent their falling into a cycle of sex work.
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Children attend the pre-school