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 Evening
Herald, 27th July 2006
RTE star Paul Byrom has told of his shock after witnessing child
prostitutes in Calcutta selling their bodies for as little as €1.50.
Paul described his recent GOAL trip to India with rugby ace and
old pal Gordon D’Arcy as a life-changing experience.
Speaking exclusively to the Evening Herald, he said: “It
was just horrific stuff. You would want to have a heart of
stone not to be upset by it. It really was min-blowing seeing
it first-hand.”
During the week-long trip, he and Gordon visited a number of GOAL
projects running in a rural development village, a city slum and
a crèche in Calcutta’s red-light district.
 But
of all the harrowing scenes he saw during his trip, he described
the visit to see the teenage prostitutes as the most disturbing.
“GOAL, who run a night crèche for prostitutes’
children, told us in advance about what we were going to see but
nothing can prepare you for this,” Paul said.
“Some of the girls were about 14, but the ages went up to
about 40 or 50. For full sex, they charge €1.50 and from
that, they would barely walk away with 75c because of their pimps.”
 He
and Gordon were told how one of the biggest problems for Calcutta
prostitutes is their clients’ refusal to use condoms, meaning
HIV is rampant.
“One image that really sticks in my mind is this really old
guy holding hands with this girl who was about 14 as she haggled
with him over the price. I just kept thinking how traumatised
she must be from it all.
However, Paul said he has also brought home a lot of positive
memories from the trip, including singing in front of thousands
of kids.
“We were taken to a theatre built below a temple and it holds
2,000 people and on this night, it was full of street children,”
he said.
“They had a huge poster saying, ‘Welcome Paul and Gordon’
and the kids held a concert for us. They danced and read poems,
it was quite moving.
“I sang Molly Malone because it’s about a woman who’s
poor, but happy. I couldn’t believe it when they started
singing the chorus. They learned if from Irish nuns,”
he laughed.
Paul revealed that GOAL’s John O’Shea had his work
cut out for him when it came to persuading Paul to head to India
– as he was worried about his stomach.
“I was a bit sceptical at first, only because I don’t
like Indian food. Gordon was grand, he wolfs everything down
but I’m a bit of a steak and spuds man.
“I know it sounds mad but I packed a bag of Pot Noodles,
Nutri Grain bars and two tubes of Pringles.”
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