To apply for aid from the BesD Emergency Fund, contact a counselling centre near you (many addresses can be found –> here), or contact the BesD team directly at –> notfallfonds@besd-ev.de).
IMPORTANT: For an application to the BesD Emergency Fund, neither a „whore passport“, nor a residence permit in Germany, nor a membership at BesD is necessary. All donations from the BesD Emergency Fund go to sex workers in emergency situations, who are not entitled to state aid or have to bridge the time until then somehow.
Dear friends and supporters!
A high percentage of people in sex work live from hand to mouth. Many are not covered by health insurance, are not registered and are already affected by poverty.
We want to help. Therefore we have created the BesD Emergency Fund.
Our current focus is to work together to combat the effects of the Corona crisis on sex workers.With the nationwide closure of all prostitution facilities, the tightening of work bans, the drop in demand, as well as the increasing risk of working, the poorest of the poor are now fighting for their survival.
All donations go to sex workers in emergency situations, who are not entitled to state aid or have to bridge the time until then somehow. Every amount helps. But public attention is also essential – we would be very happy if you talk about this with your friends and share this emergency fund as widely as possible in your digital networks.
Stay healthy and safe,
Your BesD Team
BANK ACCOUNT TRANSFER:
BESD E.V.
IBAN: DE49100500000190290862
BIC: BELADEBEXXX
LANDESBANK BERLIN – BERLINER SPARKASSE
REFERENCE: EMERGENCY FUND
BesD Emergency Fund
Cases – Applications – Stories
Important Note on our case stories:
The life circumstances and problems that we describe in individual case histories are real and accurately reflect the current hardships of many sex workers in Germany. However, neither the age, place of residence, nationality, level of education, the chronological sequence, the description of certain life circumstances, the exact reason for the application nor the specific amount of the subsidised sum can be used to draw conclusions about the identity of individual applicants or their clients.
Maintaining the anonymity of their clients is one of the absolutely necessary prerequisites for the trust that is placed in counselling centres and social workers working in the field of sex work. Especially sex workers who belong to marginalized groups – such as immigrants without legal residence status – are forced to avoid contact with public authorities, offices or police for fear of sanctions.
Low-threshold counselling and other support services can only reach these people in the long term if a lasting relationship of trust is established and no private data is shared or published.
On the other hand, the urgency of the current crisis can be better conveyed by individual fates than by a series of numbers. These stories make the people behind the statistics visible and show where the donated money actually goes. In order to reconcile this contradiction – especially in the case of referrals via counselling centres – individual case histories were made anonymous, modified and transformed in content.
BesD Emergency Fund
Informations
YOU NEED HELP FOR YOURSELF OR A SEX WORKER YOU ARE ASSISTING?
IMPORTANT NOTE: The emergency fund cannot be reached until August 31, 2020. A list of local counselling centers can be found here.
Please contact:
- Tamara Solidor (sex worker + administration BesD e.V.)
- Nicole Schulze (sex worker + board member BesD e.V. + advisory board for street sex work)
Phone: 0049(0)179 – 41 67 88 3 (also Whatsapp, Telegram, or SMS possible)
E-Mail: notfallfonds@besd-ev.de
WHY IS YOUR DONATION NEEDED?
In the current situation, no sex worker should have to continue working for basic survival and therefore endanger her- or himself and others.
However, the lack of personal emergency funds due to poverty and the lack of entitlement to basic state benefits means exactly that: Even now, as the crisis intensifies, people are still doing sex work and looking for clients on the street or on the Internet. Many of the sex workers with no home in Germany have been living in their respective places of work – since the closure of brothels and clubs they have no place to go. They cannot currently return to their home countries either, as borders are closed and in most cases there is no money available for an unplanned trip anyway.
WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENS WITH YOUR DONATION?
Your donation will be used to fill the BesD Emergency Fund, from which sex workers in need can quickly receive financial help after the BesD has verified and assessed their application.
The BesD e.V. is in close contact with the nationwide Counselling Centres for Sex Workers (Bufas e.V.), the health authorities and other supporting organisations. Many committed allies and social workers have been working for years at the most difficult hotspots of the industry, helping and supporting those sex workers who need it most. They can apply for money from the emergency fund on behalf of the most vulnerable sex workers and thus help those who are particularly affected by the crisis in a hands-on way.
WHO BENEFITS FROM YOUR DONATION?
The BesD Emergency Fund is aimed exclusively at those sex workers who are most vulnerable and unlikely to have access to state aid funds or loans. These people are in existential difficulties due to the current crisis. They need immediate financial help to secure housing and food.
Grants from the BesD Emergency Fund are allocated secondary to state benefits, this means: Any possible claims for help from the state (e.g. job centre, social welfare office, health insurance) need to be taken care of first and before submitting an application to grants from this particular fund. A regularly updated overview of state aids for sex workers can be seen HERE.
YOU HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS?
Please contact:
Tamara Solidor (Administration BesD e.V.)
Phone: 0049(0)179 – 41 67 88 3 (also Whatsapp, Telegram, or SMS possible)
E-Mail: notfallfonds@besd-ev.de