Behind the unassuming facade of an ordinary Maltese townhouse, some 20 street prostitutes have been holding secret support meetings for the past year.

Their aim is simple: seeking shelter from pimps, abusive clients and the harsh reality of street prostitution.

The two-bedroom house, which was not photographed on the prostitutes’ request, has no signs identifying it as a shelter, and no website.

In fact, there is nothing at the outset which identifies it as anything other than an ordinary family home in the middle of an ordinary street.

“No one would ever guess what’s going on in this house and that’s the way we wanted it,” Nora Macelli CEO of the St Jeanne Antide Foundation, which runs the house, tells the Times of Malta.

Behind the front door, however, daily support sessions are held in what was once the living room.

A 21-year-old Maltese woman tells the group how she was first sexually abused by her father at the age of 13. When she became pregnant the following year, her father waited for the baby to be born before pushing her to work the streets, where she remains to this day.

Another prostitute of similar age recounts the perils of dealing on dark street corners.

She is terrified of being beaten and robbed by clients after sex – an occurrence which has happened to her on more than one occasion. It is also an experience many of the women sympathise with.

No one would ever guess this has been happening in this normal-looking house

Another prostitute’s concerns are even more basic. Unafraid to share her story in the safety of the house, she says how she is sure to have enough supply of wet wipes to clean herself between clients. She also fears her heroine-stained syringes piercing the condoms she keeps in her large handbag.

The house hears countless stories from the working girls, who attend in groups of around six at a time, daily from Monday to Friday.

“This is a service that wasn’t on offer to these women before this. They literally had nowhere to turn to,” Ms Macelli says.

She explains the project was set up just over a year ago after the NGO noticed a gap in the support provision for female prostitutes. Trying to plug this gap, the NGO started off offering a service to incarcerated sex workers, using a harmless crafts session to attract women to the possibility of engaging in support sessions and sexual health screening.

Screening is now also offered in what used to be a child’s bedroom in the house.

Public health expert Anna Vella, who runs a clinic in the house, said this was the most effective way to treat prostitutes.

“These women want to have the option to be checked. They do not want to feel like they have to be checked because they are a risk to society,” she says.

In the next room, bunk beds offer a quick rest away from the brothel and watchful eye of the women’s pimps.

“The main thing we wanted to give these women was a place that reached their basic human needs; shelter, food, comfort and support. It may sound simple but these women never had any of this,” Dr Vella says.

Many of the women attending the secret shelter have been imprisoned more than once and some fully expect to be arrested again, she adds.

A large portion of their visitors came to them straight from Corradino Correctional Facility, where most spend around a month and a half behind bars after relapsing.

“There is a cycle with falling back into prostitution. But this isn’t a profession. It is a traumatic experience women put themselves through because of debt and because they have nothing and no one to turn to.

“We want to change this,” Ms Macelli says.

Her mobile phone rings and she turns away to answer the call from another woman in need.