Standing at five feet two inches, Mary, a petite year-old, shares how she ended up as a sex worker on the streets. Her story is unique but almost like the dozens of girls on the streets, scrawny, bruised and huddled around a small light of hope. To her, sex was an act of love and a means of survival.
Indulging in the nightlife, scared and alone, it was the only way she knew she could survive. Looking at her, one would assume Mary was an innocent young girl, but her looks belie the fact that she has been a sex worker for sometime and for her, business was at its peak. She claimed she was always busy with clients; her clients surely must know she is young despite the odd coloured lipstick she wears and her tiny glittery dress.
But to them, it is pleasure before consciousness, excitement over dignity, lust over human decency. After 10 years on the streets, Mary has been exposed to all kinds of people and all kinds of treatment.
Brutality, accusations, the look of judgement from other people, hate, but very seldom love and care. Restaurants often ask us to leave even when we wish to buy. Mary also claims to have escorted clients in positions of power and with status in our very own communities. She began to evolve when she quickly realised that she needed to be tough if she wanted to survive on the streets. There were clients who would treat me badly, I made sure to give them a taste of their own medicine.
If they hit me, I would hit them back, but thank God I have the body and the legs to run away from those who overpower me. We go in groups. Life on the streets for a girl is difficult, we are subjected to ill treatment, to inappropriate touching and non-consensual intercourse.
