This is Lindy, she’s no different to any other girls her age, who play with dolls, but there is a part of her life that’s very different to most girls.
Prostitution is commonly known as the world’s oldest profession and it may soon be legalised in South Africa.
For many women it’s the only source of income and ladies working the darker side of town soon become street hardened but, there’s an uglier side of the profession that not many people are aware of.
Lindy: Somebody likes to fuck, somebody likes a blow job. I’ve got others who like to suck my tits because I’m still young.
Cindy: 50 for a fuck.
Veronica: If you want to fuck it’s 50 Rand.
Girl: How much? 50.
Cindy is one of the many girls on the streets of Johannesburg doing the only work she knows in order to survive.
Cindy: Because I want the money for, to buy the clothes and shoes and many things.
Sam, a Pimp: I must take the number plate of the car to make sure if he doesn’t bring the woman back so we can report the car.
Capt du Plessis believes the changing attitude towards prostitution as a crime, has not made his task any easier.
Capt Herman du Plessis, Narcotics Bureau, SA Police: I think for the moment what’s a radical problem for us is the grey area with the legalisation, or not, of prostitution by the constitution of court. The courts don’t want to accept these cases, so don’t help us to catch any of these people because I’m not prosecuting at this stage. That’s our problem number one. I think the second problem we’ve got is to prove the age and the co-operation of the witnesses. Even if she’s under twelve or sixteen, if you catch these people they don’t give any evidence because they want to go back, they must provide for themselves, and tomorrow they will be back on the street. Even if we put them in a place of safety, the problem is at the end of the day they will be back on the street and they will go on with this habit, that’s the only way they can provide for themselves.
This young girl came to the city of gold in search of a better life, only to discover the reality of surviving in a big city.
Lindy: I come from Kwazulu Natal, my name is Lindy. I’ve come to Jo’burg to find work. I don’t find it. But I do this job. I do fuck and blow job. I don’t like it. I’ve got no parents. I do this job because there’s no work here.
When one of Lindy’s regular customers arrived she walked across and showed him what she had to offer. But as soon as he saw the television camera he decided it was time to leave. This was one unhappy customer and he was determined not to get his number plate taken.Lindy thought the whole episode was quite amusing, but on second thought decided that she might be losing one of her regular customers.
Child prostitution is not restricted to Johannesburg, all large cities have this problem. These two girls work the streets of Victoria.
Q: How old are you?
A: Fourteen years old.
Lynne: My name is Lynne.
Q: When were you born?
Lynne: 1985, the fifth of November.
Veronica: My name is Veronica, I’m staying in Mammy Road. I’m here because I don’t have the money, I don’t go to school. That’s why I’m here because I want the money. I do blow jobs, and I suck.
And although these girls enjoyed playing next to the street, the customers they were trying to attract had other games in mind.
The girls were singing and dancing but their pimps soon became bored with child’s play and put them back to work.
Then a customer arrived and Sam, the pimp, started negotiating, but a deal was not struck, until later in the evening the pimp was called across to fetch the money and give Veronica a condom, and with the deal concluded the satisfied customer drove off with Veronica.
Fifteen minutes later we decided to ride into the open veld to pay him a visit. The customer looked surprised and was unsure of what was happening.
Man: Can you tell me what is happening?
A:This girl is fourteen years old.
Man: How do you know?
A: Ask her. Man: How old are you?
Girl: Fourteen.
Man:I’m just talking to her.
Interviewer: She’s under age.
Man: How would I know? Just take this away from me. I
Interviewer: Get off my camera.
Man: Why you want to take a fucking picture of me?
Interviewer: Leave my camera alone… What are you doing here?
Man: It’s got nothing to do with you. It’s private, it’s got fuck all to do with you whatever I am doing now.
Interviewer: How much does this man give you for this girl?
Pimp: 50 bucks.
Interviewer: He gave you 50 bucks for what?
Pimp: For fuck.
Our unhappy client then drove Veronica back to the pick up spot and simply demanded a refund as he had not finished his business.
The girls called the pimp across and told him the story. Sam, the pimp, returned his money, and the customer left.
Veronica: That man fucked me and he says he wants that money back because he don’t finish.
This good Samaritan initially wanted to help the unhappy customer.
Passer-by: I was passing by here and I saw a car with the camera behind and I saw this car chase away around the corner. So I pulled him over. I thought it was something like… I don’t know, I witnessed a gun-point hold-up on the highway earlier today… so I thought it was something like that. And I asked him and he said, ‘no I was just pulling over to answer the call of mother nature’. So I said let’s go and beat these guys up, that’s the attitude I stopped here with. And then I understood that’s he’s actually got a prostitute of under 14 years old – or 14 years old…
Man: How old are you?
Veronica: 14.Man: 14 years old? And what did that man do to you – that man with the red car?
Veronica: He fucked me. That car stopped to fuck me.
Passer-by: So what do you think of that? You should shoot that bastard! I mean he’s doing it in public, alongside the street with a 14 year old. Most likely he’s got a wife at home waiting for him, little children running around and he’s doing things like this at 1.45 am, with a 14 year old, and he’s even paying for it.
Veronica: His children are sleeping.
Passer-by: His children?
Veronica: Yes, they’re sleeping.
According a leading South African sex therapist child prostitution is a sickness exploited mainly by men.
Dr Bernard Levinson Sexologist: The males are the clients, women don’t do this kind of thing. The children can be boys or girls. But the basic underlying problem of course is poverty, that drives children into this kind of world.
Capt Herman du Plessis, Narcotics Bureau, SA Police: A lot of the time these children don’t give you huge co-operation to get hold of their parents, they just tell you they don’t know where their parents are, or their parents are dead, or they must provide for themselves. Because they don’t want to go back, if they go back they go to a poorer situation, and if they’re on the street they can provide for themselves. They’re willing to take the risk of assault, serious assault, or even murder, to make a couple of bucks.
Dr Bernard Levinson: Normal prostitution caters for men who are looking for some excitement, something different. They can behave with a prostitute in ways they wouldn’t dream of behaving with their own wives, larger than life I guess. But prostitution with children caters for a very sick group of men who are so inadequate they can’t function with normal women. They only want someone who is innocent, who will look up to them and who will allow them to have total control.
Captain Visser of the Pretoria child protection unit believes that his team is faced with an enormous task. He says children refuse to testify as this is how they earn a living.
Captain Gerrie Visser, Child Protection Unit, Pretoria: I have been with the Pretoria child protection unit for 8 years, and there are more and more child prostitutes on the streets. It’s almost impossible to stop this. Where with previous legislation prostitutes were arrested and convicted, these laws are not applicable to children. It is pointless to press charges against the child. We handle them in terms of the child protection act. As I’ve said, you remove them today and tonight they are back on the street, so it’s almost a losing battle that the police are fighting against child prostitution.
Sergeant Kate Sithole has nine years service with the unit and claims to have seen many abused children during this period.
Sergeant Kate Sithole, Child Protection Unit, Pretoria: A lot of them have escaped from home and they’re doing this job here in Pretoria and their parents don’t know about it. So if you try to help them, take them home, then the following day you see them back on the street selling. They’re selling it cheap… 50 Rand, 30 Rand, and they take any man. That’s the problem. We’re trying but these children they’re in need of money.
Woman: They’re young girls, they don’t allow you to film here because they’re underage. They’re not over 18 here. There’s plenty of young girls over there.
While patrolling the streets of Pretoria the child protection unit came across this group of young boys working one of the darkest streets of the city.
Representative of Protection Unit: Come here young man. How old are you?
Farnie, the boy: 16.
This particular boy first claimed he was simply standing around with his friends. He was unsure how to handle the situation and looked back to his friends for help. But they were not going to move any closer and Farnie was on his own.
Farnie: The queers pick us up and they pay us to toss them off..anything…But we didn’t suck and we didn’t fuck
Child Protection rep: What’s your name?
Reynard: Reynard.
Rep: And what are you doing here?
Reynard: I was passing by here and I met them on the corner. As far as I’m concerned these boys are unemployed. Things do happen and are taken too far.
Farnie: I’m here for about five hours a day. If the guys stop we go to them and ask them if they’re here for business. If they say yes they ask how much do we ask. So it’s mostly up to 100 we ask. They take us somewhere where nobody can see us, then OK we don’t fuck them and we don’t suck them. They only suck us or we wank them or they wank us.
Q: Where are you parents?
Farnie: My parents are at home.
Q: Do they know what you do?
Farnie: No. The job is dangerous sometimes. Because you don’t know what they’re going to do to you. Maybe they’re just going to suck you or something and then they’re going to kill you. Or they’re going to hit you and throw you out of their car.
Q: So why are you still doing it?
Farnie: I need the money.
Q: For what reason?
Farnie: I’m going to buy myself something. I don’t know what yet but I save some money and I use some money. I save some money because I want to buy something when I'm bigger, I want to buy something big. Buy myself a motorbike.
Q: Are you planning to do this for a long time?
Farnie: No not for a long time. I'm planning to do this for about… this week and next week.
Q: Are you living with a single parent?
Farnie: Yes. With my mother.
Q: Where's your father?Farnie: My father is in Ladysmith in Natal.
Q: Are they divorced?
Farnie: Yes there are divorced.
Q: Why do you do it for 400 Rand a day?
Farnie: 400 Rand a day?
Q: You said you have four customers a day.
Farnie: Not always, sometimes it's only one.
Q: Do you use drugs.
Farnie: No I don't use drugs.
Q: Is it just for luxuries?
Farnie: No just for the money.
Farnie, a scared little boy, was unsure of what was going to happen to him next. He looked relieved when he could go back to Reynard.
Captain Gerrie Visser: No action is taken against child prostitutes. But they are taken to a place of safety.
Captain Hutcheons of the Child Protection Unit says that he can win the fight against child prostitution.
C
aptain Edward Hutcheons: For tonight's bust we've arranged a place of safety for five potential child prostitutes. We can't arrange more than that because most of these places of safety are overcrowded. We only got space for 5. We haven't got places if we go out and bust 20 of them. That will be a problem for the children's court commissioner as well as the places of safety.
Hutcheons: Can you show me your ID?
These two girls were taken in for questioning because they could not prove their age. They had no form of identity and could not remember their home addresses.
Back at the offices in Braamfontein the girls were taken for individual counselling.
Counsellor: If you go back and it happens again we need to make sure that you look for help in other ways and don't have to run away. That's important because the life that you're leading now is a dangerous one and it's not good for a young person to be leading this type of life.
Girl: It scares me but when I look there's nothing more that I can do that can bring me money so that I can survive.
Captain Edward Hutcheons: To arrest or pick up one of these child prostitutes makes our work very difficult because once you pick up one of them your presence spreads like veld fire into town and they all disappear. Once you pick up that girl and you on to the next corner or the next block, they're all gone.
Linda Grobler, Social Worker: Welfare Department: I think it's frustrating because the places of safety are overcrowded most of the time. They are full. And it happens often that you have to phone a lot of the places of safety before you can actually get a place to accommodate a child. And you actually need to go back and see which one is most overcrowded or least overcrowded and ask them can you please assist me because these other places are overcrowded by this number and you seem to be overcrowded by the least. But they usually have a positive attitude towards us and they do help us in the end if they really need the help. As I say I think the answer still lies in the strength of our communities and getting volunteers in our communities involved.
Grobler, on phone: Can you help me? I've got a 15 year old. Have you got a place for one tomorrow night. She's at Braamfontein. Can you wait for half an hour or three quarters of an hour…How many are left? No. no, look I am sitting with a 15-year old girl at the moment that we must place before tomorrow morning. She is here at Branttantain Karbel one. I already phoned Walter Sisulu but they are already over the total that they are allowed to take in. Have you got place for one? Thank you very much. OK. You can expect her in the next ½ to ¾ hour. Excuse me, who am I talking to? Okay. OK we have a place for her.
Q: Where did you find it?
Grobler: A women's house in Edenvale. A women's governmental place of safety.
Captain Gerrie Visser: We will continue serving the community and as far as possible, we will try to curb child prostitution. As well as arresting and charging people who use children as prostitutes, if we have enough evidence. We will continue the fight, but if we are able to win the war I cannot say.
Captain Edward Hutcheons: Since I started at this unit about six years ago, I don't know of any successful conviction. We did arrest one of the pimps in Johannesburg, we took all the children's statements. Eventually the case was withdrawn because all the witnesses disappeared. It is difficult to prosecute people for child prostitution, because it's difficult to arrest these people.
For this child a place of safety could be the start of a brighter future.
Counsellor: These are actually her sister's clothes that she was out in tonight…Would you like to come through? She doesn't speak any English…You're going to stay here for a while OK? Good luck.
Lindy has had a bad day at work. Business has been slow, and Manny, one of her regular clients, was scared away by our camera. But for as long as she has a roof over her head, there's rent to be paid. So Lindy thought it was time for us to leave. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
Lindy: Guys goodbye, I'm sleeping now because I don't work today because you film my customers.
Prostitution is commonly known as the world’s oldest profession and it may soon be legalised in South Africa.
For many women it’s the only source of income and ladies working the darker side of town soon become street hardened but, there’s an uglier side of the profession that not many people are aware of.
Lindy: Somebody likes to fuck, somebody likes a blow job. I’ve got others who like to suck my tits because I’m still young.
Cindy: 50 for a fuck.
Veronica: If you want to fuck it’s 50 Rand.
Girl: How much? 50.
Cindy is one of the many girls on the streets of Johannesburg doing the only work she knows in order to survive.
Cindy: Because I want the money for, to buy the clothes and shoes and many things.
Sam, a Pimp: I must take the number plate of the car to make sure if he doesn’t bring the woman back so we can report the car.
Capt du Plessis believes the changing attitude towards prostitution as a crime, has not made his task any easier.
Capt Herman du Plessis, Narcotics Bureau, SA Police: I think for the moment what’s a radical problem for us is the grey area with the legalisation, or not, of prostitution by the constitution of court. The courts don’t want to accept these cases, so don’t help us to catch any of these people because I’m not prosecuting at this stage. That’s our problem number one. I think the second problem we’ve got is to prove the age and the co-operation of the witnesses. Even if she’s under twelve or sixteen, if you catch these people they don’t give any evidence because they want to go back, they must provide for themselves, and tomorrow they will be back on the street. Even if we put them in a place of safety, the problem is at the end of the day they will be back on the street and they will go on with this habit, that’s the only way they can provide for themselves.
This young girl came to the city of gold in search of a better life, only to discover the reality of surviving in a big city.
Lindy: I come from Kwazulu Natal, my name is Lindy. I’ve come to Jo’burg to find work. I don’t find it. But I do this job. I do fuck and blow job. I don’t like it. I’ve got no parents. I do this job because there’s no work here.
When one of Lindy’s regular customers arrived she walked across and showed him what she had to offer. But as soon as he saw the television camera he decided it was time to leave. This was one unhappy customer and he was determined not to get his number plate taken.Lindy thought the whole episode was quite amusing, but on second thought decided that she might be losing one of her regular customers.
Child prostitution is not restricted to Johannesburg, all large cities have this problem. These two girls work the streets of Victoria.
Q: How old are you?
A: Fourteen years old.
Lynne: My name is Lynne.
Q: When were you born?
Lynne: 1985, the fifth of November.
Veronica: My name is Veronica, I’m staying in Mammy Road. I’m here because I don’t have the money, I don’t go to school. That’s why I’m here because I want the money. I do blow jobs, and I suck.
And although these girls enjoyed playing next to the street, the customers they were trying to attract had other games in mind.
The girls were singing and dancing but their pimps soon became bored with child’s play and put them back to work.
Then a customer arrived and Sam, the pimp, started negotiating, but a deal was not struck, until later in the evening the pimp was called across to fetch the money and give Veronica a condom, and with the deal concluded the satisfied customer drove off with Veronica.
Fifteen minutes later we decided to ride into the open veld to pay him a visit. The customer looked surprised and was unsure of what was happening.
Man: Can you tell me what is happening?
A:This girl is fourteen years old.
Man: How do you know?
A: Ask her. Man: How old are you?
Girl: Fourteen.
Man:I’m just talking to her.
Interviewer: She’s under age.
Man: How would I know? Just take this away from me. I
Interviewer: Get off my camera.
Man: Why you want to take a fucking picture of me?
Interviewer: Leave my camera alone… What are you doing here?
Man: It’s got nothing to do with you. It’s private, it’s got fuck all to do with you whatever I am doing now.
Interviewer: How much does this man give you for this girl?
Pimp: 50 bucks.
Interviewer: He gave you 50 bucks for what?
Pimp: For fuck.
Our unhappy client then drove Veronica back to the pick up spot and simply demanded a refund as he had not finished his business.
The girls called the pimp across and told him the story. Sam, the pimp, returned his money, and the customer left.
Veronica: That man fucked me and he says he wants that money back because he don’t finish.
This good Samaritan initially wanted to help the unhappy customer.
Passer-by: I was passing by here and I saw a car with the camera behind and I saw this car chase away around the corner. So I pulled him over. I thought it was something like… I don’t know, I witnessed a gun-point hold-up on the highway earlier today… so I thought it was something like that. And I asked him and he said, ‘no I was just pulling over to answer the call of mother nature’. So I said let’s go and beat these guys up, that’s the attitude I stopped here with. And then I understood that’s he’s actually got a prostitute of under 14 years old – or 14 years old…
Man: How old are you?
Veronica: 14.Man: 14 years old? And what did that man do to you – that man with the red car?
Veronica: He fucked me. That car stopped to fuck me.
Passer-by: So what do you think of that? You should shoot that bastard! I mean he’s doing it in public, alongside the street with a 14 year old. Most likely he’s got a wife at home waiting for him, little children running around and he’s doing things like this at 1.45 am, with a 14 year old, and he’s even paying for it.
Veronica: His children are sleeping.
Passer-by: His children?
Veronica: Yes, they’re sleeping.
According a leading South African sex therapist child prostitution is a sickness exploited mainly by men.
Dr Bernard Levinson Sexologist: The males are the clients, women don’t do this kind of thing. The children can be boys or girls. But the basic underlying problem of course is poverty, that drives children into this kind of world.
Capt Herman du Plessis, Narcotics Bureau, SA Police: A lot of the time these children don’t give you huge co-operation to get hold of their parents, they just tell you they don’t know where their parents are, or their parents are dead, or they must provide for themselves. Because they don’t want to go back, if they go back they go to a poorer situation, and if they’re on the street they can provide for themselves. They’re willing to take the risk of assault, serious assault, or even murder, to make a couple of bucks.
Dr Bernard Levinson: Normal prostitution caters for men who are looking for some excitement, something different. They can behave with a prostitute in ways they wouldn’t dream of behaving with their own wives, larger than life I guess. But prostitution with children caters for a very sick group of men who are so inadequate they can’t function with normal women. They only want someone who is innocent, who will look up to them and who will allow them to have total control.
Captain Visser of the Pretoria child protection unit believes that his team is faced with an enormous task. He says children refuse to testify as this is how they earn a living.
Captain Gerrie Visser, Child Protection Unit, Pretoria: I have been with the Pretoria child protection unit for 8 years, and there are more and more child prostitutes on the streets. It’s almost impossible to stop this. Where with previous legislation prostitutes were arrested and convicted, these laws are not applicable to children. It is pointless to press charges against the child. We handle them in terms of the child protection act. As I’ve said, you remove them today and tonight they are back on the street, so it’s almost a losing battle that the police are fighting against child prostitution.
Sergeant Kate Sithole has nine years service with the unit and claims to have seen many abused children during this period.
Sergeant Kate Sithole, Child Protection Unit, Pretoria: A lot of them have escaped from home and they’re doing this job here in Pretoria and their parents don’t know about it. So if you try to help them, take them home, then the following day you see them back on the street selling. They’re selling it cheap… 50 Rand, 30 Rand, and they take any man. That’s the problem. We’re trying but these children they’re in need of money.
Woman: They’re young girls, they don’t allow you to film here because they’re underage. They’re not over 18 here. There’s plenty of young girls over there.
While patrolling the streets of Pretoria the child protection unit came across this group of young boys working one of the darkest streets of the city.
Representative of Protection Unit: Come here young man. How old are you?
Farnie, the boy: 16.
This particular boy first claimed he was simply standing around with his friends. He was unsure how to handle the situation and looked back to his friends for help. But they were not going to move any closer and Farnie was on his own.
Farnie: The queers pick us up and they pay us to toss them off..anything…But we didn’t suck and we didn’t fuck
Child Protection rep: What’s your name?
Reynard: Reynard.
Rep: And what are you doing here?
Reynard: I was passing by here and I met them on the corner. As far as I’m concerned these boys are unemployed. Things do happen and are taken too far.
Farnie: I’m here for about five hours a day. If the guys stop we go to them and ask them if they’re here for business. If they say yes they ask how much do we ask. So it’s mostly up to 100 we ask. They take us somewhere where nobody can see us, then OK we don’t fuck them and we don’t suck them. They only suck us or we wank them or they wank us.
Q: Where are you parents?
Farnie: My parents are at home.
Q: Do they know what you do?
Farnie: No. The job is dangerous sometimes. Because you don’t know what they’re going to do to you. Maybe they’re just going to suck you or something and then they’re going to kill you. Or they’re going to hit you and throw you out of their car.
Q: So why are you still doing it?
Farnie: I need the money.
Q: For what reason?
Farnie: I’m going to buy myself something. I don’t know what yet but I save some money and I use some money. I save some money because I want to buy something when I'm bigger, I want to buy something big. Buy myself a motorbike.
Q: Are you planning to do this for a long time?
Farnie: No not for a long time. I'm planning to do this for about… this week and next week.
Q: Are you living with a single parent?
Farnie: Yes. With my mother.
Q: Where's your father?Farnie: My father is in Ladysmith in Natal.
Q: Are they divorced?
Farnie: Yes there are divorced.
Q: Why do you do it for 400 Rand a day?
Farnie: 400 Rand a day?
Q: You said you have four customers a day.
Farnie: Not always, sometimes it's only one.
Q: Do you use drugs.
Farnie: No I don't use drugs.
Q: Is it just for luxuries?
Farnie: No just for the money.
Farnie, a scared little boy, was unsure of what was going to happen to him next. He looked relieved when he could go back to Reynard.
Captain Gerrie Visser: No action is taken against child prostitutes. But they are taken to a place of safety.
Captain Hutcheons of the Child Protection Unit says that he can win the fight against child prostitution.
C
aptain Edward Hutcheons: For tonight's bust we've arranged a place of safety for five potential child prostitutes. We can't arrange more than that because most of these places of safety are overcrowded. We only got space for 5. We haven't got places if we go out and bust 20 of them. That will be a problem for the children's court commissioner as well as the places of safety.
Hutcheons: Can you show me your ID?
These two girls were taken in for questioning because they could not prove their age. They had no form of identity and could not remember their home addresses.
Back at the offices in Braamfontein the girls were taken for individual counselling.
Counsellor: If you go back and it happens again we need to make sure that you look for help in other ways and don't have to run away. That's important because the life that you're leading now is a dangerous one and it's not good for a young person to be leading this type of life.
Girl: It scares me but when I look there's nothing more that I can do that can bring me money so that I can survive.
Captain Edward Hutcheons: To arrest or pick up one of these child prostitutes makes our work very difficult because once you pick up one of them your presence spreads like veld fire into town and they all disappear. Once you pick up that girl and you on to the next corner or the next block, they're all gone.
Linda Grobler, Social Worker: Welfare Department: I think it's frustrating because the places of safety are overcrowded most of the time. They are full. And it happens often that you have to phone a lot of the places of safety before you can actually get a place to accommodate a child. And you actually need to go back and see which one is most overcrowded or least overcrowded and ask them can you please assist me because these other places are overcrowded by this number and you seem to be overcrowded by the least. But they usually have a positive attitude towards us and they do help us in the end if they really need the help. As I say I think the answer still lies in the strength of our communities and getting volunteers in our communities involved.
Grobler, on phone: Can you help me? I've got a 15 year old. Have you got a place for one tomorrow night. She's at Braamfontein. Can you wait for half an hour or three quarters of an hour…How many are left? No. no, look I am sitting with a 15-year old girl at the moment that we must place before tomorrow morning. She is here at Branttantain Karbel one. I already phoned Walter Sisulu but they are already over the total that they are allowed to take in. Have you got place for one? Thank you very much. OK. You can expect her in the next ½ to ¾ hour. Excuse me, who am I talking to? Okay. OK we have a place for her.
Q: Where did you find it?
Grobler: A women's house in Edenvale. A women's governmental place of safety.
Captain Gerrie Visser: We will continue serving the community and as far as possible, we will try to curb child prostitution. As well as arresting and charging people who use children as prostitutes, if we have enough evidence. We will continue the fight, but if we are able to win the war I cannot say.
Captain Edward Hutcheons: Since I started at this unit about six years ago, I don't know of any successful conviction. We did arrest one of the pimps in Johannesburg, we took all the children's statements. Eventually the case was withdrawn because all the witnesses disappeared. It is difficult to prosecute people for child prostitution, because it's difficult to arrest these people.
For this child a place of safety could be the start of a brighter future.
Counsellor: These are actually her sister's clothes that she was out in tonight…Would you like to come through? She doesn't speak any English…You're going to stay here for a while OK? Good luck.
Lindy has had a bad day at work. Business has been slow, and Manny, one of her regular clients, was scared away by our camera. But for as long as she has a roof over her head, there's rent to be paid. So Lindy thought it was time for us to leave. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
Lindy: Guys goodbye, I'm sleeping now because I don't work today because you film my customers.