Published: Sunday | May 18, 2014
Seventeen-year-old Marsha Jamesis no stranger to hardship. Since she was 15, she has been on the streets selling her body to men who see her as fresh meat to be used, abused, spat out and discarded.
According to Marsha, while she has earned some money from the sex trade she has had some experiences that no child should ever endure.
"I remember I was hungry one day and I went to a dance, and the first thing a young man called me and asked me is what I wanted to drink, and I told him and he bought it. After I had the drink I started to feel bad and to vomit.
"It is like mi nuh know myself again. Mi wake up at a house weh three man rape mi, beat mi and other things. In the morning, the same one who bring mi to the house give mi $300 to pay mi fare go home," said Marsha.
The teenager did not report her abuse to the police because of fear that she would have been placed in a state facility as a child in need of care and protection.
That is just one of the many incidents that Marsha and other child prostitutes have had to face.
regularly abused
She said because of their age, abuse and cruelty have regularly been meted out to them.
"One guy take mi away and lock mi up inna him house fi two days and nuh gi mi no food fi eat," Marsha recounted.
"When him ready, like him bun him weed and drink and him come in and him just want sex, sex, sex. Inna di last part, mi see him buy a bulla and a juice carry come give mi, but by the time him carry that ... gas full mi up and me couldn't eat it.
"One night him let me out and mi find mi way back home."
Marsha, who at age 14 left rural Jamaica and the school system without being able to read and write, was relying on an older sister who resided in Spanish Town to be a maternal figure. more
No comments:
Post a Comment