Monday, July 6, 2009

6th July 2009

A man in his late twenties was not willing to allow us conversations with a Singaporean sex worker of in the entrance of Lorong 20. Information was passed on the sex worker still. I was taken aback at the openness and boldness he displayed at quickly telling us to move away. His sense of authority was clear and he did this because we were blocking the way for potential clients to walk in. I wonder if our presence really makes a difference in the way their business is run. Would their customers think that we’re already taking the service of the woman if we were seen to talk to her?

One of the familiar pimps of this area still showed bad vibes as compared to the first time I met him. I wonder if the lack of friendliness is due to us imposing on his turf. He seems to have a lot of women under his watch and best thing was, he sets them in a place with dim lights. Would customers find this setting visible and what if the lack of lighting is one of the root causes of a lack of services taken up? Would placing the women in a place with better lighting help increase business?

Upon entering into Lorong 20, we met with lady (transgender) in traditional clothing. H offered biscuits but she responded in Mandarin to say no thank you. I wondered why she would respond in Mandarin when we spoke to her English. Could it be that she felt dis-empowered and showed her authority to H in an attempt to safeguard her social identity? That made me wonder how the sex workers see volunteers and our role in Geylang? Do we make people uncomfortable? Are we reinforcing certain norms they’re generally faced with in the world?

One of the highlights of this evening was meeting K. Her good nature was addictive and she is beautiful. A transgender with good sense of fashion, K shared that with her Pink IC, she is able to be let off by the police easily. She was once mistaken by police officers to be Indonesian of which she produced her IC to prove her nationality. A week ago (29th June 2009), Ai who is also a Singaporean, shared she did not have any good experience with law enforcers. She reported that her hair was pulled and that she was tied up with a plastic handcuff even though she offered to follow the officer in peace. Ai felt a great sense of injustice at being treated with disrespect. How would K and Ai channel their frustrations at such instances? Where would they receive recourse from? Would anyone ever listen or believe them when they share this?

It was precisely this point that brought me to the conclusion of tonight’s outreach. A reporter from The New Paper who was with us this evening asked that we include him on when we receive news of raids. He asked me if the stories I heard were something I’ve seen with my eyes. At that point of time, I truly understood and felt like I was in the shoes of a dis-empowered migrant worker or sex worker. That if I cannot produce evidence, I am guilty until proven innocent.