The long night out

M joined me and YL for a walk this evening. We did not anticipate this walk. It was raining earlier and we did not know if it is suitable to walk. R had the bag of goodies for outreach so we called out outreaching for the night. But we met with M and talked more about Project X and what M's proposal for December would be like. M is interested in the photographs taken by the sex workers.

We decided to bring M through the usual trail for exposure. YL is good at briefing at volunteers, she gives extensive information of the work beginning 9 months ago and the activities following it ever since. She gives case scenarious, focus on population of sex workers she's befriended and a general overview of why this project exists.

It was a quiet night. There were little women but more men around. I saw what looked like a gambling table with a Bangladeshi man overseeing it. He was saying something but I don't understand what it meant. I saw money on the table and a crowd of other men surrounding it. There was a little drizzle, wet pavements to avoid stepping on too.

It was Eid in Bangladesh and workers from Bangladesh are seen in this area donning a kurta/salwar khamiz, the loose fit version that is far more comfortable.

On Lorong 16, I saw a new worker I've never met before. She had on a shiny brown wig and sunglasses. I didn't register anything else when I saw that, I thought how nice it was to see something new on Lorong 16.

E or J were not around either. We stopped at the final location and I spotted a nice-looking dude on bicycle. I told M, I wouldn't mind speaking to him and she said maybe you should say, 'how much?'. It was interesting because I never thought of women paying male sex workers for their service. It made sense for M to tell me that.

YL got in touch with Ai and she invited us to her home. It is in a condo and she lived with her two pet dogs. Be and Sa live with her and share the rent as well. Be was out working for the night. Ai and Sa got back from shopping at Mustafa Centre, they shared their goods with us. Ai's two pet dogs are Jack Russells, the small-sized ones like the one featured as Milo in the movie, The Mask. We had tea, coffee and lemon tea. Sa wanted to make designs on a wall Ai gave her so she could make floral type works painted in black. She started on it mid-way through the conversations we were sharing. At one point, we had a good laugh when Ai's two pet dogs started arguing with each other. Ai pampers her dog to bits, she gives them fresh food and sleeps with them on the bed. She talks to them as if they were her kids.

The mood intensified as we got to know of Sa's recent troubles with her relatives. There were some difficult moments shared here and Sa looked like she was on the verge of tears. YL offered to bring her to the police station if she ever wished to report the issue. I think that it was a good move my YL to offer Sa an option of help even if she did not want to move forward with it.

The conversation went deeper, when Ai shared of her experiences with peers (or sisters as they call other transgenders) who commit suicide. There were various issues influencing this decision but I think one of the more bigger ones are trust with family or boyfriends.

Ai turns out to be a tarot card reader too and she read for me using the Unicorn Oracle cards.

Lorong Something

Stephanie Chan was kind enough to allow me to re-post this here. This is a poem created out of her first trip to Geylang.

Lorong Something

Some stray cats here have collars, sit in doorways of houses, others shit on piles of ashes. All, the same grey-white marks. One cat sleeps between the old lady by the drain (saying, she told me she felt itchy down there i tell her always tell him wash his mouth before bleblehbleh. because you dunno how many he bleh before after you---common sense) and the tall skinny Malay kid with the miniskirt some guy yells Ahmad at from his car, driving off. On a bad night, he stops: contusions, pulled hair, handcuffs, Ah Kwa. The kid leans against the drain railing. Waiting like the old lady. Still early: the moon not up yet. Just fire everywhere.

Blazing, both sides of the road, blazing controlled in metal drums. First day, Seventh Month: tis the season for sacrifice. Paper prayers turn to embers, ashes, heat. Smells changing from block to block, MRT station to coffeeshop: traffic fumes to belacan, garlic, bad breath; to where it spills onto the alley: smoke and sweat. Its hard to describe, though you’ve been here before in bad movies, TV. Here the streets are cleaner. No creepy music follows you round every cracked corner. Men push past, give you second glances. Clinical street lights, brighter. Clan association house: in front, a grey van, saris pushed up against. Red Bull inside for one dollar. Chinese man selling drinks to Construction Workers. In every house an altar (eh hurry move don’t block). Perfume, foundation, mascara, short-shorts. Checking faces in pocket mirrors, checking over their shoulders.

Eyes dart. They stand. Not really there but who is? Not the cars, taxis, drivers that slow as they crawl past. Don’t stare, keep going. All that separates you from her, human from girl: the difference between walking and stopping. In alleys behind coffeeshops, the Men and the world prepare to meet again:

Man U match on outdoor TV, beer, VCDs. Purgatory. We are all in limbo here.  

International Social Action Film Festival 2009

Zi Teng

12th September 2009 @ Sinema, Old School. Private screening.

The films shown were from Zi Teng, an NGO in Hong Kong advocating for sex workers' rights. I truly learnt from the speaker, social work-trained Elaine. She touched on points about how one who is volunteering for this work, are viewing sex work. In the video she brought to share at the screening, there was a scene where a longtime volunteer of Zi Teng asked about the nature of the work they do. Whether they are abetting and not solving the problem behind sex work outrightly. She said this having had heard sermons at her church. In a way, she is at a dilemma and wonder why she is doing it.

I believe this was important to note and Elaine did point out, it boils down as to whether we view sex work as work. Our own personal barriers would eventually surface too.

Yock Leng made clear distinctions between sex work and sex trafficking. This was in comparison of how womens’ groups or migrants’ group approach the topic of sex work and how they would like to operate and see their involvement as. Project X is still a project per say and this means; there are no clear guidelines as to how one should operate when volunteering. The organic nature of Project X may appeal to some as they can get creative (this blog is one example as I felt a whole load of experience should be documented). Others have helped through offering time to make a blog and some to do photography. These are natural ways of society documenting and archiving grassroots works. I think this is positive and allows for volunteers a sense of ownership.

I spoke and listened to a social worker from a Thai NGO called APNSW. She shared her story being a former sex worker and how she can connect with others. I like her and I think I would benefit from learning from her.

For that day, we ended up at food03 to dine and chat. I went home thinking about what kind of laws are there to protect sex workers who are licensed here in Singapore. This would apply to those in brothels but not streetwalkers. I wondered how the migrant sex workers who are street walkers cope with the fear they face when working.

7th September 2009

Ai brought Sn to meet with everyone today. There are two new volunteers who will help to set-up a blog.  She was preparing to move her belongings to the new place that night. She said there is concern over her pets at the new place. There needs to be a grill or cover to be placed on the windows. This is to prevent her pets from jumping off the 4th floor as compared to her former 1st floor flat. Ai pampers her pets a lot, they're like her children. She share that a certain animal welfare shelter in Singapore drowns newborn kittens due to space constraint. She used to volunteer at this charity group and friends working there shared these incidents to her. Complex. I cringed at the idea of helpless newborn kittens drowning in a pail filled with water.

This night was terribly silent. We heard that a van and a car pulled up one street after Lorong 16 hence this was meant to be a sign of the anti-vice approaching the streets. Amazing how word of mouth spread once anti-vice squads are spotted even before they reached geylang. We met with An, LJ and two others we've yet to establish rapport with. They're transgenders and are from Singapore. We didn't see any foreign sex workers tonight. Funny how the transgenders we met were able to still walk the streets despite the warnings of anti-vice spreading around as compared to the foreign sex workers. I've heard many times from the Singaporean sex workers that foreign sex workers are not able to talk their way through to police officers/anti-vice squad. I don't understand what it meant to talk through to police officers, but I presume this means, to talk in a light-manner tone, joke around and smile a lot? But I've also heard that even with this method of 'talking through',  Singaporean sex workers get caught still because at the end of the day, the anti-vice must bring in people to the station to fulfill quota.  

But this brings up more questions. How do the anti-vice squad decide when to make raids or when not to make raids? Do they have a schedule and what's the purpose of having raids? We've also heard testimonies of sex workers being mishandled by police officers, how is this dealt with? J was sharing that there is one tough anti-vice officer who is bald and big sized. He is the current officer on the unofficial watchlist of geylang for being brusque, foul-mouthed and not giving one a chance to speak up. The anti-vice squad may have their watchlist of places to raid, geylang have their own watchlist of anti-vice officers and this information helps keep the women informed. I think this raises awareness and helps one to recognise police officers who seem ready to unleash their rage/violence onto you. A man who can't control his rage well has been caged far too long.   

An. shared with us that the younger generation of police officers are ill-mannered. They use foul language like fuck a lot and this is in contrast to hokkien curse words. Maybe using the word fuck is a western form of rudeness that the Singaporean women are not fond of. J who popped by to chat with us when he spotted us on Lorong 16, said that the English used by westerners from USA are backwards. He said, Singaporeans use British English and we speak from the front. What I think he meant was that US English is not in clear sentences and does not have an end product, in contrast to British English where the sentences are formed and there is a direction to follow.

We walked over to the next street after Lorong 16 and true enough, saw police officers pulled up at a monastery in front of the usual coffeeshop hangout place we visit. It didn't look like a raid but more so an accident just happened.

Learning points? Anger has it's use but how it affects the other depends on why and how you use your anger. The male officers are perceptive in their views of sex workers, demonising the women which unconsciously taps onto the separation anxiety they've felt growing up with the mother-figure. Unfulfilled and sudden changes in childhood experiences could possibly be attributed to why our personalities are the way they are and why we end up in certain professions like law enforcement where performing rage could often be mistaken to be part of the job. When the real task at hand is to suss out clientele visiting geylang who're abusing the social laws of safety, HIV prevention and misleading foreign sex workers who's pimps are mostly concerned with the money they will be making and not the health of their workers. Similar to migrant workers who do not get outpatient care because costs borne by the employer is to hefty.

no show from me this week

A last minute call for work had me missing this week's outreach. I could not support Ai's visit to see the MP for her constituency. Ai is currently needing a new place for herself temporarily before getting a place of her own once divorce papers are filed in. The current tenant was not helpful but asked that she leave during the given deadline. Ai got two options to follow-up with her case and I think she will be doing so on her part. YL is hoping to contact her networks and assist in finding Ai a new place.

Moments

I saw this sign at a residential apartment in Geylang area. I didn't quite understand what it meant by 'hookers' and I thought it is more commonly used by Westerners. I wondered why this sign was here in the first place and what the objective would culminate into. How does the apartment management affirm that a potential tenant is a 'hooker'? To my knowledge, brothel owners apply licences (yellow card) for sex workers they hire but street walkers do not have one. So I wondered how would one identify a woman/man as a 'hooker'?  

On another note...


Met with Ai tonight at Geylang. She shared about being in the sex work business since 16. She shared about how her family don't check in on her enough. She shared about how she talked to God most of the time and sometimes even to herself. She loves her pets, always going home early to feed them. Ai is Singaporean, she doesn't like kissing men since young because she does not like the moist left on her lips.

An is also Singaporean, over 40. She shared today that her own daughter ran away from her many years ago with her money. She has an adopted daughter which she cares for a lot. She takes anti-depressants and says she thinks about her daughter a lot.

When Ai and I crossed the road, Ai she held my hands. She held it and I remember holding hands with my dad and mum and grandma. I was conscious of pressing her hand too hard as I didn't want to hurt her. She stared at me as if she knew that I was uncomfortable. We parted ways after crossing and I said I'd see her next week.

Maybe I'm not used to getting close to anyone not even family members. But I truly liked Ai and An, their stories are bizarre and how they work through their days intrigued me. I wondered if they could cook and if I could learn from them some dishes to make.

Confronting the Empire

Tonight was one of the first few nights I’ve witnessed a sense of progression. Aside from the activities in line for awareness-raising from the volunteers, L shared about the possibility of reporting cases of mismanagement of power from the police. This means, an officer using vulgarities and other verbal abuses will be dealt with. In a bid to confront the empire, L showed a spark of heroism. A long-time coming, or is it just me perceiving a brief encounter?

H brought a friend who summed up her experience well. She focused on how the space made her felt, more specifically for areas where the ‘fish-tank’ is and other darkly corners. The feeling of being on the edge and alert of one’s environment adds a layer of mystic to Geylang. The space feels like a township on its own, a character misunderstood by many. There are spots distanced from the main areas of visibility, suitably created for different dealings. A barber, a dealer or a teary woman. What’s their story? Tonight, the group felt that much closer to confronting the empire.