Siu Kam Wen, el escritor

Street children of all age groups were sexually active. Some of them were either already married, or separated, or involved in relationships having more than one partner. Joking, playing and sexual talk were common. Coarse language and slang words were very familiar among both girls and boys. In fact, it often seemed as if they didn’t have any other vocabulary. The street children were entertained by things that were related to the sexual act. One early morning, I observed some street boys fondling the penile region of a dog on the ground where they were sleeping. One of them was holding and massaging the penis of the dog. I found another group of boys giggling and playing with a condom hanging in a tree in a

180 park. Another day they were having fun with a brassiere they had found, by

putting it on other street boys. On one hot afternoon, a group of street boys were assembled on the ground looking downward at something with great interest. I was interested to know what they were doing, and was astonished to discover they were watching pornography on a cell phone. I was surprised how they had got that, so I asked them how they had uploaded the pornography. They replied: “It is very easy; the shopkeeper in the shop uploaded it for us. We can get this

everywhere; that is the shop [pointing to the nearest shop].” They had paid to upload such videos on their cell phone from a local shop.

Love, marriage and separation in relationships were common among them. I observed that street girls were more actively engaged in sexual activities than street boys. All the street girls said they were either married or separated, and many had extra-marital relationships. Marriages were casual unions tied up through a kind of formality by just saying ‘I want to marry you and we will stay together’, but some of the young people tried to signify their marriage differently, in a specific way, such as by putting their own blood in the middle of the parting in the bride’s hair. Marriage for the young people meant living together (on the streets) and give love and support to each other, similar to how wider society percieves marriage.

I found that the girls’ intention was to have a stable relationship, but I got the impression that these do not last long. A street girl told me that a street boy had put blood from cutting his own wrist on the middle of the parting in her hair, in a temple, ( this was a variation of the cultural custom of putting a pinch of crimson coloured powder, ‘sindur’ ), in Nepali society, putting a pinch of crimson powder in the middle of the parting of the bride’s hair is a custom which signifies the wedding knot. Putting their own blood instead of the crimson powder meant much the same as the marriage symbol to the street children, in that it signifies having a special relationship and being joined together. As a husband and a wife there is a promise of love and support of each other, in any situation. At the same time,

181 however,this young woman mentioned that the relationship had deteriorated, and at that point, she seemed very anxious and depressed. I later found the same married street girl had received a letter from another street boy suggesting love and sex: ‘I love you’ and ‘I sex you Rosy’. A number of participants during the course of their interviews stated that they had used this same girl (Rosy) for sex, and paid Rs.250, which is equivalent to about £2, to have sex. There was no doubt that multiple sexual relationships were very frequent among the street children and prostitution among the street girls was common. A street girl mentioned that she used to be a prostitute and was now a ‘madam’ of the prostitutes, ‘^bhalu’, in the area. She had become comfortable with me by this time, and said: “Come with me, I will take you to the place where we can find the prostitutes; they will be there waiting for the men.” She introduced me to a prostitute who she said was not a street girl. The way they behaved with each other gave me the impression of a close relationship. I asked her how they could recognize the prostitutes; she replied: “We can recognize them from their activities, but the lady I introduced you before, I have known for a long time.” The same street girl assertively asked for money from a woman who was walking across the road. She told me: “I take money from all the prostitutes of this area; otherwise they can’t do this job.”

Some street girls were waiting for clients almost every day. One drunken street girl was standing on a footpath near a bus station. I went up to her as I had met her already. She had a kind of small plastic purse in her hand, and I asked her what was inside the purse. She giggled and answered: “This thing [showing me a condom]; if someone comes then I may need it.” I asked her if she used a condom every time. She said: “I do use one every time; why would I offer sex to a stranger without a condom? Otherwise they need to pay more.” It is sometimes hard to get a man. I asked her if she had had a client the day before. She replied: “There was a man, but he left me near to a lodge; that was so sad for me, I felt bad.” I

interpreted what she said about using a condom as evidence of the girls’ general attitude to using condoms, and it was clear that they also used condoms as bargaining tool to earn extra money. I noticed one street girl involved in a sexual

182 act publicly, without any hesitation (see Figure 6-8). The photograph was taken during my field work in a hot sunny day in the mid afternoon. The image (taken at a discreet distance) involves a girl and two boys lying on the huge publicground and engaging in sexual activities. This behaviour was occurring in daylight and in a context in which such activity is illegal and a cultural taboo. I was aware that these three young people were all under the influence of alcohol at the time and the significance of this photograph is that it provides evidence of the links between substance misuse and high risk sexual behaviour.

Figure 6-8 Street children openly engaged in sexual activities (Photo taken: June 2010)

The girls seemed to be continually thinking about boys and switched their attention from the interviews if boys were noticed nearby. I was never fully successful in approaching some of the street girls; even they were interested in participating in the study. They easily abandoned our conversations and often were not interested in talking after boys had appeared in the area. Some of the street girls living on the street were pregnant and some had children. Girls were always trying to find street boys or outsiders who were able to provide money or support. Boys active in stealing or robbing were considered as the smartest, or the

183 leaders of a group. They were more often attached to girls, as the girls were more attracted to street boys who had good earnings. Some street girls stated they were living with their partners on the street. Regardless of whether they were married, street girls continued to be prostitutes for various reasons. One street girl living with a partner on the street stated that her husband beat her if she was not able to bring in money by prostitution. Another street girl’s rationale for having a partner was so as to avoid any harm from drug users or physical abuse during the night.

The girl said: “The man whom I am staying with is an old man. He works as a casual worker. He seems good and he has property back at home. He is saying he will take me to his home after marrying me. I want to go to his home and let others know me. If I go, I will document everything formally so I can claim the property; then I will not be on the street anymore.” She added: “He is telling me not to be a prostitute,” but she was still involved in prostitution to make money.

It was becoming clear that prostitution was rampant among the street children. I was having a chat with one young woman, trying to build up rapport, and whilst I was chatting with her, a group of street girls aged approximately 13 to 16 came over to us to greet the girl who was with me. The group of beautifully dressed girls left us after a few minutes. The girl stated: “Those girls looked clean, with nice dresses. I think that the dresses were given by their aunty.” When I asked who the aunty was, she answered: “Aunty is the one who provides work in a restaurant and in a massage parlour.” Later, what crossed my mind was that one of the girls of the group had refused to speak to me when I had tried to approach her for an interview the previous day, and she had told me: “I am in a hurry to go; I have to go to Aunty. I stayed with Aunty last night, and she has called me today, so I’m going now. I will talk with you later.” I got the impression that the girls were linked with pimps, and had been involved in prostitution from an early age.

I met one street boy who had a girlfriend from outside the street. The girl frequently came to the street to visit her partner, and this girl was emotionally attached to the street boy. She said: “I like this boy so much. I suggested that he should do different work but he did not listen to me and continued living on the

184 street.” She further stated: “I am three months pregnant now; I don’t want to abort this baby, but I also don’t know how to raise the baby, and I am worried what to do if my mother finds out about this.” She would sleep in a restaurant or on the street when she visited her partner. This relationship, which extended further than the street relationships, suggested that the sexual networking of the street children was widespread.