Pubdate: Sat, 08 Sep 2007 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2007 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Gabrielle Giroday Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) THIS WOMAN FOUND A WAY OFF THE STREET NOT every sex trade worker ends up on the streets, addicted and desperate. A year ago, using the street name "Caroline," this blond college student from south Winnipeg saw about 15 to 20 clients per day -- seven days a week -- on Aikins Street to make the $600 to $700 a day she needed to feed her addiction to crack cocaine. Her youth -- early 20s -- and good looks made her popular among professionals who cruised Aikins, and she'd work to cultivate relationships in hopes they'd turn into lucrative return trips. She's now drug-free and caring for her five-month-old daughter. It doesn't mean old ghosts don't still nip at her, she said. "I don't carry a bank card because if I had an awful day the first thing I want to turn to is my drug of my choice. An afternoon of doing it turns into a night, and then the next day, and then I'm back there again," she said. "I'm a smart girl who got wound up in a bad drug." She said she was devastated by the news her friend Fonessa Bruyere died. The teen was part of a close-knit group of girls and women who worked and clashed alongside each other on Aikins. "She told me she used to get picked on," Caroline said. "I was put out there and it didn't happen to me. Why did it happen to her? "I personalized myself so they could see me as someone. I would look them in the eye, when they were driving, so they could feel the eyes on them. If I can see you, you can see me." While the sex trade workers there often fought with each other over turf and clientele, Caroline said they also watched over each other hawkishly and often worked in pairs to record licence plates as they climbed into the trucks and jeeps lined up on the street. "I always pictured these guys just driving in from Garden City or River Heights," Caroline said, saying their clothes often hinted at upper-income professions. Many sex trade workers craved "smoking dates" -- they would get crack from a dealer and share it with customers. It provided a free high and left the customer impotent. Caroline said she rarely feared violence from familiar customers or drug dealers. But as a white sex trade worker, she said she attracted higher prices and this often angered other aboriginal workers. "It was surprising to me, how many of these girls came from caring families. A lot of these girls, they're first-generation (sex workers)," she said, flashing a bright smile that she said set her middle-class parents back about $3,000 for orthodontics during her teenage years. "In middle-class and upper-class families, these girls are seen as 'less than.' These guys always seem to forget 'this could be my daughter'... The john isn't the scary, slimy drunk, he's your bank teller. They're the ones saying 'oh my god, how dirty, how disgusting' but when nobody's looking, they're exactly what they're oohing and aahing about." She told herself she was doing a service -- saving a marriage or stopping the sexual abuse of a child. A devout Christian and Narcotic Anonymous devotee, she said an educational camp for sex workers she attended after being charged for her sex trade work changed her life Caroline's new life is a far cry from the North End shack where she once crashed. Now, she lives in a delicately appointed apartment lined with girlie indulgences like Shopaholic books and romantic comedy videos -- as well as her young daughter's toys. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman