Paula, survivor of trafficking, has stated that the moment that made her «explode» was when two «drunk and drugged johns» arrived one day and said ‘these lines look good on this black girl’.
«And I’m going to tell you what made me explode. It was a day when two drunk and drugged johns arrived who wanted to be with a girl. And what happened? They wanted a black girl. They forced me to enter. I didn’t want to, but they forced me. And the most offensive thing of all was that they used a word that was so, so offensive: ‘these lines look good on this black girl’. Of course, they put the cocaine lines on my body for them to use,» Paula said.
This is what Paula expressed at the Congress of Deputies, at the inauguration of the exhibition ‘The voice of survivors through Stitches of Dignity’, organized by the Association for the Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Assistance to Prostituted Woman (APRAMP), which showcases nine dresses made by survivor women in the association’s textile workshop.
Paula is Dominican and arrived in Spain in 2021 «hoping for a better future, seeking another alternative.» «A friend told me that the best destination for me to come in search of a new life was here. And I, in the state I was in, vulnerable in my country and in need, decided to come to Spain,» she recounted.
She also explained that when she arrived in Madrid, she found a reality that was not what she expected. «First, I couldn’t work because I didn’t have documentation. In my country, without documentation, you work even on a corner selling fruits. I thought it would be the same here,» she pointed out.
Along the same lines, her friend told her after two weeks that the «only way» she had to make a living was to go to an apartment. Although, Paula added that she thought it was to take care of a child or an elderly person, not to prostitute herself. «I had no other choice but to accept. I accepted, but what I didn’t know was that I was about to start the biggest nightmare of my life,» she said.
Furthermore, she added that in order to have a livelihood, she had to lock herself in a room to consume drugs and be at the mercy of them doing «whatever they wanted» with her body. She also expressed that she was afraid of being deported. «I had already accumulated debt because there came a time when I became a drug addict. I was no longer a person, I depended on my exploiters and the vice,» she emphasized.
Thus, she recounted that after a whole night in which they «made a profit» and «played» with her body «in every possible way,» she decided to call APRAMP. «Whether for better or for worse, I was desperate,» she said, adding that the association sent a mediator as a doctor.
Paula specified that APRAMP provided her with an individualized itinerary, detoxified her, and facilitated psychological therapy. She proudly announced that she is now an intercultural mediator for the association.
«I want to be seen as a survivor and a fighter. Because thanks to the support I have received, today I can be here and no woman should agree to be exploited. No woman should agree to be abused and enslaved,» she concluded.
APRAMP ASKS POLITICAL PARTIES TO «ADD, NOT SUBTRACT»
On the other hand, the executive director of APRAMP, Rocío Mora, demanded during her speech at the event prevention, protection, prosecution of the crime, and «above all, partnership.» «And if we are not together, the ones who benefit are the ones who exploit, the ones who enslave, the ones who maximize profits. I am not willing to live in a country where a quality stamp is placed on a human being,» she emphasized. She also urged political parties to «add, not subtract.»
Finally, Mora explained that last year APRAMP informed more than 8,850 people, mostly women and girls, and provided an individualized insertion itinerary to over 2,225. She also mentioned that more than 225 found employment.
