YUNYUN

16, sex worker

ETHNICITY: Burman

BIRTHPLACE: Outskirts of Rangoon, Burma

INTERVIEWED IN: Rangoon, Burma

We met Yun in a hotel room in Rangoon one afternoon. Her boss was under the impression that we had hired her for the day. Before we started to talk, we drew the curtains shut against the bright afternoon sun. Yun spoke slowly and softly about the circumstances that led to her becoming a sex worker, often pausing to reflect on her words before she continued. Yun’s story reflects some of the major human rights crises in Burma today, including the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the healthcare crisis,¹¹ and the lack of access to education. The government’s severe mismanagement of the economy has left the country with a GDP per capita of $1,100—though independent economists place the figure at under $600.²² Such chronic poverty leaves many women like Yun vulnerable to the growing sex work industry.

The SPDC invests 40 percent of their budget into the military and only 3 percent on healthcare.

GDP per capita statistic of $1,100 is from the CIA World Factbook.

If I could, I would rewind my life and start over again from the beginning. I wouldn’t want my parents to die. I would like to get along with my great-aunt. I would try my hardest at school so I could become a doctor. That was my dream, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore.

I was born on the outskirts of Rangoon. I was four years old when my father died. I remember he was pressing the pump handle to get water from the well, and he said that he had abdominal pain. He went to see a doctor and the doctor gave him the wrong medicine. Just after taking the medicine, my father died.

My father loved me very much. He wanted me to study hard at school because he wanted me to become educated. Mathematics and Burmese language were my favorite subjects. I liked mathematics because I liked the sums, figures, and statistics. I liked Burmese language because it was easy to learn, since it is Myanmar’s language. I always studied with my mother close by, and she would help me with my lessons.

My experience at school was both happy and sad. I was happy to study—learning, memorizing lessons, and taking exams. I had many friends, both boys and girls. To relax, we would play and jump rope in the road. But I was unhappy that some of the teachers and students discriminated against me and harassed me because I had only one parent.

I WANTED TO BE CLOSE TO HER

After my father died, our economic situation became very difficult. When I was eight years old, my mother started to do sex work. My grandmother—my mother’s mother—was living with us and she forced my mother to do it. She suggested so many times that my mother do it that eventually, my mother couldn’t bear it anymore. That’s how it started.

Sometimes my mother would get called for a job; she didn’t want to go, but my grandmother forced her to. When my mother left the house to work, I didn’t know exactly what she was doing.

That year, my mother started to get sick. A friend of hers came to visit her, and my grandmother told her that my mother was infected with tuberculosis. Because of my grandmother, everyone found out that my mother had TB. After that, my friends stayed away from me because they thought maybe I would get TB too, and they were afraid they could get infected from me. I was very lonely and sad when they wouldn’t play with me anymore. It wasn’t fair. It had nothing to do with me. I was angry, and I hated those friends very much. Only one friend treated me kindly—her name is Lwe Lwe. She always encouraged me and made me feel better.

Although my mother was getting sicker and sicker, she still looked healthy until I was eleven years old. That year, she started to look very sick very quickly. At first she was getting thinner and thinner. Then her lips turned blue and she became hollow-eyed. She looked like a dead body. I was so sad to see her changing like this. I wished I could take her place. My mother couldn’t work when she got so sick, so relatives from my father’s side of the family supported us so we’d have enough money to eat.

When my mother became seriously ill, my grandmother told me for the first time that my mother had been working as a sex worker. She said this was how my mother got sick, but she didn’t explain what a sex worker really was, so I still didn’t know. My grandmother also revealed to me that the disease my mother had was HIV, not TB. My mother had been lying to me about her disease. At the time, I didn’t know anything; I had no idea what HIV was. I saw my mother go to the doctor and get medical care, but I don’t know if she got specific medications for HIV.

By that time, I wasn’t talking to my grandmother anymore. We had a rocky relationship because of my mother’s disease. I was angry at my grandmother for making my mother do the work that caused her to get sick. I didn’t want to talk to her.

I spent a lot of time around my mother, but I couldn’t help take care of her because she always told me to get away from her. She said I could get the disease from her, but I still wanted to be close to her—I wasn’t worried about getting sick. But as the sickness got worse and worse, I had less and less chance to be near her.

Early one morning, I went to wake my mother up so she could take her medicine. I thought she was just sleeping at the time, but a few minutes passed and she still didn’t wake up. I thought she had just lost consciousness, but in fact she had already passed away. I was thinking, Now I have no parents. What should I do?

My mother’s funeral was a big gathering. So many people were there, including my father’s relatives and people from the village. I was so sad, and I wanted to cry very much. I didn’t go near my mother’s coffin; I stayed at the back of the gathering with my friend Lwe Lwe.

As soon as the funeral was finished and my mother was taken for cremation, my father’s relatives took me back to their house. They lived in another town close to Rangoon. My grandmother argued with my father’s relatives because she didn’t agree that I should live with them, but I was happy to go.

I WAS AN OUTSTANDING STUDENT

On the way to my relatives’ house, I was thinking about how I would face a new life. I thought that in my new life I would have the opportunity to study more, and that I would try very hard and do my best to become an educated person. I wanted to study every subject, and I wanted to become a doctor one day. I wanted to take care of people and see them get better.

I lived with my grandfather—my father’s father—and also my great-aunt, who was my grandfather’s sister. They helped me study by paying my tuition and hiring a tutor for me. I was in eighth grade.

My new school was better than my last one. At the new school, my relatives were known to be rich, so the teachers took very good care of me and treated me very nicely. I tried hard and I was an outstanding student—I was happy when I got prizes for doing the best in my studies. I got so much support from my relatives. I also made new friends at the new school, both rich and poor. After school, we’d all eat our lunch and study together.

Living with my grandfather and my great-aunt, I felt like my life was very different from before. In my hometown, I was poor and I had to be satisfied with being an average student in the classroom. I never got the first prize. In my new life, my grandpa was very rich, so I could get and do whatever I wanted. My situation was better, but I missed my father and mother very much, especially when I got a prize for being outstanding at school.

But the problem was that my great-aunt didn’t like me. She was very strict with me, no matter what I was doing. If I went somewhere, she would ask me where I was going and why I was going there. She was very cynical and always thought the worst about me. Sometimes, if I was sitting on a chair, she told me that chairs were only for adults or rich people, and that children had to sit on the floor. She would say that to me no matter where I was sitting, and I obeyed her. I didn’t want to confront her because I was worried we’d get into a fight.

My grandfather and great-aunt often argued because my great-aunt wanted me to drop out of school. My great-aunt always failed to pick me up from school and my grandfather would get angry. She didn’t want to see my grandfather use any more money to pay for things like my tuition and food.

I finally stopped going to school when I was thirteen because of her pressure. I was in ninth grade. Since our relationship wasn’t good, I didn’t want to stay with her and my grandfather anymore. I didn’t want to see my great-aunt’s face and I didn’t want to speak with her. My grandfather tried to bar me from leaving their home, but I went to stay with my uncle on my mother’s side of the family, who had agreed that I could go and live with them.

I HAD NO WAY TO REFUSE

My uncle and his wife stayed in another town, not far from Rangoon. At first I was happy to be there, but since my uncle was very poor, I didn’t get to go back to school. He drove a school bus, and he didn’t have enough money to pay the school fees for me, so I just stayed at home.

My aunt didn’t want me to stay at her house without doing anything, so she decided to make me work. She told me she wanted me to be a sex worker, but I still didn’t know what it was. All I was thinking was that she wanted me to die, because my mother died from a disease she got doing this work.

My aunt explained what sex was and then she tried to show me a video. It was the first time I learned anything about sex. I was really shy; I refused to watch the video and told my aunt that I didn’t want to watch it. But she slapped me, so I had to watch. I didn’t understand.

When I was very young, I thought my mother was doing her job because she liked it and was happy. I only came to understand what my mother had really been doing for work when my aunt showed me that video. When my aunt explained the job to me, my only response was, “I don’t want to.” But I thought about how I had nowhere else to go, so I decided to stay at the house.

The next day my aunt brought a man to our house. He was fat, and he looked Chinese; he was over fifty years old. When he first arrived, I didn’t know what was going to happen. But a few minutes later she and my uncle made up a room and then my aunt told me to enter it. Then I understood. I started running around the house and I thought about jumping down from the veranda. My aunt said, “Oh no-no-no! I’ll let you do as you wish. The guest will go back home.” So I went back inside, but then they grabbed me and forced me to enter the room.

I knew they wanted me to do what I had seen in the video. I was thinking, I will not do that! But they locked the room from the outside and the man used force to take my clothes off. I can’t remember very well if he said anything to me or not, but he hurt me. When I refused to do what he wanted, he beat me, pulled my hair and hit my face and ears. I just stayed silent because I knew I couldn’t ask for help. I didn’t like the situation, but I understood that I had to do this job. I had no way to refuse.

I don’t remember exactly how long they locked me inside the room. After it was finished, the man informed my aunt that we were done and then he left. My aunt told me that she would buy me gold and new clothing, but later, when I asked her for it, she said she had no money. I understood then that she had cheated me and just wanted me to work for her.

I was fourteen years old when I lost my virginity. I felt afraid and shy. I didn’t want to leave the house.

I CAN’T EVEN TRY TO ESCAPE

My aunt was the boss of a group of sex workers. She normally didn’t keep the other girls in her house, but sometimes, if a guest made an appointment, she would call a girl and they would come to the house.

My aunt started sending me to other places to work. When she had clients, she would call for me to go to a hotel. My aunt’s friend would pick me up and take me there. At that time, they called me about twice a month to go to hotels in our area. It went on like this, twice a month, for three or four months. I had nothing in my mind then except that I was angry with myself. I regretted that I had not been patient enough at my grandfather’s house, and that I hadn’t endured my great-aunt’s scolding.

After three or four months, another friend of my aunt’s took me to my current home, where I live and do sex work. The apartment is not so far from my first house. My aunt stopped being the boss of a group of sex workers; now she just collects money from me, and another woman, Khin Lay, is my boss.

There are three of us living together. There is another woman who is a sex worker for the same boss, and we’re friends; she is twenty years old. There’s also Auntie Mie, who’s over forty years old; she works for the boss. She looks over us and treats us very well.

There are only two of us working at the apartment, so if more than two customers come, they order a woman from another house over the phone. The other girl who lives with me chose to come work here. There was another girl before, but Khin Lay, the boss, sent her back home. I don’t know Khin Lay very well because she only comes to our apartment once a week. My aunt takes money from her once every ten days.

I meet customers at least twice a day. So many different men come to see me. Some are Chinese and Indian. Some are middle-class, but most of them are rich men. They pay my boss 25,000 or 30,000 kyats for two hours.³³

25,000 kyats is approximately US$25; 30,000 kyats is approximately US$30.

When I am working, I can say no if a man wants me to do something that I don’t want to. If a man doesn’t want to use a condom, I apologize to him and tell him it’s a rule, so they always use one.⁴⁴ We have condoms and gel, and I take birth control. I am able to get health checkups sometimes, and my boss explains to me how to protect myself from pregnancy and diseases like HIV. I’m not afraid anymore.

A 2005 article in the Journal of Sexual Health estimated that there were between 5,000 and 10,000 sex workers in Rangoon. Half of those surveyed by the researchers reported using condoms all the time; the number was on the rise from an estimated 30 percent in 1998.

On a normal day, I get up at five o’clock in the morning and eat mohinga. Usually I have to go out to work at night, so after my breakfast I sleep again. After I wake up again, if I have a client, then I am brought to a hotel to work after taking my shower.

When I’m not working I have to ask permission to leave the house. When my boss Khin Lay isn’t at the apartment, I have to stay inside because she locks the apartment from the outside. When she comes back, then I can go out to buy things.

I have never tried to escape from the apartment. I have never had the idea to leave this job because the situation is such that I can’t even try to escape.

Sometimes I feel happy when I’m with Auntie Mie and the other girl. Together we chat about some of the experiences we have with the customers. We say whether they treat us roughly or if they’re kind. If I’m faced with a customer who treats me roughly, I want my friend to know, and to be careful with this customer.

My aunt takes all of my money when I do a job. She’ll come today to collect the money. Sometimes when I see her I ask her not to take the money so often, because I want to buy some gold jewelry for myself. Since my aunt takes all of my wages, I just rely on tips that the customers sometimes give me to buy clothes.

*   *   *

I PLAN TO LEAVE

I want other people to know about my life. I want people to know about what my uncle and aunt did to me. They make me do this work and they take all my money.

I think they did this to me because no one in my family has a good job, and the whole family relies on my wages. I think they made me become bad because this job gets more money than other jobs.

I do the job, but I hate it—this job caused my mother’s death. I have found that there are so many women doing this kind of work in Rangoon. I think these other women’s situations were like mine—they were poor—so they became like me. I think another job would be better for me because other jobs are honest. Other people do good things, the right things for their livelihood.

There is a customer named Aung Lwin who I think could maybe help me leave. He told me he has a place in Naypyidaw, the new government capital, where he will open up a new beauty salon. He asked me to manage it, so my plan is to go and work there.

I will do everything at the beauty salon—nail-cutting, haircuts. I am not sure that my aunt would allow this, but I will leave—I just won’t say anything to her about my plan.

¹ The SPDC invests 40 percent of their budget into the military and only 3 percent on healthcare.

² GDP per capita statistic of $1,100 is from the CIA World Factbook.

³ 25,000 kyats is approximately US$25; 30,000 kyats is approximately US$30.

⁴ A 2005 article in the Journal of Sexual Health estimated that there were between 5,000 and 10,000 sex workers in Rangoon. Half of those surveyed by the researchers reported using condoms all the time; the number was on the rise from an estimated 30 percent in 1998.