I AM NOT FOR SALE
Victoria grew up with her parents separated and lived in a house full of violence. She spent her childhood taking care of others, she was a nanny from the age of 8 years old. Beginning at 5 years old, she would wake up at 4am to get ready to go to work at the banana plantations.
"At 11am or so I would return home to get dressed, as I worked all morning, often times I had no time to eat. Sometimes I would faint. The teachers who saw me would give me food."
In Quevedo, where she lives, Victoria said that in homes where there is more poverty, there are only two options: steal or be a sex worker.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 83% of the victims of sexual exploitation are underage women and young adults. Victoria and her sister were just two more victims of the network.
At the age of 19, Victoria took to the streets to sell her body for the first time. At that time she didn't know, but she entered a world from which it is very difficult to get out.
The chulqueros did not forgive, her expenses squeezed the pocket and the need became greater. She got to where she could not see the possibility of a free life.
"Don't they have sisters, nieces or granddaughters?"
is what she asked the five men who tried to rape her and her sister.
The men cried after hearing that and luckily left them alone.
Upon seeing that her children were growing up, Victoria decided to put a stop to the life she led because she did not want this to affect or continue in her family.
Casa mis Sueños found her on the streets. After several years in need and selling her body because she had no other alternative, the foundation came to give her hope of a different life.
The program offered by Casa mis Sueños for victims of sexual exploitation or who have been imprisoned was held in Quito. Victoria's husband stayed to take care of her children and with great joy, she was determined to take the steps necessary to make a change.
"In the program they gave me back my value and my self-esteem. They gave me back the value I have as a woman. They made me see my abilities."
Accustomed to a nightlife, getting up very early was hard for her. She had to discipline herself. A community and family was generated with the other women in there. Without shame or any masks, they quickly became sisters.
The brightness of her smile is not a coincidence. There are many healing processes within the program that lead to many tears shed. It was a long and hard but liberating path.
She left the program and although her circumstances did not change, she did.
Laughing, she says that today she sells creams, seafood, and everything else but her body. Victoria is a natural born leader who is willing to change her environment. She's a warrior and willing to clean acres of land with a machete to be able to get a few square meters to be able to have her house. She is also willing to fight for drinking water to reach their neighborhood and achieve a better organization for garbage collection.
She told us, "What fills my heart the most is seeing that my sister also left the streets just by seeing my example, I didn't have to tell her anything."
Her eldest son is going to graduate with honors. She fulfilled her dream of having a daughter, who is now 4 years old. She wants to be a speaker to tell everyone her story. "You have to translate me when we talk in other countries," he says smiling at the director of the foundation.
When asked what she would say to people who live in situations similar to hers,
her response was this:
"There is nothing more beautiful than being free, I lived in fear of rejection. You can be free and you can get out."
Today she even tells her children what she went through, teaching them to respect everyone and that behind every person on the streets there is a story.
That many times the life they lead is not even their fault.
When Victoria speaks, she only transmits security, confidence and peace.
You would never imagine that she was forced to lose her childhood by what she recalls was like burying her self-love and putting asphalt on it.