| January 31, 2007
We have been told that we have to move our space from the frontroom location before March 31st. We are devastated. If anyone out there can help please email us. I can't bear to think about it or really accept it...what will we do? There are so few social agencies in Surrey and even then, who wants to let the sex workers use their space? I can't believe that while the trial for our murdered sisters is going on, we can't even secure a space for our girlz! Where is the justice? -A
January 29, 2007 Today at Surrey women's Centre we made chocolate cookies for the women at the Tuesday night drop-in. It was a really fun afternoon. PACE has generously donated the time of one of their staff members and she is going to teach us how to make Bannock....soo soo yummy! It is so nice to be able to just sit around a kitchen table and chat. Sometimes our drop-in at the frontroom is so busy that we don't get the time to really get to know one another, so the Monday afternoon's at the Surrey Women's Centre are a real treat! Thanks SWC! -to learn more call 778-240-1055~Amanda January 18, 2007
God I love SurreyGirlz! I have been doing alot of computer work as I have been so sick, but tonight Tjeerd and I went to drop-in and the Queen visited us at last! ...yes thats right. Ms Hamilton...Jaime-Lee, visited SurreyGirlz and wow...what a great time we had! She brought April with her and they both just lit the place up!!! We are officially OUT OF MONEY...but we still dredge on! Sam also came in tonight, a woman my bestest friend Grace referred to us. It was all so perfect, I wish Trina had been there! Please keep supporting us, now more than ever, we need your very generous donations! A woman from White Rock dropped off stuff at my home tonight and it just warms the heart. I hope you all sleep as well as I will.. All is great in the world, if only for today. Thank you to all who write about us, talk about us, call us and meet us. You are SurreyGirlz, A Big holla to Wanda from Winnipeg, God it must be cold...how can your heart be so warm?
thank you to each and everyone of you Don't stop believing in us! !-A
January 16, 2007
I have been so so sick...I'm sorry to not have updated this little log. So heres how it went, I have been fighting this cold...ew, hate colds! Anyways, fighting the cold when suddenly it hits, but it doesn't just hit, it literally knocks my ass to the ground! I lost my voice and even ended up in the hospital getting a shot of morphine because I coughed so hard I threw my back out...can you believe that? Then the medication they gave me induced an athesma attack...I am feeling real really ripped off!!!!!!!! Needless to say Mother Teresa uh I mean Trina, has held the fort down, thank god for friends!!! Also during this time I have been trying to write proposals and such and with the medication I just keep slipping off to lala land!! The coalition is starting a bad date contract where we will interview women about why they do or do not report bad dates so that we can help develop a better reporting strategy...very excited about this one! I hope you are all staying warm and remember our girls are not so please, keep the donations flowing!!! Love to all-A
January 22, 2007
tonight at drop-in it was a little crazy. there were a few conflicts to be resolved, this community can be a little 'high energy' shall we say. we also lost another member. thats two sex workers murdered in two months from our service alone. theres so much good but fuck theres so much bad. good night...i'm goina try to sleep this one off.-A
January 2, 2007
Yay! back home and close to my ocean again! Williams Lake was great but its always nice to come back home isn't it? A big big thank you to all who helped out at Christmas, we even received some cash donations which were immediately passed on to the women in attendance, what a Christmas treat for them hey. Its nice to be able to give the women money sometimes so that they are less dependent on survival sex work. I have already gotten some more donations (toiletries) from a women here in White Rock and tonight we have more being dropped off. Our funding is ending in two weeks and so Trina and I are going to have to look for work, I hope we can still carry on with only volunteering. It will be painful to have to stop giving the women honorariums for set up and clean up, I know some of them have come to depend on it. Pray for us please to get some more funding!!!
December 28, 2006
I am leaving tomorrow (assuming we do not get snowed in!!) The mayor here bought an SG shirt and had his pic taken with us...kinda sweet hey! NEW YEARS BABY!!!!!!!!! What ya fdoin ;)
Can't wait to get home and see my girlz, i miss drop-in. kisses and lovin-A
December 22, 2006
Hello from Williams Lake!!! Yes thats right, I am visiting our Northern Friends!!! Unfortunately I am here for dental, though Rudy Wassenaar has donated his services and so I am eternally greatful. I am going to have to miss the SG Christmas, and am very sad about that, but I have to take some time to do some writing. When you do this kind of work, it seems you are always responding (as Trina so wisely stated) to the immediate needs instead of the important ones. Its a fine line I know, but in order for us to stay operational after the holidays, I have to write some pleading proposals and letters to people in places to support this cause. So wish me luck kind readers and most of all...have a wonderful, wonderful holiday season. My heart is full, I am blessed and I pray that you too are blessed this season. With love and wonder~A
December 14, 2006
A great night at drop-in S came in and made a donation that one of her cliets made...how sweet hey! The donations from Christine in White Rock and the many women that pass theirs on to her, are really keeping the donations going right now. Diner was nice and Booke came in again to drop-off some stuff. Tonight is the drag show downtown and proceeds go to SurreyGirlz (so far we have enough $ to get us through till mid January so we have to get some donations, or sell shirts...I hope we do well tonight. I am also doing an interview with CBC at 4:30.
I hope we get umbrella's, I am looking out my window right now and thinking...I feel so bad we're not doing more...look outside your window right now. Think about standing out there all alone waiting for someone to come by, someone you've never met before, but who you know you will have to have sex with so you can pay for the hotel room tonight or to get a bite to eat. Of course some spend it on drugs but i imagine the drugs help. War veterans from Nam talk about the benefit of being high while you are in combat. You have no feelings, can longer without eating, have no fear, don't feel the elements as severe. No wonder these women use. I would to. When I was in the trade i wasn't addicted and so i wasn't as desperate. For the most part i was able to negotiate my prices. Working at agencies is also considerably warmer. God give them coats to wear tonight, while i go and have and have fun at a fundraiser in Van...it doesn't feel right, to be so blessed and to know that so many aren't right now. And they could be...it doesn't have to be this way.
December 11, 2006
Today was the Surrey Women's Centre Day. The women that work there are all so interesting and seemingly fun and happy. Sometimes at Women's organizations you expect them to be a little angry (with good reason I'm sure) but angry just the same. Its a really great space to, lots of room and offices so things feel private yet not isolating. We had five women turn up and K brought a great cheese and cracker and fruit plate. I did two research Survey's aswell, which by the way if you know anyone who works in the trade in Surrey and they want to be interviewed it takes bout 30 minutes and pays $50 and it is very confidential (the women use fake names as well) anyways, its me who does the survey with them, so its all good! :)
Well i am off to do some computer work so chat soon-love A
December 7th 2006,
I can't believe the date...dear God, no wonder everyone is freaking our about Christmas! I am going to have get into it, I just feel sooo busy all the time! K, the woman who makes the yummy food and donates it at that, was in tonight and it made me perk up cause I missed her. We also had a mother volunteer tonight who's been looking for her daughter, it is so had the hearts that are broken in this neighbourhood, I really wish we could be open more often. I feel so fortunate for the the friends, loves, warm home, cool dogs and pretty clothes that I have....how fortunate we all are. Many more people have been coming, and we have started to recive some cool donations, mostly clothes and what have you's...no real money yet except for the $500 that we recived after the vigil last month. The $500 is what is used to pay the woman for set up and clean up and for alot it means they can carry on their way, less preasurred to turn a trick. Surrey is so depressing from this angle, but in the drop-in the feminine sweet space is a home away from home for me. A woman came in tonight and left donations, her 21 year old son came in as well (much to the delight of some of the women ; ) ) She brought clothing and toured our small space. I wonder what makes some people notice and some people not. What propelled her to respond to the article when so many simply read and thought for perhaps a moment then turned the page. Hmmm tooo late at night for this depth...whatever the inspiration, I am glad it found its way to her.
with lots a love-A
p.s...new logo...thoughts? kinda sexy isn't it ;)
December 4, 2006
We have a new date set and an ad apearing in the NOW paper for the Surrey Women's Centre Open House for sex workers.I also made a youtube video...my first ever check it out...
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=surrey+girlz
love and kisses-A
November 30, 2006
Tonight Trina, Tjeerd, myself and Rena were all in the same space...it was so nice, this weather has been a bitch! There were alot of women again aswell as a mother and father of a sex worker who were challenged by their daughters choices to work in the industry. I hope they left with a better understanding of what wonderful women sex workers are and how their judgements will only hurt her. Christmas is coming and Trina and Karen are busy planning...I hate event planning so I love their efforts dearly!!!! The new SG Gift Cards are now available...see home page (and Grace's ASS!) lol xxx-A
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November 27, 2006
Tonight about 9 women came to drop-in, the snow outside mde it cold and so not many came. A big group of nursing students came out though and some of them even offered to do a placement at SUrreyGirlz. God wouldn't that be something, to have health services onsight!! So many times women come in bleeding, beaten or just sore and we never know what to do, except of course feed hem and offer a place to hang out and be warm. I also put the ads in for the drop-in at the Surrey Women's Centre, this monday from 2-4...if any working girlz read this please come by, its an open house for industry workers and we will discuss what we would like to do with the new space we are being offered. It would be nice to have a few locations where women that aren't drug addicted can go and where women who are can go...this way people who are trying to stay clean will have a home base to. As well the issues i faced indoors were different than when i was on the street. By the way the new SurreyGirlz cell is 778-240-1055. peace and love to you all
A
November 26, 2006
On Thursday evening I was feeling very disheartened. I didn’t feel like going to drop-in but it’s my responsibility to be there – no one else’s, and if I didn’t go, then there would be no drop-in. Offering this service isn’t like a regular job. If I am pms’ing or sick or my kids are sick (in this case all three), I cannot phone in and say I won’t be there. If I’m not there, no one will be. If I don’t go, there will be women expecting a meal they won’t receive, there will be women looking for a warm, safe place to hang out for two hours and they would show up to locked doors and no answer on the buzzer. What if someone has a bad date to report or just really needs to talk? What if this is the first time a woman is planning to come and she shows up and no one is there? I know she’ll never come back if that happens. It is a great weight on one person’s shoulders to know that people will go cold, hungry, and without support if that one person doesn’t feel well enough to arrive at drop-in. It’s not like I have no support or anything. Amanda and I both are holding this service together (and many other services that are developing out of this one) all ourselves. I know I can turn to Amanda whenever I need to talk and especially when I’m unsure about something. Amanda has so much knowledge and compassion and expertise – Surrey Girlz couldn’t have happened without her. She is the most ethical person I’ve ever met and I’m constantly learning from her. In some ways I probably expect too much from her. I’m sure that many of the times I’ve turned to her for advice, I could have figured it out on my own. But I asked her anyways. I think I really need to stop doing that. Like me, she is overwhelmed with all her projects and responsibilities right now. And like me, she is going through some personal challenges as well. Anyhow, on Thursday evening I was crying as I tried to lug a huge bag of donated clothes out to my car. My partner came to my rescue as he often does. But I was feeling very tired and disillusioned about my work that night. I was asking myself if the emotional expense and the instability of the income and the utter weight of responsibility that I was experiencing because of Surrey Girlz were really worth it. I was asking myself if I should go on or perhaps when our funding runs out in January and we may be volunteering all our efforts again without any income (even if it is a meager income at that), if maybe I should just quit. Let someone else take my place (if anyone is willing). I dragged myself into the heart of Whalley and went to drop-in that night, feeling a bit apathetic. Then the universe conspired to teach me a lesson. Only two young women showed up to drop-in that night, both 16 years old. Even the women who normally come in and get paid for helping to run the drop-in never showed up. The sweet heart that is donating the food (preparing it and everything) was a little late. She had a SHITLOAD of sandwiches – egg salad, tuna salad, and ham & cheese. But no one else came to drop-in that night. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a slow night. At the beginning we sometimes had as few as three or four women show up. But lately, that number was very rare. At 7:30 pm, the food queen (name withheld for privacy reasons) and I packed up the sandwiches and went to do outreach and give out the sandwiches to people in the neighbourhood. We stopped by a couple of the women’s places (that we knew where they lived) and gave them some sandwiches. We pulled over to women and men alike on the street and handed out sandwiches, two at a time. There weren’t very many people out that night. Then we saw a woman standing on the side of the road and pulled up to her. She was an angel for me. At first she looked wary, but when the words sunk in that we were offering sandwiches (and a little bit of fruit too) she fell to pieces. She just started crying and saying "thank you both so much." It was heartbreaking. We asked if she was okay and she said yes. Then when she seemed to pull herself together a bit, she quickly added "I need to get my life together," like she thought that’s what we wanted her to say or she needed to explain herself or something. That single incident was a slap in my self-pitying face. As we drove away, I knew that that was supposed to happen. And the universe was teaching me an important lesson about why we started Surrey Girlz, and why I need to keep doing what I’m doing. Because it’s important, it’s needed, and no one else is doing it. And then I laugh at how I used to think that the government took care of people like this beautiful, fragile woman – that organizations like Surrey Girlz were funded by the government to ensure that people who were lost had someone to look for them and find them and show that they care for them – no strings attached. I actually thought that no one could be so uncaring as to turn their backs on people who are suffering. It’s unbelievable how idealistic and foolish my beliefs were. Hardly anyone cares, is what I’m finding out. I mean, a lot of people care! But the people who have the power and the money to make sure Surrey Girlz is here – they don’t give a shit. We’ll just have to keep writing proposals and finding ways to create projects out of our services so we can access different kinds of funding. We’re just going to have to keep begging for money and apologizing for drawing a part-time income from it because if we don’t, we’ll have to get jobs to support our families and then no one will be available to keep Surrey Girlz going. That’s just what we’re going to have to keep doing. That’s just the fucking way it is. -Trina
November 2, 2006
8 women came in tonight, we had soup and sanwhiches which went well with the rain. Tjeerd and I (my partner) bought some supplies at Costco...I hope we get more donations though, things are really low. Cindy and Rena helped out alot and the new set up that Dawn and Trina did looks really great. The NOW article isn't out yet but i can't wait to see it...hope its good! I have to go out of town for a few days and so will miss drop-in tuesday...sad, i love the night with the girlz.-Amanda
October 30, 2006
Today the NOW paper came and interviewed Trina and I. I really hope the covergae gets us some donations we are sooo low on supplies! I am so happy about what we are doing and the voices we made heard today...we talked about all the good and bad of 'working' in Surrey...and how lucky we are to have the space we do to do what we're doing. We are having a haloween night at SG from 8-10 but I may have to go into van instead...I'm sure they'll have some scary fun! chat l8er-Amanda
October 23, 2006
Rena's B-day was tonight...we got a cake and candles and sang and all that good stuff!!! We also had a really hard time tonight...it is really difficult to tell your sisters to behave, but we had a drug related incident tonight that required we do so. Its the downer of doing this for sure. We are also sooo fucking busy its good but sad cause we never have enough stuff...i'll have to try to raid the empty closet again!!! The women also came up with a code of conduct recently that outlines how they want us to all treat each other. Its pretty cool actaully, so now all the women sign it their first night in and its actually been great cause it forces us to sit down alone with the women and get to know them a little better. Okay, tired...must sleep...will upload the code of conduct for all to see here. _ good night to all and to all...well you get the point...xxx A
October 19th, 2006
Tonight was actually pretty mellow, the women aren’t used to us being open on Thursdays yet, but we still had seven women show up between the 6 and 8 that we are open for. I just love having a little bit of money to give to the women, we now have two tasks every night we are open (Tues and Wed). The deal is if you made money last time, save it for the next girl. The women are pretty cool about it. They get 10 dollars cash for either set up assistance or clean up assistance, its sad to think that that little amount of money, actually makes such a difference. The code of conduct the women help create is going over awesome. Everyone signs it their first time in and they all seem so receptive. Its so nice to just sit back now and watch these wonderful relationships form. God we’re lucky to be here! Trina was going to take the night off with her babies and instead she showed up for an hour and the energy her babies brought was loved by all. Good night to all…and to all, a good night! -Amanda
October 13, 2006
Last night we held our first Thursday night drop-in, so many of the women didn’t know we would be open but recognized us when we arrived. About five or six women attended ranging in age from 17 to mid-fifties, I’d say. Our newest Surrey Girl – Re, was amazing. She cleaned the kitchen spotless, and started on the walls. Every surface was wiped with disinfectant, and even some furniture was rearranged. We are giving her an honorarium each week to perform support during drop-in and keep things running smoothly in honour of our mandate to provide employment opportunities for sex workers based on their capacity. A year from now, Re and Karen might be running the drop-in together! It was such a pleasure sitting around chatting and bonding with these women. One of the young members there with her mother said, "She’s my mom, so when I look at her I don’t see a drug addict – I see my mom." I hadn’t asked her anything to elicit that shared moment. I think she just felt comfortable enough to say it, and that experience in itself makes me feel this drop-in is successful. I had a chance to share with her about my own relationships that mirror hers in a lot of respects. A dancer friend of mine had donated a load of beautiful lingerie and dressy clothes and the girl’s mom was trying some of it on. It felt like a typical girl’s get together with food, clothes, conversation, and giggles. It was a welcome respite from the world of responsibilities for me as a mom balancing work and home. I hope the drop-in feels like that for our members too -Trina
February 12, 2006
Last night Amanda and I went out for our second time doing outreach in Surrey. This time, Dawn came along to join us. There is a definite need for Surrey sex workers to have us there, that is obvious from their comments such as "Thank you so much!" and "You are angels" and "What a lucky night for me!" Some of the items that the women are saying they could use are things like food, gloves and scarves, jackets, shoes. We offer them condoms, lubes, juice boxes, bottles of water, chocolates, suckers, and hot chocolate, and the clothes we pilfer from our own closets. We’ve met twelve women in all so far – and met some twice (last weekend and this). We’ve also spoken to them about the consultations for the harm reduction conference and there is mixed comments about whether we should have a focus group or individual interviews. They seem very willing and interested in taking part, not simply for the thirty dollars and the nutrition but also to share their stories and have someone care to listen. I also get the feeling that there is a desire among many of the women to connect with each other. I think this would be a good opportunity to do some community building among them. It was amazing this effect had on the women of Prince George and the isolation that many of the Surrey women are experiencing due to the spread out geography of the city and also due to red zoning from the police could be lessened if they see and recognize each other as each having her own herstory that is valid and intermixed with the others and equally important to tell. Speaking of the police, we also spoke last night to a beat cop who seemed quite comfortable with what we are doing and even gave us his card and suggested we get in contact with vice. We already plan to do so anyway and will hopefully convince the department to put their beat cops through some sensitivity training. The women have expressed deep concern about the harassment they’ve received from police. Almost all of them have court dates and have been charged several times from what we’re hearing. We would like to help these women find good representation and be supported and advocated for during court sessions. They seem relieved that someone might be willing to help them. Doing outreach feels like another piece of the puzzle fitting together for me in my life. I was meant to do this kind of work. The only hard part is seeing women freezing cold, shivering outside. Some women are distrustful of us. Thankfully we are sensitive enough to their needs (thanks to Amanda) that we are attempting to have good relations with their pimps so they will not be reprimanded or forbidden to speak with us. We are also planning to start collecting bad date information to print up and pass out to them. It is my sincere hope that as we go through this process we become financially sufficient to meet the most basic needs of the women and eventually create a drop-in place for them to come to day or night, regardless of their reasons for being there. There is such a need for it in Surrey. I am sad that it has taken so long for something to be done in this city but I am thrilled to be a part of the change we are already seeing, just by the simple gratitude of our care and concern for their lives and their comfort. It makes me sick that anyone, but especially these amazing, vibrant, beautiful, gutsy, down-to-earth women, would be made to feel like no one cares about them and that their lives being in danger seems not to present itself as a sickening condition in the minds of the people who affect their lives the most. The police, the city, the courts, and the johns need to know that these women are loves and cared for and that their existence is meaningful – we won’t take anything less from them and until we have achieved this, I will not rest. Amanda and I don’t want to miss a single woman. There’s a good chance I will be doing outreach for the rest of my life. If only for the selfish benefit of meeting these amazing women and hearing their stories and letting them know that I (and so many others) really do fucking care. -Trina
February 06, 2006
spoke with Debbie from SFU she said Surrey SFU Campus may be willinging to offer some support to us. We have a meeting set up for the 13th of this month...cool!
February 04, 2006
Called SAS and spoke with Mary, they seem pretty into the idea and even offered to give us some stuff from their care packages (soap, shapoo, etc.) We also called Maxine Wright, a place for pregnant and impoverished womyn they invited to come by and see the place and we told them about our idea to reach out to sex workers in Surrey.
February 3, 2006
Today we went around and visited organizations in Surrey and tried to
collect supplies for outreach.
First Stop-Frontroom. Raven told us these guys are awesome and they were. the Needle exchange is located next to them and they weren't really as friendly. They said we couldn't have any condoms to give out on outreach because of litter problems and they also said they don't allow a mobile needle exchange in Surrey because they don't want to find dirty needles everywhere. In Vancouver its alot different! We are also learnining very quickly that you don't say you have worked in Vancouver because if Surrey service providers think its a Vancouver initiated project then they won't support it on that merrit alone. Whats weird is that people actully say this to our faces and it makes you wonder why they don't think theres something wrong with that mentality.
Personally I think that if we can learn from others then why the hell not? Anywyas what do ya do, we really can't get wrapped up in politics though cause we don't really even intent to be doing this for that long. We figure the month of February and maybe March if we can afford it. We'll see how much we end up spending on supplies and if the womyn even want us to do this.
Oh ya, we met a really cool woman at the clinic in the same building as the Frontroom and she goes into 3 massage parlours! Pretty cool!
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