Amongst the prime victims of rape, s-exual abuse and domestic violence is Kelly, a 21-year-old damaged teenager who was found on the streets of Skid Row, a neighbourhood in Los Angeles, California, by a good samaritan.

The 11-year-old narrated scarring experiences of her flawed childhood, ill-treatment by her foster parents, her early exposure to s-exual abuse and human trafficking and how these circumstances have affected her as an individual.

“I started prostituting at the age of 11. I’ve been raped on the blade. I’ve had a gun put up to my head on the blade. He tried to kill…and abuse me if I didn’t want to go. I’ve been abused, I’ve been raped. I’ve been molested, I’ve been tortured…”

“My first time ever being raped, I was five. I was raped by my foster father and my foster mom was aware but she didn’t care.”

“I know exactly what he did to me, I remember him coming in the door, I remember everything. Me and my foster mom were just watching a movie ,he walked in drunk he had a cup of alcohol in his hand and he pretty much asked me to come into the room or whatever.” She said.

“With me being five years old you know, I wasn’t expecting this or whatever, so like he just grabbed me up and like covered my face and told me to be quiet and just did it and there was just like blood everywhere, I was screaming, she came in and this is how the police was called.”

“My foster mom came in and she was like what are you doing?  He hit her but I guess I found out later that they had already history of abuse problems in their relationship so this is why she never cared about him continuing to do it, but like I said I will have memories in my head of certain things as I’m getting older and I’m like why would L think these things if it didn’t happen, you know?”

When asked if she eventually went out on her own at some point, she said ” I ran away, I just ran away cause I got sick, it felt like they weren’t doing anything”

At what age were you on your own she was asked. She said she ran away at the age of eleven.

“I just ran away, I was… that’s when I started prostituting, actually I met a guy and he showed me that….. I was running away and he found me and then he started like having s-ex with me and stuff and then he just showed me to prostitute and ever since I was from like eleven until even now I prostitute cause I don’t have a job and nobody will hire me, I don’t have my high school diploma, I don’t have any family like I started doing cocaine at eleven too. He showed me cocaine, I stopped doing cocaine though because that’s why I’m so small now and now I came to Skid Row.. I stay in a tent out here, cause I don’t want him….. I’m scared he’s gonna find me.

Are you using any drugs that are out here?

“I tried the Pookie, crystal but um… I really don’t wanna do it cause I don’t wanna f*ck myself up, but I’m more so starting back on cocaine but I did try it, just recently tried crystal that sh*t’s crazy, that sh*t makes you…i was walking around the streets naked. By the refresh right there, they had to….. the police came and got me, I went to jail for that. Because I was high off crystal and I was naked.”

Do you have any hopes and dreams of doing anything else in life?

“I wanna go to school, I wanna learn more, I wanna be a lawyer, I wanna do Cosmetology but I don’t know if I can because I haven’t been to school since I was 11… 10.”

So you never went to high school?

“Never been to high school, that’s so embarrassing to say. I’ve never been to high school, all I know is the streets.”

When you’re thinking of trying to kill yourself, what.. Why is that? Cause you don’t see hope, you don’t see…?

“I thought, what am I here for? Nobody loves me, nobody cares about me. Nobody, like I told you, nobody checks on me, nobody does anything for me, I have to… I’ve been selling my vagina… I’ve been a victim of s-exual abuse since I was eleven years old and before that I got raped treacherously, molested treacherously, abused, tortured treacherously.”

“I don’t even like to show my body, I hate myself because of everything that I’ve been through and I just feel like what’s…. I’ll probably try to kill myself today especially, probably tomorrow, because tomorrow’s Christmas and I don’t have anybody, I’m not even gonna get to eat any food.”

I’m gonna bring you Christmas dinner tomorrow, so you don’t have to kill yourself , alright? I’m gonna bring you Christmas dinner tomorrow, can you do that?

Yeah, what time?

I’ll be here…. 2 o’clock. Something like that

2pm?

Yeah, I’m going to bring you dinner.

Okay, here?

Here, or I’ll…. You tell me, you show me where your tent is.

Okay

And we’ll figure out a place to meet, I’m not going to let you kill yourself, not on my watch, not a day after you and I met, alright?

I’ll try

I’ll give you a reason to not kill yourself tonight, I’m going to bring you a nice Christmas dinner tomorrow

I want some food too, okay. You promise?

I promise! I’m a man of my word, you ask anybody out here, I’m a good guy, when I tell you I’m going to be here even if it’s going to rain tomorrow I’m going to be here.