The following casestudies have been collected by MAP Photo Agency in Dhaka, an agency I work for, as researcher and feature writer. Mahmud, the photographer an I myself have followed these children for weeks together to gain their confidence and get the stories of their lives.

Nasima (13): Nasima spends most of her time in the streets.Her parents are slum dwellers in Shantinagar, an area in Dhaka city. But she has become accostomed to the streets. She is fond of going to the movies--her only escape from reality. She collects and sells discarded paper in order to buy movie tickets. When Scavenging does not bring her enough money, she sells her body for food and cinema. We looked for her again after the first interview, but never found her. The shopkeeper in whose wayside stall she was often seen sitting, said that her mother comes often to take her back home. She goes only to return again. She has learnt to enjoy the freedom the streets offer while trying to embrace the humiliations. Her family cannot offer her anything more than poverty. She resorts to the streets everytime, with no choices of a better home and dreams.

Lipi (12): Lipi ran away from home to escape an abusive stepmother. She took shelter on the platform of Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka, the home to the thousands of homeless people in Dhaka. On the platform, strangers--men, women, children and old beggars huddle together for security and comfort. Here Lipi was raped at 11, soon after she arrived. "I had no choice. I had to sleep in the same place as the men and they took that advantage." Now, she thinks she has learnt the ways of a harsh life. She sells herself for food every night.

Taslima (15): Taslima came to Dhaka with her uncle to work as domestic help when ah was 13. She ran away from the house where she was working because both the master and his son took turns to sexually molest her--" Both father and son were bastards, lechers! Both of them took the opportunity to sexually abuse me!" She cries out, her voice trembling with more fury than self-pity. Now, she earns her living as a prstitute earning around 50 Takas a day on the streets. Taslima, like most of the other girls interviewed confessed that they were runaways from government shelter homes.

Parul (16): Parul has been followed over a year. Her life shows three distinct phases in the life of a child sex worker. Paru; lost her way from Dampara, Chittagong ( the second main city of Bangladesh ) four years ago. In the beginning, she was just another street child, scavenging, playing and wandering aimlessly in the parks with her friends. The second time she was photographed, she was seen nursing the baby of a prostitute friend. Her new home is on the platform of Kamalapur Station. She is the so-called wife of a laborer. She is very happy because her man of the moment buys her new things like costume jewelry with his money. Her bliss, she knows may be temporary, but made hard by life's harshness , she cherishes a moment's happiness in a lifetime of pain. She says, she likes living in a moment as the rest is uncertain.

PARUL WITH THE BABY OF ANOTHER PROSTITUTE. PARUL BUYING JEWELRY WITH HER MAN'S MONEY.

Salma: Salma is a floating prostitute in Dhaka. She lives with Aslam, a part time thief and scavenger fresh out of jail after a seven-month sentence. Salma was born a street child who became a prostitute from a scavenger. " All street girls are destined to be sexually abused. Sometimes they just want companionship for emotional and physical security. But the men take advantage of that. The girl doesn't object because she likes the boy or the man. In general, for street girls, all men are selfish leeches. They have no qualms about having a good time for a few days, or even a few weeks. Then they take the girl's income and disappear. In situations where the girls object, they are raped. Hurt, abused, exposed, lonely and vulnerable, they realize they must learn to be clever. This is how they start to sell their bodies," explains Salma who began prostitution at 12. That's her lifestory in a nutshell and she knows that it has a general context.

Shahana (13): Shahana stays with her older sister who is a street sex worker in the High Court Mazar area in Dhaka. She is getting ready for work in a garment factory. She admits that living with her sister has exposed her to lecherous clients who take liberties with her as well.

Babita (14): Babita is not her real name. She changed her name to the name of her favorite Bangladeshi actress. Babita is addicted to marijuana and sleeping pills. She sells herself to afford the drugs.