Making her way across patches of sand-speckled ice and snow in the North End neighborhood, Ms. Arruda, who wears a red sweat suit and black work boots, points to various triple deckers she would frequent. For some 25 years, Ms. Arruda worked as a prostitute in this neighborhood.
It was the only steady job she ever had, and she did it to pay for her next fix of cocaine. But Ms. Arruda has closed this chapter of her life in the past two years. Now she wants to tell her story in hopes that what she learned pulling herself out of drug addiction and prostitution can convince others to turn away from a devastating life that consumed her teens, 20s and most of her 30s.
Arruda, 39, was born in New Bedford, the oldest in a family of five raised primarily by her mother, Beverly M. She remembers her family moving to Fall River at one point during her childhood and later moving back to the West End. Her last memory of attending school was in Fall River. She never finished high school. Although she didn't acknowledge it as prostitution, she began having sex with men for money at the age of She recalls her mother trying to help her, but she was unwilling to accept anyone's help.
She lived in foster homes and was placed by the family court at Madonna Hall in Middleboro, a church-run home for troubled girls. She ran away from Madonna Hall by tricking the nuns. While waiting for her appointment in a hallway, she noticed an exit sign and scooted out the door. Arruda remembers drinking alcohol during most of her teen years. She started snorting cocaine when she was That was the beginning of a habit that came to rule her life.
Over the years, she had four children, all by different men. Her mother took custody of each of the children and raised them. They now range in age from 17 to The oldest is married, she says with pride.
