She often closed her eyes to avoid remembering the men's faces – today she mostly remembers their smell.

From the exit of the Central Station towards Istedgade, Kaya Sommer can look down at the storage lockers where she "lived" for many years.

She kept all her things there so they wouldn't be stolen, and so she could get away quickly. Every day she came by to put coins in her locker, and it was also here she changed clothes.

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> I often just closed my eyes, because I couldn't bear the trauma of having to remember him

> Kaya Sommer

That's why she also chose one of the back lockers, where no one could see her.

- So you're standing there stark naked. You don't want that.. For free, she says in the 4th and final episode of the DR podcast about Reden ( https://www.dr.dk/lyd/p1/udsyn/udsyn-2026/4-4-reden-efterlivet-11802601155 ) in Vesterbro, Copenhagen.

As a young woman, Kaya Sommer was part of the drug environment in Vesterbro, and there she met Marika Vengberg, who came to Vesterbro because she had a massive hashish addiction.

Today, both friends have left that environment, but in the podcast they revisit places in Vesterbro where they used to go – and which they consider themselves lucky to have escaped alive.

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100 kroner at the bar and a wink to the bartender

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Marika Vengberg and Kaya Sommer were young when they met each other in Vesterbro, and they quickly became good friends. They moved in together, and when Kaya Sommer stood in front of Non-Stop looking for customers, Marika Vengberg stood beside her. She wasn't a prostitute herself, but she often stood with Kaya Sommer to look after her, she says.

When Kaya Sommer stands in front of Non-Stop on Istedgade today, she can feel a tension in her body. She hasn't been here for many years, because the place still triggers her, she says.

Non-Stop on Istedgade was closed in 2011 due to mold, but on Google Maps you can still see the place. (Photo: © Google)

This was where she took many of her customers. Here, women could put 100 kroner in the bar and take the men into some back rooms, where they sold various sexual services to them.

- There was no light, and you really didn't know who you were screwing or being with. There were no windows in the rooms, and there was no light. It was quite unpleasant, really, says Kaya Sommer.

Read also: Vulnerable women want sex rooms in Copenhagen - Venstre supports the wish ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/udsatte-kvinder-vil-have-sexrum-i-koebenhavn-venstre-bakker-op-om-oenske )

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Remembers the smells

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Both Kaya Sommer and Marika Vengberg struggled with addiction when they were part of the environment around Istedgade, and that was also the primary reason Kaya Sommer started selling sex.

It took place both in places like Non-Stop, in customers' apartments, and in cars. Today, even many years later, she still remembers many episodes from back then.

But it's not the men's faces she remembers.

- I often just closed my eyes, because I couldn't bear the trauma of having to remember him that way afterwards through my sight in pictures, says Kaya Sommer.

As a young woman, Kaya Sommer was fascinated by the drug environment: "It's a miracle that I'm not dead today." (Photo: © Private photo)

Today, it's therefore more the smells she remembers.

What smells do you associate it with?

Yeah, sour dick. Sweat, dirty hands, she explains.

Her customers back then ranged from businessmen to men who were themselves on drugs – and there were also many taxi drivers, she says:

- There was one who tried to rape me out in Sydhavnen, with a turban on and everything, where he locked the doors. But you can't do anything other than try to relax and be as pedagogical as possible and try to talk your way out of it.

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Fear women are dead when they stop coming

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Kaya Sommer and Marika Vengberg were users of Reden in Vesterbro for several years, which is a drop-in center and counseling service for women who take drugs and sell sexual services. Here they often slept together in the place's bunk beds.

Even though it's many years since they were there, Kamilla Winther could remember them both when they revisited the place in connection with the podcast. And she was glad to see that the two women are doing well today.

- When there are some women who suddenly aren't here anymore, like Marika and Kaya, I hope for the best. I hope that life has led them in a different direction and to something better, but somewhere inside you also have a fear that they might be dead, she says.

According to Kamilla Winther, the women who use Reden have many broken relationships with their families – including children. Many of them dream of re-establishing contact. (Photo: © Torben Huss, Ritzau Scanpix)

Today, Reden is different from what it was in 2011, when Marika Vengberg started using the place.

Back then, many of the women took drugs in the sleeping area, and there were syringes lying between the beds, but that's not the case today, says Kamilla Winther.

When Marika Vengberg and Kaya Sommer came to Reden, one of the place's most important functions was a bulletin board where the women could warn each other about men they had had bad experiences with.

- I can clearly remember there was this note about a man who had behaved very inappropriately or had raped a woman, and you knew that license plate you just had to remember. Because you were not going to ride with him, that was for sure, says Kaya Sommer.

That's not how it works today, explains Kamilla Winther:

- Today it's a different way of selling sex. It has become much more individualized. You don't see anyone walking down Skelbækgade looking out for each other. You actually don't know what's going on if you're not part of the environment.

Read also: Particularly vulnerable sex workers are more often subjected to violence and abuse ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/kvinder-der-saelger-sex-er-saerligt-udsat-vold-og-overgreb )

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Out the other side

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It's about ten years since Kaya Sommer and Marika Vengberg stopped coming to Reden.

Do you have friends today from before you lived this street life?

- No, I don't, really, comes from Kaya Sommer.

Is that by choice?

- Yes, I would say it is. It might be wrong to say, but I think ordinary, bourgeois people can be a bit boring, Marika Vengberg adds.

Marika Vengberg is 55 years old today.

Even though they have now found peace and worked through their traumas, the time in Vesterbro will always stay with them – and it's something that can be hard to share with outsiders.

- Many violent things happened back then, and I could have been dead many times, says Kaya Sommer.

Today's reunion with Reden, the two women see as a kind of full stop.

- I think our stubbornness has meant that we are where we are today. It's a big full stop that we are now sitting here in Reden in a bunk bed and can talk about all the things we have experienced. When we walk out of here, when this interview is finished, we laugh and give each other a hug and go buy a cup of coffee, concludes Marika Vengberg.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.