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From the horse’s mouth
By
Matilda Yuma - 27-05-2002 |
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In a dimly lit room of a resthouse in Nkhotakota, Emma Kachingwe is with her first client of the day. The two are embroiled in an argument and Emma appears to be winning.
She convinces her client to use a condom, and the man finally agrees.
Emma is a sex worker at Nkhotakota Boma. Like many sex workers, her major fear is HIV/Aids and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Most men who meet sex workers do not want to use condoms, a clear indication they do not use them even with their spouses when need arises.
“They will insist on not using condoms and offer us larger amounts of money at the expense of our lives,” Emma said in a telephone interview.
She says if she had not been insisting on condoms, she would have been dead by now.
She says she is fed up with 16 years of sex work.
Says she: “I have been in this business since 1986 and I thank God that I am still alive. You can escape death with other infections as all you need is an injection. But Aids knows no cure to this day.”
She says sex work is becoming increasingly risky because of the Aids pandemic. She adds that this is compounded by the fact that some men are not willing to use condoms.
As sex workers, Emma and her friends face numerous other problems, a thing that has made her consider quitting the trade.
“Most sex workers are found in places that are potentially risky like bars, taverns, entertainment halls, and resthouses where people with different behaviour are found.
“We are exposed to potentially dangerous relationships with these men because the affairs are mostly temporal,” says Emma.
She says their clients are usually long distance truck drivers, fishermen, and businessmen who buy fish in the district.
Says Emma: “Because these men do not use condoms in their homes, they are not willing to use them with us.”
She says there are instances when some men deliberately pierce condoms, or use them improperly. Others, she says, pretend to be wearing the rubber when they are not.
“It’s only when the sexual intercourse is over and you want to remove the condom that, to your dismay, discover either he is not wearing one or, if he is wearing one, it has a gaping hole. It’s scary,” Emma says.
She says the risk coming with commercial sex work is bigger compared to the proceeds realised.
“For you to survive around here, you need to sleep with a minimum of five men,” she says. “We charge K100 per round (sex session).”
Emma says one is bound to wonder how a person in her right senses would risk her life for only K100.
Says she: “This is a rural area and K100 is at least reasonable. Some even don’t bother to pay us. When they have finished and their passion is gone, they simply tell you they have no money.”
Emma’s life changed after she fell pregnant while in standard five when she was living with her sister in Ndirande Township in Blantyre.
“I left school and went back home to raise my kid,” she recalls, “I later went to Nkho-takota to look for work but failed to find a decent job. I have since worked in bars and other places around the boma.”
Emma is not alone. At Nkhotakota Boma and Dwangwa Trading Centre, there are 60 sex workers facing similar challenges.
To protect their interests and rehabilitate themselves into mainstream society, they have formed Linga Women Group.
The group falls under the umbrella of Nkhotakota Aids Support Organisation (Naso), a non-government organisation whose objective is to help in the fight against the spread of HIV/Aids in the district.
Linga Women Group was formed in 1999 and aims at helping sex workers solve their problems and reach out to their clients to preach abstinence and condom use.
“We wanted to make sure that people avoid sexually transmitted infections. A preliminary research we conducted indicated that most people had STIs from commercial sex workers,” said Tifa Goma, Naso’s executive director.
Goma says Naso held dis
cussions with owners
of bars, restaurants and other places of entertainment.
Through the discussions it was discovered that most sex workers lacked information on STIs and condom use.
“That is when we came up with Linga Women Group,” he tsaid, adding, Naso taught the women about the dangers of HIV/Aids and other STIs.
She adds the organisation also teaches the women how to work in potentially risky areas and how to negotiate for safe sex and condom use.
Linga Women Group conducts outreach programmes through which 58,250 condoms were distributed last year.
“At first people around the boma were uncomfortable to talk about condoms, let alone using them. They thought condoms were only for those in casual relationship. Now they know that even married people can use condoms,” says Emma.
Khumba Chinemba is Naso’s coordinator of women’s activities. She says society’s discrimination against sex workers makes it difficult for prostitutes to change behaviour.
Chinemba says prostitutes need to be respected and should not be discriminated against because they can worsen the HIV/Aids situation in the country.
“Commercial sex workers are important in Malawi’s fight against HIV/Aids because they can spread the virus to many people within minutes,” says Chinemba.
She has good reason for fearing, if revelation made by one sex worker is anything to go by.
“One of the women said she sleeps with at least 15 men within a day,” says Chinemba.
She says the group’s activities include voluntary screening for STIs every month.
“Screening has become part of their lifestyle. They have to know their status. If they have STIs, they need to be treated early,” says Chinemba.
Of the 60 sex workers, only three tasted HIV positive and they since declared their status.
Asked if the declaration of one’s status does not reduce the number of clients, Ngoma says it would be good if things turned that way.
“We want men to stop sleeping with prostitutes. We hope that the declarations will scare away the men,” says Ngoma.
He says the programme is intended to give sex workers a proper transition into main stream society.
Says he: “We want to disturb their livelihood. These women must go home.”
Agrees Emma: “I want to go home and lead a new life. I want to go into business and take care of my child if I can find a loan.” —Mana |
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