adminCatherine Murombedzi H I V Column
Sex workers narrate harrowing tales in their working area. Most of them state that if they had a choice they would stop the trade. They have been robbed of the little cash they make. They have been beaten up and humiliated. They have been raped, yes gang raped by supposed clients and have been infected with sexually transmitted infections and HIV. They have been laughed at by health personnel when seeking services and have on many occasions left clinics without getting treated.
They have been abused by the police who are supposed to protect them like ordinary citizens. Tariro Makanga Chikumbirike SAfAIDS manager of communications and research and also ICASA manager 2015 interviewed sex workers and here are the excerpts. The interview “Sex workers uncensored” by Tariro Makanga is available on YouTube.
I will refer to the women as 1, 2, 3. Woman 3 speaks of a gang rape on her first day in the field. “It was my first day to forage the terrain as a sex worker in Harare. I left home in Kuwadzana with friends for city pubs. As a new client I was popular with men. I charged $10 for a quickie and demanded to use protection always. Some men demanded unprotected sex for more money but I did not accept that,” said woman 3. Little did she know that hawks were watching her.
“I got busy and shortly on return got a new customer. I had several quickies and placed my money in the bra. In no time I had lots of money. My two friends who had introduced me in the field were also busy. We got three men who asked us to leave that spot for another pub. We asked for our dues first and were given. So the six of us drove to another bar where we were spoiled with six packs of beer each.”
“They asked us to leave and we asked why to which they said we were going for city adventure. They drove to Mbare cemetery right into the place and we asked why? Their tone changed and they demanded all the money we had,” woman 3 breaks down and Makanga Chikumbirike gives her time to get calm.
“We were ordered to undress and the three of us were raped,” she breaks down again. “We asked them to at least use protection and they answered ‘were you born with a condom’. They exchanged us all and with semen flowing it was harrowing. My friend was HIV positive and I knew the risk. They later asked us to run in front of the car naked and then abandoned us.
I had a friend in Mbare so naked we walked there. On knocking people saw that we were naked and shouted witches. We were beaten up and taken to a base still naked. We were forced to sweep the place stark naked. We were only given wrappers later by women who listened to our story.” The women were humiliated and taken to the police where they suffered further humiliation.
“We were finally released and we walked home since we had no money. I stayed at home for three days and started to feel itchy. I went to the local clinic and my private parts were turning green. The nurse there was not friendly she called out: Girls come and see this type of STI. She is getting rotten as she walks. I escaped and they laughed at me.
One girl followed me and asked me. At first I brushed her off. She persisted and I opened up. She told me of a clinic called Sisters and she promised to come and take me there the next day. True to her word she came.
I could no longer walk she carried me on the back. I was now smelling offensively. At the clinic the nurses were friendly. I did not pay anything and was told that I must have come immediately after being raped. I was treated with dignity and was asked if I wanted to be tested for HIV. I refused since I was not ready.” The woman later recovered and accepted to be tested to which she tested HIV positive.
She breaks down again and Makanga Chikumbirike speaks to the next woman. Woman 1 said she would stop sex work if given an alternative.
“I tested HIV positive in 2005 and since then my CD4 count is very high that I have not commenced anti retroviral therapy. I tell my ‘lovers’ of my HIV status but they refuse to listen. Some even demand ‘live’ sex and pay more. I know the risks but am not going to die today. I sometimes have it unprotected because I have told them my status and they insist so I get the good cash returns. I mostly use protection though,” said woman 1.
Woman 2 said she is a single mother of school and college going age children and failed to make ends meet on the little she earned.
“I had to feed and educate my children. The youngest is in Grade 7 and I am aged 43. I love baking and cooking and do voluntary work at gatherings. So if I am to get in the catering business I would manage. Funds are constraining me. Being a sex worker is tough. Police arrest us for soliciting and demand sex to release us. We are an abused lot and need to be treated equally,” said woman 2. Tariro Tandi a lawyer with ZWLA said prostitution is not a crime in Zimbabwe but soliciting for the purposes of prostitution is.
“It is difficult how one knows who is soliciting and who is not. Women walking alone have been arrested. So it is something that needs alignment otherwise innocent women have been harassed by the police,” said Tandi. Sex workers have rights like everyone and they are demanding that. They are a key population if the country is to record no new HIV infections. ICASA addresses such issues and pray that sex workers pavilion will be a hive of activity at the forum.
Online Reporter