Taming Mchinji’s young sex workers

Thirteen-year-old Janet Njoka  should have been in either Standard Eight or Form One at any school, but she is a sex worker in Mchinji District.

Usually clad in miniskirts, she wriggles her behind suggestively as shemoves from one drinking joint to another in search of men and uses all tacticsto attract their attention.

Janet says like many other girls in the border district, she is in sex work for money to meet her needs.

“I have parents but they are too poor to provide all my needs. I was admiring other girls who made lots of money within a short period through sex work and enjoyed life,” she says.

Janet adds that since she started the trade last year, she has been making between K5 000 and K7 000 per day.

“This is enough money for me to meet the current fashion trends that cannot be met with money from my parents,” she says.

She lives in a small room behind one of the drinking joints.

Despite boasting of being able to make a lot of money in a day, Jennet is aware of the dangers of the oldest trade in the world.

Janet says she is exposed to various forms of exploitation and abuse like non-payment by clients, refusal to use condoms, rape and threats.

“Some clients beat me up, refuse to pay after having sex and threaten to kill me,” she says.

Janet’s story is not different from Salome Banda’s (not real name).

Salome, 16, is usually found in pubs at Mchinji Boma, drinking and smoking with both young and old men.

Judging from the scars on her face and a peculiar haircut, one is tempted to conclude that Salome is a violent girl. She must have survived a number of fights.

Surprisingly, she seemingly enjoys her lifestyle.

However, just like Jennet, Salome laments similar challenges in the trade.

“Life is not simple. I’m in sex work just to help myself meet my daily needs,” Salome says.

Child prostitution in Mchinji is high. The district is bordered by Zambia and taxi and truck drivers plying their trade between the two countries coax the young girls into commercial sex.

Recently, child protection worker in Traditional Authority (T/A) Zulu, Shaibu Ulanda, intercepted two young girls aged 13 and 15 from the area of Senior Chief Mlonyeni.

The girls were found loitering around Kamwendo Trading Centre and claimed they were picked by a taxi driver from the border post.

Apparently, the driver told them that he would give them money and food but later dumped them.

Ulanda says the girls were later referred to a One-Stop Centre facility at Mchinji District Hospital for medical examination and that investigations are underway to arrest the taxi driver.

“Child prostitution in T/A Zulu is rampant because the area shares the border with Zambia,” he says.

The child sex work is particularly rampant at Kanyama, Masautso, Kamwendo and at the boma.

Ulanda says the reasons that are driving young girls into sex work which is, in most cases, trans-generational are poorly understood with most people attributing it to poverty.

“Parents should not use poverty as an excuse for failing to tame their daughters,” he says.

True to Ulanda’s sentiments, the Child Care and Protection Act stipulates that parents have a responsibility to protect the child from neglect, discrimination, violence, abuse, exploitation, oppression and exposure to physical, mental, social and moral hazards.

But in Salome’s case, she attributes her situation to death of her parents. She recalls a time when she used to lead a decent morally upright life.

“My parents were well-to-do and offered me everything. After their death, I started leading a miserable life such that I was forced to go into sex work to make easy money,” she says.

Ironically, Salome says she is scared of contracting HIV, a virus that causes Aids. She says most of her clients are older men who pay handsomely but demand sex without protection.

In the wake of the plight of young girls, Youth Net and Counselling Organisation (Yoneco) is already in Mchinji to respond to the needs and challenges affecting girls like Jennet and Salome.

Yoneco’s project officer for Marriage: No Child’s Play Project, Tionge Banda, says it is sad that some girls find sex work as a solution to their poverty.

“Our organisation is training young girls in entrepreneurship, especially agribusiness, for them to lead productive lives and not engage in immoral practices that can negatively affect their health,” Banda says.

She adds that with funding from Simavi in Netherlands, Yoneco has trained child community protection committees, traditional leaders, youth clubs and girls’ clubs, among others.

“Youth and girls’ clubs have been trained in financial education and youth village savings and loans schemes. Some were given start-up capital in agriculture and small-scale businesses,” Banda says.

District social welfare officer Rodwell Chunga challenges religious and traditional leaders to be champions of child protection if Malawi is to make strides in ending child prostitution.

“Traditional and religious leaders play a big role in shaping societal attitudes towards culture, therefore, they should take a leading role to curb child prostitution in their areas,” he says.

He adds that the Department of Social Welfare in the district recently established and trained five child protection committees around the boma to be monitoring the behaviour of young girls.

“We have also sensitised Kabaza [bicycle taxi] operators because they are the ones that pick the young girls to various places for sex,” he says.

Chunga says through his office, together with other stakeholders like the police, they have been conducting sweeping exercises in places where young sex workers are found.

“However, we will continue with our routine inspection and sweeping exercises because if left unchecked many young girls risk contracting HIV,” Chunga says.