It is now the most mentioned source of income in Harare, according to a survey by the Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network, in partnership with the National Aids Council NAC and the ministry of health and childcare. Sex work was the third-most often-mentioned source of income in Mashonaland Central and the fourth in Mashonaland West.
Homeless, without any money and nothing to eat, a friend took me in and introduced me to sex work. I am stigmatised by family and society. I am also subjected to harassment by the police. In one night I sleep with at least five men.
I have been raped and stabbed, and my body is full of bruises from physical violence. I also got pregnant and now I have a child to look after. Sex workers also face stigma and discrimination from healthcare workers. Monalisa, 22, dropped out of school when she became pregnant.
Sex work was a means of survival to feed her children. The money in sex work is just too little. Some clients want to take drugs while with me and often male clients refuse to use condoms because they say it reduces their pleasure. It is illegal to solicit clients, live on the earnings of sex work and facilitate and procure sex work.
All this makes sex workers vulnerable to violence and victimisation, and reluctant to report this to the police for fear of criminalisation. Poverty and an inability to afford tuition, accommodation and food have also forced many university students into the industry. We need to buy food, pay the rent and have transport money.
