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I Made The Wrong Decision To Sell My Body To Earn Money-EX Prostitute
A former sex worker, Elizabeth (real name withheld) recalls her struggles and how she escaped the risky world of sex work.
Elizabeth is one of several reformed sex workers at Livingstone’s Kwenuha Women’s Association of Zambia, an organisation mainly targeting girls and women formerly involved in sex work in the tourist capital.
“My story is one that many girls can relate to and I know that there is a girl out there who is selling her body for money like I did just to survive. But I am here to say that selling your body for money is not worth it. There are other better ways of making money,” says Elizabeth, now 29.
Elizabeth says she became a sex worker in Grade 10 because she thought it was the only way to make ‘fast money’.
She says she believed at the time that this would help ease the struggles she was going through due to her family’s impoverished state.
“I have never seen both my parents. The only person I know is my aunt, the one who raised me. Life was a struggle growing up because my aunt was not working and she was old. We were eight people at home and some went to school while others did not go to school and I was among those that did not go to school,” she says.
“Everything was a struggle, from food to clothing. Just to get the basic necessities was very difficult. I was later sponsored by an organisation in grade eight and nine, but they later stopped sponsoring me.”
Elizabeth says to continue with her education, she started working as a maid to raise money for her school fees, adding that after enrolling in grade ten she started having relationships with teachers who in return gave her money.
She says she continued having multiple relationships with her teachers but this was not enough to pay her school fees.
Elizabeth says it was at this point that she decided the only way she could make money quickly was through prostitution.
“After I started working as a sex worker, I was able to make money to pay for my school fees and to buy food at home. Life was easier because I would make money almost every day,” Elizabeth says.
It was during this period that Elizabeth became pregnant, forcing her to drop out of school while in Grade 11.
She says that after becoming a mother, she continued to work on the streets to support herself.
Elizabeth recalls one unpleasant encounter.
“I was with this guy and he took me to a place where I did not know. He did not book a room but he had a car. After I slept with him, he told me to get out of his car and that was how he left me in an unfamiliar place around midnight.”
She says after wandering in an unknown place, she found a friend who was also a sex worker who got her a place to sleep.
Elizabeth says sex workers are at risk of being killed because most of the men who pay for sex cannot be trusted.
“There was one time that a man beat me badly because he did not have money to pay me. I fought back, but he beat me up. I came out of this business with so many scars on my body because men would beat me. This is one of the scars that I got from one the fights,” she says, pointing to a scar above her right eyebrow.
She says she only stopped sex work in 2005 at the age of 20 after having a life-changing conversation with a counsellor at Kwenuha.
“I am very happy because I stopped working as a sex worker; I have a new way of looking at life now. Looking at where I came from, I have really high plans for myself. My life before I came to Kwenuha was difficult and it was not a good one because I was always in bars, drinking alcohol. I was a sex worker so that I could earn money fast. I wanted a fast business, but it was not right,” she says.
Elizabeth urges women engaged in prostitution to change their lifestyles because of the many health risks involved.
“The only thing I can urge women in this industry is that it will not take them anywhere. They are just risking their lives. This business may seem good because of the quick money, but it is a high-risk business. Men beat up the women and some who are not lucky end up being killed. And there are diseases.”
Elizabeth counsels that as difficult as it may seem, women can leave a life of prostitution.
Elizabeth undertook a tailoring course and was given a sewing machine at her graduation.
Her plan is to start a tailoring business to support herself.
Elizabeth says she may start small, but will work hard to see her business grow as it would be a better way of earning a living compared to what she did before
Posted by
kakolwe
May 20, 2014 at 7:21 pm
The lack of patience & failure to accept who you are is what has caused many to go through such. Some have even dumped their babies to chase after white diks thinking they are rich & well off. NO, you can only enjoy your growth if you grow it. The problem is how to convince these young ones, bekalishafye nga banya.
Rusty
May 20, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Legalized Prostitution
May 20, 2014 at 7:45 pm
That’s why prostitution must be legalized so that women can be protected from abuse and monitered for sexual diseases..When prostitutes operate independently and in secret, many times they become abused by their own customers. When adult women decide to exchange money for sex, it is a personal choice open to them under the philosophy of a free, democratic society.
Regulating the Oldest Profession
May 20, 2014 at 7:51 pm
Israel, the historical stage for the Bible, allows it, too.
Rusty
May 20, 2014 at 8:08 pm
With sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and herpes, prostitutes must be monitored to prevent the spread of these afflictions. Chancroid, a STD typically found in third world nations is occurring due to transmission brought on through illegal prostitution. Chancroid makes ulcers in the vagina that assist with the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Regulating the Oldest Profession
May 20, 2014 at 7:48 pm
“When troubled minors who do not yet have the social survival skills decide to prostitute, they are often manipulated by opportunists who exploit these teens, typically leading to horrific ends. Legalizing prostitution will help prevent these instances through regulation.
Legalized, regulated prostitution has many benefits. Encounters can happen within controlled environments that bring about safety for both the customers and the prostitutes.”
lobby
May 20, 2014 at 7:56 pm
Sex, like everything else, is up on the table for ‘sale’ within marriage and other relationships. It is not a foreign concept to anyone who has ever been in a sexual relationship over an extended period of time. Usually there is no direct exchange of money, but natural exchanges in a give-and-take situation do occur when things are normal and healthy. So long as there are no heavy demands and freedom of choice exists, sex is a commodity of sorts. One provides sex for love, while another provides love for sex. In other cases One provides sex for MONEY, while another provides MONEY for sex.
kakolwe
May 20, 2014 at 9:36 pm
Ba rusty, please remove the rust from your assss, who told you chancroid is a 3rd world STI? Anyway, if one has analysed thousands of theses, it becomes easy to see that, in spite of the many changes in blog names, ubupuba is still highly evident.
youth
May 21, 2014 at 7:53 am
kakolwe kachikala whats your 4king problem? you 3rd world !D!ot
(•ิ_•ิ)?
May 21, 2014 at 1:49 pm
Stanyoko iwe kolwe, nidofu yakwanoko mwa?
Chancroid is caused by a type of bacteria called Haemophilus ducreyi.
The infection is found mainly in developing and third world countries. Very few people are diagnosed in the United States each year with this infection. Most people in the U.S. who are diagnosed with chancroid have traveled outside the country to areas where the infection is more common.
Chief of Grief
May 21, 2014 at 11:35 am
The oldest profession.Chibelo nikapito,just use your God given talent and moreover its tax freeeeeeeee.BRING BACK OUR GIRLS!!