First Lady offers new path to Masvingo’s ladies of the night

Tendai Rupapa in Masvingo

IT was double delight for ladies of the night in Masvingo Province when they had a heart-to-heart with First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, who listened to their challenges and immediately rolled out empowerment projects for them to quit the degrading profession.

Amai Mnangagwa, who is the country’s health ambassador, told the ladies that the oldest profession is risky as it exposed them to sexually transmitted infections, violence and even death. They are also vulnerable to a variety of human rights abuses perpetrated mostly by their clients, as well as other violations such as refusal by clients to adhere to the agreed transaction fee or outright refusal to pay for services provided.

The First Lady is working flat out to take these women off the streets as she continues with her empowerment drive. To ensure that the women are rehabilitated and economically empowered, Amai Mnangagwa told them that through her Angel of Hope Foundation and its working partners, they can embark on a detergent-making project.

The women expressed gratitude to the First Lady for giving them a sense of belonging and promised to quit the profession. Starting tomorrow, the ladies of the night and other women from the province will start receiving training in detergent-making, while officials from Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) were on site to register them to start courses in various fields, free of charge. One of the ladies of the night, Eunice Masara from Mashava, said she was grateful for what the First Lady had done and gave a brief of how she entered the world’s oldest profession.

“I entered sex work at 23 years old following the death of my husband. I was struggling to send my children to school and there was nowhere to start from. Today we are happy and proud of our mother who has remembered us as sex workers. Most people were looking down upon us, but if you see a whole mother leaving her station to visit people like us, she would have been pained by what her children are doing. Some people are even surprised as to why she has come to us. They do not appreciate that a mother belongs to everyone. A mother will never forsake her children and here she has brought projects for us to engage in and leave this degrading profession. I am now old and this profession has no pension,” she said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Auxillia Mawere from Mhandamabwe in Chivi.

“I am 32 years old and I started sex work at 22 following a divorce, as I wanted to look after my children. I want to thank Amai Mnangagwa, who has come to help us leave this profession and help us to use our hands to sustain our families. I also wish to thank her for the other departments she brought like the women’s bank (Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank) and the Ministry of Women Affairs, who taught us a lot of things that we did not know. This job is fraught with challenges like sexually transmitted diseases, being stressed, ridiculed or being beaten up by clients. Some neighbours mock our children, so, indeed, this is a dangerous job that we need to get out of,” she said.

Stella Mufamba (34) said she became a lady of the night when she was 14 years old after being impregnated at school while doing Form 2.

“In this profession, we face a lot of challenges, like being assaulted after being raped as people view us as worse than toilets. Members of society see us as rubbish fit for the bin. We are left behind in most initiatives to uplift society as we are said to be always in bars. In the bars, we will be seeking to eke out a living but we are left out of many other programmes. I am truly thankful to the First Lady for her visit here in Masvingo to come and see us as the down-trodden. Amai is not selective; she loves all her children,” she said.

In another heart-rending account, Thandiwe Moyo (32) said she was forced into the world’s oldest profession by desperation.

“I started frequenting bars and nightclubs at 16 years of age because my parents had passed on and I was impregnated at 14 while doing Form 2. Some of our clients refuse to use protection, thus exposing us to sexually transmitted diseases. Some of our clients even steal our household goods while we are away at the bar or they can beat you up after a session. I thank Amai for remembering us because most people did not want to help us. She is teaching us to shun this profession,” she said.

Chipiwe Mugabe, another lady of the night, said: “Following the death of my parents while I was doing Form 3 and my father’s relatives refused to look after us, the only option was to frequent bars for survival. I am happy with what the First Lady has done for us this day. She has not been selective and has offered to help us, even though the community excludes us in most of its programmes. The community segregates against us and does not give us what is distributed to others.”

The mother of the nation said she was concerned by challenges faced by women, which were the same, although they affect them in different ways.

“I have come so that we discuss because the challenges we face as women are the same, only time is different. Through my Angel of Hope Foundation and our partners, we have come so that we assist one another with projects. I want you to quit this profession because the end result is death. I want you to do dignified registered projects. Your job brings unwanted pregnancies and some end up dumping these children, and I was glad to hear you being taught about family planning by our health officials.

“Some people are conducting illegal abortions, which result in them bleeding to death. I heard during my travels that some do this with a wire to pierce the uterus; this is tantamount to killing yourselves. From now on, I do not want you in the streets because some of you have personalised corners where you operate from. Leave this and start a new life.

Some ladies of the night are teaching their children the ropes while others are taking drugs in full view of the children, who end up doing the same. This is why I have come so that we leave children an inheritance through projects like sewing, detergent-making, baking, cooking, poultry, piggery, among others,” she said.

The First Lady said she would follow up on the projects and urged the ladies of the night to form groups of threes or fives and work with determination.

“Representatives from the Women’s Bank and Women Affairs that I have brought here will assist us. Work with them, have good relationships with them and we go forward. They will help you draft perfect proposals,” she said.

Amai Mnangagwa also implored the ladies of the night to use money wisely when they start projects and not splurge their profits on useless things.

“Money issues require discipline and we should not commit profits to niceties. Also put God first in everything you do, pray for your projects, yourselves and your families. Starting from tomorrow (today), as Angel of Hope Foundation, I have brought a detergent-making project and you are going to be trained. I want you to take notes while being taught. I have also come with ZOU, which partnered my foundation so that you learn free of charge. There are many courses on offer.

“As health ambassador, I yearn that you learn your reproductive health. Also get vaccinated for Covid-19 and get the booster shot because I want you protected from Covid-19. I took my booster shot. Ensure your children from the age of 12 are inoculated because the disease affects everyone,” she said.

A representative from the Ministry of Health and Child Care urged the women to treasure their health and ensure they were tested for HIV.

“Health is important. To be able to conduct projects, one needs to be healthy. As women we run around the homes and we need to be in good health. As women, are you getting checked regularly? Are you getting screened for cancer? Are you getting tested for HIV? This is very important. Amai is our ambassador for health and she encourages women to be of good health,” she said.

A women’s bank representative urged the ladies of the night to work closely with the bank to gain financial literacy.

“We want to work with you as Women’s Bank so that we teach each other financial literacy. We want to train you in the projects that you need so that you get down to work. Those with children above 18 years must bring them along and we will put you in groups and hit the ground running. We want to thank Amai for coming up with this initiative and remembering you.”

A representative from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Mr Joseph Mupinga, said Government was committed to contributing significantly towards employment creation, poverty reduction and improvement of people’s livelihoods. He said the SMEs were the engine for urban and rural development.

“To our ladies of the night, we say get involved in real and formalised businesses. Zimbabwe is open for business and Amai, the First Lady, is taking you aboard, building our economy brick by brick, leaving no place and no one behind towards Vision 2030.”