SOCIAL-ECONOMIC WOES PUSHES THE VULNERABLE TO THE EXTREME
Aisha aged 42 (not her real name) is a survivor of sex and sell-for-exchange violence, she is single-handedly raising her five children. She separated from her husband before she left her country DRC for Malawi. She now lives in a camp for displaced persons in Dzaleka refugee camp, Malawi.
Aisha came to Malawi with her four children years ago, Aisha made the hardest decision of her life when she took her children with her and started looking for means to provide them with a better life.
Ever since she arrived at the camp, Aisha had no money or place to live and no family to depend on. Being illiterate, she knew that a well-paying job without a school certificate was beyond her reach.
She and her four children only had clothes and personal belongings when they arrived at the Dzaleka camp. She had nothing as a source of income to feed the children and couldn’t afford to send them to school, they stayed at home and took care of each other.
“Because of the struggles I was facing I resolved to start selling my body for money so that my kids never sleep on an empty stomach.” Aisha narrates
“I was meeting with different men, most of them at bars and different restrooms, I was leaving my children alone at the tents or quarantine centers where we were staying before being offered a place to live in,” she said.
Aisha explained that in the course of doing such business men were abusing her, by not giving her the cash they agreed and sometimes less of the money they agreed.
“The business was not going well as anticipated most men were just using me, they were not giving me the cash we agreed, others were threatening to beat me and some were even beating me if I followed up on my payment after sleeping with them, my problems kept on growing I was worried as I was abusing my body and my children kept on suffering nothing was changing,” said Aisha
Not only this, Aisha got pregnant from one of the random men she was hooking up with, and the number of her children increased to 5 she cannot point to the father of the fifth child since she used to sleep with several men in one night.
“Friends and neighbors warned me of my behavior that it would bring me more problems including sexually transmitted diseases, I became more afraid of dying and leaving my kids as orphans” she lamented,
I reflected on my problems and explored ways I would save myself from the business I was doing and people referred me to the Plan International Malawi office based in the camp,
She received counseling from the Plan Malawi GBV office, and the Malawi government through the Department for Refugees offered her land where they built houses for them,
“We moved from the tents to the houses built by the authorities that look after us in the camp”, she said
Aisha is also one of the beneficiaries of the livelihood program implemented by the plan Dzaleka office, the program aims at supporting vulnerable people like her through training in poultry farming, where she earns a living from the little she gets from the program.
“I am grateful to plan International Malawi Dzaleka office and other implementing partners in the camp, they saved my life from harm, I am now able to provide for my children without indulging in malpractices that can ruin my life, and I coped up my stress so fast as I always interact with my fellow sex and sell for exchange survivors in different groups and training”. expressed Aisha
