Prostitute from informal settlement spills the beans
The 32-year-old picks up her clients in local taverns and at taxi ranks for a fee of R20.
AFTER being forced by her husband to sleep in a mobile toilet for two days for not coming home with food, she realised she had no option but to find a way to make money.
It was also the day she decided to prostitute her body to support her husband rather than suffer his abuse.
The 32-year-old picks up her clients in local taverns and at taxi ranks for a fee of R20.
During the day, she searches for clients in the passages of Booysens informal settlement, where she resides.
She supports her husband with the money she earns from selling her body.
“My husband is aware of my job and he demands money from me every day. All the furniture in my house was bought with the prostitution money,” she told the COURIER.
She is also driven to continue with sex work because she lost two children. One of them died and the other one was taken away by social workers because she couldn’t support the child.
“But,” she added, “I believe that one day I will be reunited with my child again when I can care for my child.”
Not an easy life
She does not want to lose what she has to financial struggles. She dropped out of school at the age of 17 and has neither a matric certificate nor any other qualification.
“It’s not easy to depend on sex to get money to support your loved one. My husband is a drunkard. He doesn’t have a job, so I have to see to it that we have food on the table,” she said.
She mostly prefers dealing with clients who are not married, because if married clients’ wives found out about her, it would cause problems.
“My clients don’t abuse me and they pay on time. I go for regular HIV/Aids tests and make sure I use a condom before having any intercourse with my clients,” she said.
Close neighbours don’t have a problem with what she does, because they believe she does what she does to survive.
“I don’t want to judge anyone. If one wants to make money by selling tomatoes, it’s fine. Even with her selling her body, it is not our place to judge, as long as she eats,” said a neighbour.
When asked by the COURIER when she would leave the life of prostitution, she said, “If only I can get employment in a company where I am paid enough money to help me survive. Any job will do for me at this point in time.”
While she was chatting with the COURIER, a man came in for business, money in hand.
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