Bamenda sex workers explain why they are in the trade

Prostitution is becoming a big trade on the streets of Bamenda, the biggest city in the Northwest region of Cameroon.

Recently, The Cameroon Journal took to the streets of the city to find out why many girls – as young as 14 are resorting to prostitution without any remorse. For some, they joined the trade because of circumstances, but for others it was a necessity. Some of their stories are heartbreaking and pathetic, but the people themselves do not think it is time for them to look for jobs in regular job markets just yet.

Nicoline, 21, who hails from Wum, Menchum division, confessed that she was married at the age of 16 but decided to checkout of her marital home because her husband openly cheated on her. “When I gave birth to my first child and went to present the child to my parents, I realized that I made a grievous mistake.

Will you believe that I caught my husband with my best friend red-handed on our matrimonial bed the day I came back?” She said she packed out that very day and to her surprise, her husband got married to her friend two months after. As such, she said she had no other choice than to join prostitution.

Another lady, Ladi, a 29-year old Muslim confessed that she started prostitution at the age of 12. “This also pushed me into drugs. Later I got married and divorced as a result of drug abuse. While in my marital home, I was being beaten every day by my husband.

When I finally left my husband, I had to go back to our compound in 1999. My mother took my children and sent me back to the street. Later, I realized that my mother liked me only when I came with money, because when I came without money, she would not like to see me.”

Ladi disclosed that presently she lives in drinking spots and visits friends only when she wants to take a bath.

Ladi’s friend, Judith, 31, said she was introduced into prostitution by her friends. She said she used to admire her prostitute-friends because they were well dressed and always went around with money. “Since I could not afford nice dresses like my friends, they advised me to get boyfriends.

I did and my life changed tremendously until when I fell seriously sick.” She said it is difficult to stop prostitution now because there’s no one to take care of her, given that her parents are very poor.

Meanwhile, Magdalene, 14, fondly called “Magda,” was frank to disclose that she learnt prostitution from her mother.

“Since my mother is not married, she is fond of bringing men to our house and each time she will send my brother and me to sleep on the chair while she sleeps with the man she came with.” She said at the age of 13, she started going out with men and even sleeping with them until her mother chased her out of the house. “That is what pushed me to become a professional sex worker,” she quipped.

But 32-year old Vivian says she joined prostitution after her husband died. “With 4 children, I had to become a prostitute in order to feed myself since my husband left nothing for us.”

One of the sex workers, Esther, was proud to say that she enjoys sex and thinks she does not see how she could live with one man as a husband. She said being a free girl as she is; she can go out with any men she likes at all times.

And maybe the most pathetic of all is the response of 41 year-old Loveline. She confessed that although she is 41, no one has ever approached her for marriage. “If it were you, what would you do? You will certainly go to the street for prostitution” She regretted.

The ladies interviewed opined that those who mock prostitutes do so simply because they have never had time to sit with them and listen to their plight or the reasons that pushed them into prostitution.

In Cameroon, there aren’t many groups or any gov’t effort at arresting prostitution. Instead, prostitutes are scorned and dejected. However, it should be noted that New Life Club, a project of Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, CBCHS, has since 2008 in an effort to curb prostitution, been empowering commercial sex workers by providing them occupational rehabilitation.

At least 200 commercial sex workers have already been empowered in the entire North West region through the efforts of CBCHS New Life Clubs. The club already has branches in Bamenda, Kumbo, Bali, among others, with plans to extend to other divisions of the region and beyond.