By NANCY HANDABILE –

PROSTITUTION in Zambia is interesting at the same time disheartening when you listen to the stories of some sex workers and why they decided to venture into this business.

Obviously, not every woman who has entered into the ‘oldest profession’ is a victim of circumstances but some are just addicted to the excitement and thrills of night life.

Others are purely driven by money like Gloria Phiri (not real name) and her friends who interacted with the author at a popular night spot at Kabwata in Lusaka.

There are many groups of sex workers, the first ones being those found on the streets.

The women in this group are desperate and found closer to hotels and lodges.

With this group, it is purely business as they are picked up and taken to a room and taken back to their spot afterwards.

Sometimes, it is done right in the client’s car.

Some women can sleep with as many as eight men on a busy night. They prefer a short time engagement to a long one.

“Sleeping with someone for money is what I do for a living, there is no element of shame or glorification, it is purely business,” Gloria said.

Gloria is a pretty 30-year-old woman, tall and lanky with a body that in a perfect world would have been gracing the catwalks.

Her sad eyes will tell you it is a world where a girl will complete high school and go straight into sex work.

Gloria says for many sex workers, shame is not an option; it is something that fades after your third sexual encounter for money.

“I dropped out of school in grade nine at 15 years when I got pregnant by my then bus driver boyfriend, we were married for two years before he got ill and died living me with a baby girl.

Gloria is an orphan and her husband was a Malawian so she had no one to look to for help.

Her husband sponsored Gloria through school and none of her late parents’ relatives were willing to take her or her baby in.

She immediately opens up her purse to show a picture of her eight-year-old daughter, Betty named after her late mother.

Her husband’s cousin at some point offered to stay with them.

She is the one who introduced her to the world of prostitution.

Until now, she recalls the first man she slept with for money; a truck driver passing through Zambia en-route to a neighbouring country in the north.

She was given K200 which she bought food and groceries.

“I was ashamed because it was such a cold encounter and I felt like everyone around me knew what I had done,” She recounted.

Over time, the shame went and she moved into a bigger place.

“With the money I get I afford to pay for my daughter’s school fees, she’s very intelligent and dreams of being a doctor, I want her to accomplish that dream, for her to never turn out like me.

“I even have an account where I am saving money in case something happens to me, or when I get too old to continue with this business at least I will have something to help me,” Gloria says with tears that spoke volumes of determination.

She hoping to complete building a small house she started sometime back.

“Ku savuka fye (you just have to become a savage)” declares Esnart, her friend, who joined in the conversation.

“You cannot start being all emotional and romantic, it’s just sex that’s it, pure business!” she declares with a flick of her cigarette.

When you look at Esnart you are struck by how disassociated with life she looks, her eyes have a glazed angry look, cold, unemotional and piercing.

In her case, she started when she was in grade seven at 14 years and because she wanted quick money.

“I went to a school with rich friends, my mother’s brother was paying for my school, but I wanted luxury. The first man was my teacher whom I slept with in his office and gave me a K50,” Esnart said.

She did not feel exploited at all because, she said, it is the nature of life and that it gives her a certain sense of power.

“Look here men will always exploit you so you might as well make money out of it. I don’t allow myself to engage in conversations with clients, I don’t let them caress me or kiss me,” she says

Kissing is an emotional behaviour which is not safe because one might start getting attached to a client and seeing him as a potential boyfriend.

Esnart says in good day she can sleep with more than ten men.

After each sexual encounter, Esnart would clean her private parts with a swab or face towel soaked with Castle larger as she believe that the beer helps the genitals to come back to the normal size despite several Viagra-induced pounding.

“I have some trusted big fish clients who call me and we go to a hotel at lunch or during working hours. Those I charge premium rates like K500 to K1000, because they are afraid of being blown up so they are forced to pay handsomely.” She brags.

She admitted that it is painful to sleep with several in one night but earning a leaving is what drives her.

Esnart says it is difficult to stop that profession and venture into other businessess which take long to realise huge turn over like prostitution.

“I am fully aware of HIV/AIDS but it cannot kill me within a shortest period of times like hunger, moreover, there are ARVs nowadays, at least by the time I would be dying, I could have done something to help with the family,” Esnart says.

However, on a dry day, she accepts K50, as Gloria pitches in and explains how the payment mode works.