As the sun sets, 15-year-old Posha looks out over the popular Pandamatenga truck stop in Northern Botswana. It is Sunday, the busiest night of the week. At least 40 trucks are lined up at the resting area along the A33, one of the main transport routes through Southern Africa. Most of the truckers stop here for a break on their long journey from Southern to Central Africa. Posha feels confident: “Tonight I’m going to make some good money”.
Posha has been working at this truck stop for over a year now. Being the eldest daughter, she was sent by her mother to work here to help the family with some extra cash. Not by selling fresh produce from her parents’ small farm; but by prostituting herself to the truck drivers. And she is not the only child prostitute here. Among some older women, at least seven skimpily dressed teenage girls are busy chatting up the truck drivers.
Out of desperation
“Child prostitution is a big problem in Pandamatenga” says social worker Domesani. “The small farmers village has been going through difficult harvesting times because of changing weather patterns. Thus, out of total desperation, mothers resorted to prostituting their daughters. The people are hungry and, with no other possibilities at their disposal, the girls have to help their families survive.”
So is there really nothing else the girls could do to make some money? Domesani shakes his head in shame. “We have tried to offer the girls vocational training so they could learn to sow and sell the clothes they make. But since nobody in the village can afford to buy new clothes, the idea was a flop. Only a few weeks later, I found all the girls back at the truck stop. Prostitution seems to be the only way out in this area”.
High risk
Yet, these routines pose a major risk to the girls’ health. “The truck drivers who are known to sleep with many prostitutes on their long trips, often refuse to wear condoms. And they can be very aggressive,” says an experienced social worker. “Statistics regarding HIV/AIDS are unacceptably high among the drivers.”
Posha knows this problem too well. “I used to carry condoms but the drivers refused to pay me if I insisted on using them. Some even got aggressive if I only mentioned the use of protection. In the beginning, I would still try but I got beaten up too many times by angry drivers. Then I wouldn’t be able to work for a few days and didn’t make any money. The pressure seeing my family being hungry was too high. So I gave up on using condoms and now I just pray not to get sick.”
Tragic dilemma
The young girl knows she is testing her luck; two of her teenage friends were tested HIV positive shortly after they started working at the truck stop. “I know I’m at risk but I can’t do anything about it” says Posha. “I have to help my parents survive and I can only do so by selling my body”.
Unfortunately, Posha is not the only one facing this tragic dilemma. It is the fate of many young girls and women prostituting themselves in Botswana, and similar stories are found in numerous small villages along the busy truckers routes from Southern to Central Africa.
The names in this article have been changed for privacy reasons