Zimbabwe's sex workers...

Zimbabwe's sex workers look to their neighbour for business
Source: IRIN
Photos: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

*The following are Talking Points from the aforementioned article:

Survival tactics
1) The Zimbabweans often survive by street vending, begging and working in the sex industry, but earlier this year the Zambian government clamped down on street vending in Lusaka, leaving sex work as the only option available to many women.

2) Zambia's immigration department recently raided a guesthouse in the capital where all the rooms had been rented by 51 Zimbabwean sex workers.

3) "So I have been supplementing my income to sustain my stay. During the day I sell my products in these shanty compounds; at night I go to taverns and nightclubs to hook up a man or two.

4) When asked whether she understood the risks of engaging in commercial sex work, Kwenda said: "I always insist on condom use, though some of them refuse and force me to sleep with them without using a condom. It is one of the hazards of this occupation, but there is nothing much one can do about such circumstances."

5) "They are usually aged between 16 and 40 years, and so it's a question of one's taste, whether to go for the young one or pick on the elderly and more experienced, but they would all be there at the reception."

6) "These people are desperate for cash and can do anything, regardless of whether they are infecting or getting reinfected. Some don't even know their HIV status."

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*Note the abovementioned excerpts are direct quotes from the article and thus all credit and references should be afforded to the authors/sources.