Source: Africa News
Having slept with hundreds of men, exposed to drugs, Beatrice Chanda's life was condemned to nothing. The possibility of her living a normal marriage life after so many years in prostitution, to anyone seemed impossible.

She is happily married now and enjoying her new life with her kids and husband.

After seven years of exchanging sex for money, Chanda finally found her redemption through a drop- in-center called 'Tasinta,' where she is now an instructor for former prostitutes. Chanda 37, a proud wife and a mother of three now, takes AfricaNews reporter through her journey of change.

Chanda disclosed she was lured into prostitution as young as 13 after the cold hand of death left her double orphaned. "I lived with my parents on the Copperbelt, (Zambia's largest copper producing province) and my parents died when I was 12 years old and my aunty took me in and we moved to the capital city, Lusaka.''

Chanda said her auntie's interest was not to keep her, but to enslave her. "When my parents died I was in school but when aunty got me I never continued with school instead she started making fritters and I was the one tasked to sell the fritters at a nearby bar.''

Chanda stated she was tasked to ensure that there were no left over fritters, a situation that forced her to stay late at the bar until the fritters were finished. A drinking place was never a conducive location for a child of Chanda's age to conduct business from, before long, sex workers at the bar took interest in her and would offer more money than the fritters cost.

"I had customers and these were sex workers at the bar, and they would buy all the fritters and give me extra money. They later started sending me to their home to do laundry and housekeeping," she recalled.

It is at this point that Chanda attracted the attention of clients that visited the sex workers home.

"I worked for some time as their maid, but still bringing the fritters to them and my aunty was not aware of this, I was later enticed with a lot of money and I was told if I needed such an amount of money I should join them in prostitution. I was young and most men preferred young girls so I attracted a lot of clients but the women were getting the money on my behalf," Chanda stated.

Gaining experience

She explained that because of inexperience in the business, she resisted the men most of the times and her 'bosses' took her through the rituals of the business. "I was taught how to smoke marijuana and drink beer so I could be brave, at first it was hard but I got used to it."

Chanda noted the older women brought men for her while she stayed at home but before long she started patronizing the bars. It is at this point that she took permanent residence with the sex workers. She recollects sleeping with three to five men in a night.

While sex is supposed to be a mutual and enjoyable act, Chanda confessed that in her seven years of prostitution she rarely enjoyed the act. "I remember once or twice when I had taken my client home, but honestly speaking I never enjoyed any of it, I did it for the money, even when I'm tired, I would do it just for money, I never wanted money to bypass me."

While the fear of getting infected with the incurable HIV/AIDS is what deters most people from engaging in careless sexual activities, Chanda's motto was 'do or die.' "I was very aware of AIDS, but we were drugged and when you see money all you want is to have it and most of the times I had live sex, I never used condoms and I suffered from a lot of STI's (sexual transmitted infections)."

After five years of being a sex worker, Chanda fell pregnant in 1992 and gave birth to a baby girl whose father she does not know. Despite being a parent, Chanda continued with her profession and left her daughter in the custody of a 'queen mother'.

Chanda remarked her daughter now 19 years old and pursuing her secondary school level, is not aware of how she came into existence. "I told my daughter that her father died when she was young, and that I have lost track of her father's relatives, she knows that the 'queen mother,' is her grandmother, she has no idea she was born out of prostitution."

In her life of handling different shapes and sizes of men, Chanda acknowledged not all was rosy.

"Sex work is not an easy job, we were at times beaten, gang raped, and sometimes dumped at unknown places, sometimes men would use you and instead of paying you, they would grab the little money you made, and leave you stranded.''

She said her most frightening experience was when her friend was murdered during their tour of duty. "A situation that made me think twice about this job was when we were picked with my friend by some coloured men who took us to a farm house. To our surprise they told us to have sex with each other, we hesitated but they threatened to kill us and they ordered my friend to lie down and one of them placed a log in her private parts.

"At this point I sensed danger and I asked if I could go to the toilet, I was ordered to leave my clothes and was shown the way. It was a very big house and I decided to go in a certain room where I found a man sleeping, I suppose he was sick, he asked me what I was doing, I explained and he told me I was never going to survive, he gave me a towel and told me to escape through a small door in a nearby room, that's how I left, with only a towel, I didn't know where to go but a good Samaritan helped me. My friend never came back until today," Chanda noted.

Old habit dies hard

They say old habits die hard, despite losing a friend in such circumstances Chanda continued with her errands. It was during the days of reflection that 'Tasinta' (meaning deep transformation in Chewa) field workers found Chanda.

"The people from Tasinta came to a bar where we were drinking, talked to us, and gave us money to go to their offices the following day. I didn't hesitate, I went to the centre and they started counseling us and we were told to stay with the field workers to ensure we had no chance to go back to the streets," she said.

Chanda confessed it was not easy to change in the twinkle of an eye. "It took time to change, even when Tasinta was offering all the necessities we still sneaked to do our business, but after a lot of counseling I eventually changed."

Chanda stated after being equipped with tailoring skills and business management skills, she was offered a full time job at the drop- in- centre as an instructor. After four years of working as an instructor, Chanda finally met the man of her life, who accepted her past life and married her.

"I'm married now, my husband knows all about my past and he accepted me. At first I was skeptical about marrying him because I thought he was after hurting my feelings but he proved himself that is how we married," she opined.

Though Chanda spent seven years of her life sleeping carelessly with different men, she is HIV negative. "I don't know how I survived. I took the step of going for a test and on three occasions I have been testing negative," she revealed.

Married now for 13 years, Chanda is a true epitome of change, all she wants is to continue being a role model to other prostitutes and relay the message that change is possible.

• Zambia