There is a stereotypical image of women who do sex work. Going by the tales of some of these women, however, the experience is degrading and dehumanising. At times their clients are abusive and treat them as though they own their bodies. 

These women are sometimes desperate, to the extent of selling their bodies for less than a dollar per client, according to DuHope, an ethical brand that creates opportunity for Rwandan women to exit sex work.

Many have suffered trauma as a result of poverty and being highly vulnerable women. 

Through the support of such organisations, these women manage to overcome and pick up the pieces of their lives.

At DuHope, former sex workers are offered programmes like handcraft making, Bible study, counselling, savings classes for individuals and groups, budgeting classes, literacy classes, among others.

All of these programmes serve one purpose, which is to support these women in their journey of living a life they deserve.

Diane Kirabo, an operations director at DuHope Ltd, says survival sex work is the main challenge that DuHope came to address, and the reason is that women living this lifestyle are exposed to a lot of bad things, like emotional and physical abuse, rape, injustice, chronic poverty, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, addictions, and death, among many others.

"There are many things that push women into survival sex work, but the main one is poverty. The fact that if they don’t sell their bodies on the street they won’t be able to feed their kids forced them to join survival sex work,” Kirabo says.

Many got HIV/AIDS from it; some have abused their children because of how they got them and the daily trauma they face, they have lost relationships with their families and friends, have experienced unwanted pregnancy resulting in abortion, while others were addicted to drugs.

As a way of empowering them, Kirabo says they first focus on getting them work so that they have an opportunity to replace their night job with their day job if they want to.

This gives them the first opportunity to change their lifestyle and pay their bills, which boosts their self-esteem.

The women at DuHope make jewellery, tote bags, dog leaches, and journals, among other items.

"Now they are employed like any other person valued by society. We also work on the emotional healing and other skills which contribute to them learning about their value, worth, and self-improvement from all the skills they have been acquiring,” Kirabo shares.

Their plan as an organisation is to expand and help more survival sex workers and hopefully, with collected effort, they hope to eradicate survival sex work in Rwanda.

Beneficiaries’ views

Umuhoza (not real name) got pregnant at the age of 14. Though she stayed with her grandmother, she was forced to forge a life of her own after getting pregnant.

Finding means of survival became hard for her and she ended up going to the streets looking for a quick income. That’s when she was introduced to prostitution.

Umuhoza says what pushed her into this line of work was because she needed to work to pay rent, buy food for herself, for her baby and clothes for the both of them.

Years later, she moved in with her then boyfriend hoping for a better life but this never turned out the way she hoped.

"We had a child together. My boyfriend used to help me with my son and support me. Because I didn’t know how to read or write, I would hand him the money I had worked for to put into the bank.”

Later on, however, she discovered that the man never saved the money. This hit her hard to the extent that she decided to stop prostitution, but with a difficult time at home, she started drinking.

She would later learn about DuHope through neighbours, who told her about an organisation that would offer her support.

"I reached out to DuHope and this is when real change happened. I had to stand up for my family and do something,” she says.

Through support and trainings, she knew she had to learn to earn a decent living.   At first, she took on washing as a source of income, and since then, Umuhoza has been doing the best she can to sustain her family with whatever opportunity that comes her way.

She says that because of DuHope, she can now read and write, "I have also learnt the value of money. I was taught how to budget and how to take care of bills. I now have a savings account, so when unexpected bills arise or an emergency happens, I don’t have to worry.”

Her motivation and driving factor is her children. She wants them to finish school and to never experience the trauma that she went through. 

"I am not where I want to be, but I am continually coming closer and closer to my goal and I am extremely happy. I am thankful for this group and would not be here now if it weren’t for the impact DuHope has made.”

Growing up, life at home was a struggle for the then 17-year-old Carine (not real name). She at some point had to drop out of school, and this pushed her to leave for the city in search of more opportunities.

She did domestic work in different homes but even that began to slow down; Carine had come to a place where she didn’t have any housework and began to feel like she was running out of options. 

"During that time, I met a man who would offer a small amount of money in exchange for sex. That’s when the cycle of prostitution began. At that time I was living with a man but we were not legally married.”

Unfortunately her partner spent his money on drinking, which left her as the sole provider for the family. As time went on, it was tough on her to sustain a big family. 

She desperately needed a way to provide and so used her little savings to start street vending, though this too came with its set of challenges. The limited capital couldn’t allow her business to bring in enough income.

But when she learnt about DuHope’s support for women like her, she never hesitated reaching out and since then her life has been better.

"When I joined DuHope, I was able to take the business more seriously. I had to start with very little capital, business was unstable but I was determined. I wanted a better life, and nothing would get in my way.” 

She was determined to make her business flourish and DuHope worked with her to make sure that her children were in school and being taken care of, finally, a safe way to provide for her family.