I abandoned commercial sex for a brighter future - Janet Vuganeza

Janet Vuganeza, 22, is one of the women who abandoned sex trade in Kigali in recent years. Like many others, she was rehabilitated and facilitated to start an income-generating scheme. She and 91 others formed a cooperative and most of them are traders, particularly charcoal dealers in a market in Gikondo, Kigali surburb.Now a married woman, Vuganeza, worked as a sex worker for three years after dropping out of school. She abandoned the trade in 2007. She said she is now able to provide for her self and educate her child without depending on her husband.“I used my business as security to get a loan from the bank. I bought a commercial motorbike and my future now looks bright,” said Vuganeza.She has advised those still engaging in the trade to abandon it for a better future. “Prostitution is a very risky venture. I do not advise anyone to do it,” she said. Talking to The New Times, Vuganeza said she never wished to be a prostitute but was pushed into the trade by circumstances.“Like any other student, I had dreams but due to mistreatment by relatives, I decided to seek for a job where I served as a bar attendant. It was while there that I started sleeping with different men until I decided to rent my own house to carry out sex trade,” she recalled.She, however, said the bad perception created in the minds of the people still dents her.“Yes, I engaged in prostitution but abandoned it. The challenge is that some people are yet to know that I have reformed and continue to refer to me as a prostitute,” she said. Vuganeza and other former sex workers were grouped under a cooperative called Rwiyemezamirimo Dufatanye in Kicukiro District after being given some life skills by a non-governmental organisation, Ihorere Munyarwanda (IMRO). Today Vuganeza has one child whose father she does not know. She is yet to to get a child with her husband.Vuganeza joined Rwiyemezamirimo Dufatanye in 2007, supported by Organisation Ihorere Munyarwanda. The cooperative sells vegetables and children clothes.“The organisation has helped us cope with life’s challenges. It also pays for our health insurance cover Mutuelle de Sante,” she says.The organisation also helps former sex workers get training in modern farming, tailoring, cleaning and other life skills.Aimable Mwananawe, the organisation’s national coordinator, said 125 formers sex workers have trained in different fields in Muhanga District, 30 0f them in tailoring.“Eighty others trained in cleaning services and helped to form cooperative to clean Ruvavu town, while 82 trained in modern agriculture techniques,” said Mwananawe.State of prostitution According to latest figures from Ihorere Munyarwanda, between 1999 and 2012, at least 9,822 sex workers quit prostitution.This was done through combined efforts of IMRO and other organisations like Rwanda NGO Forum on HIV/Aids, USAID and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.Statistics from Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) indicate that 50 per cent of female sex workers were found to be infected with HIV between 2009 and 2012.The percentage of female sex workers who reported using condoms during sex with a client stood at 93 per cent.According to the 2010 Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BSS), carried out among female sex workers, 66% reported that their clients were mostly married men, 21% reported that their most frequent clients were widowers, while 13% said their clients were mostly bachelors. By occupation, students represented the largest group of clients for female sex workers (29%), followed by houseboys and hair dressers (18%). During the compiling year of the survey, the majority of female street sex workers (51%) were said to be in the city of Kigali. The Southern Province had the highest number of those working from their home (37%), while the Northern Province dominatesd with those working from public gatherings like concert venues, (34%).The number of sex workers who were removed from the street by IMRO varied; 2,591 in western, 2,395 in Kigali, 2153 in South, 1689 in east and 994 in the North ern Province. The report put the number of commercial sex workers at an estimated 15,792 countrywide.In total, 1,873 Hotspots and 1,146 sites were identified across the country.

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I abandoned commercial sex for a brighter future - Janet Vuganeza