Lagos State, Nigeria - Family Health International

Appendix II: Life History of a Sex Worker
Angela Ayus was born in a city in the south 30 years ago.
While in secondary school, she had a boyfriend whom she
intended to marry. They engaged in sexual intercourse
without the use of a condom whenever they wanted to do
so. At age 15, she discovered that she was pregnant and
the two decided to get married. Although the young man
was from a neighbouring state and different ethnic group,
these differences presented no problem. He worked in the
university and earned enough to take care of the family.
Angela had her first child (a boy now 15 years of age) a few
months after the wedding. Since then, she has had another
child, a girl. The boy is now in SSI; the girl has just started
JSSI. Her husband was a member of several local associations
including his home-based ethnic group association.
Their meetings often became festive occasions.
One day her husband told Angela that it was his turn to
host the association “and in a big way.” She prepared
everything needed, with help from friends and relatives.
The meeting turned into an all-day affair. When almost
everybody had left, Angela noticed a younger woman –
much younger than herself – who made herself very much
at home. When Angela confronted her husband, his relatives
told her that the young woman was her husband’s new
wife, from their own ethnic group, even his own village.
Angela was shocked, but kept quiet. She decided to accept
the new wife after some people talked to her. But things
were never the same again. Her husband paid no attention
to Angela or their children. Whenever she asked for
money for food, he would tell her to go to the younger
wife. What this means, according to the informant, is that
he had rejected Angela as a wife. She had no money to
feed herself and the children. She decided to move out and
stay with a cousin. She sent the children to her mother.
Even then, the husband didn’t look after them. With the
help of her cousin, she started trading (petty) but could
not get enough money to take care of herself or the children.
When her mother died, Angela moved the children
to a relative. She was desperate and needed money to
feed the children and send them to school. Although the
other wife had never had a child, her husband did not care
about Angela’s children and visited them infrequently, giving
them little.
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Lagos State
A friend advised Angela to move to Epe and engage in sex
work. Angela accepted the offer – she felt she had no
choice. Despite the fact that business is dull in Epe, she
has enough to take care of herself and children. She goes
home every Christmas but will never tell anybody what
she does, nor will she allow anyone – including her children
– to visit her. They don’t know that she is in Epe;
they think she is working in Lagos. Angela feels ashamed
of being a sex worker, and says she will quit as soon as she
has enough money to start a decent business. She is aware
of STIs and HIV/AIDS. Angela examines all her clients for
STIs and will not allow sex without a condom. She gives
each client two, in case one bursts or tears and uses antibiotics
regularly to prevent or cure STIs. She thinks she is
taking good care of herself and should not have STIs.
Angela’s main fear is HIV/AIDS. She does not want to die,
but wants to take care of her children, and wants them to
become a responsible and respected gentleman and lady.
She would like to start a business in future, never to be a
sex worker again. She asked: How can I know that a man
has been infected by HIV? Without waiting for an
answer, she told the researcher that a man, a potential
client, came to her the other day for business. The man
looked so thin. She thought it might be a case of AIDS
and told him she could not have him. He begged, telling
her that that is his normal size, nothing is wrong with him.
He wanted to add to normal charge (N100) because he
was so pressed. Nevertheless, she didn’t accept him.
At 30 years of age, Angela is still pretty and looks healthy.
She believes that if she can escape HIV, there is a bright
future for her and her children.