Selling sex to feed her family
Caught between a hard rock and a hard place, a Windhoek woman in her late 40s has been forced to work the streets for 17 years to fend for her children.
The children's father does not support them or her, and left Windhoek years ago.
Her pension from a previous domestic job falls far short of her financial obligations that include rent and education fees for her two very intelligent children.
In a room she rents in Katutura, she shares a bed with her youngest, who is in Grade 10 while the elder child, currently at university, sleeps on a makeshift bed.
Narrating her ordeal, and breaking down repeatedly throughout the interview, the woman loathes what she does, but her determination, will and love for her children, and her commitment to educate them has forced her to be out on the street as late as 03:00 and at times 05:00.
“I pray and cry every day before I go out asking God to forgive me but I tell God that I have no choice because I must look after my children in high school and at university? One of them is an award-winning student from primary school right up to secondary,” she said showing the numerous awards won by the undergraduate, before breaking down again.
The mother of four boys, two of them now grown men, said ever since she developed a medical condition that requires her to go for almost daily treatment, her body has become too weak to take up cleaning jobs like she used to do in the past.
After she lost her job, she was forced to take her children to their father, unable to care for them.
“I did not have an option because I did not have a place to stay. I was staying with my sister but her husband kept complaining that he could not feed the enlarged family and I decided to take the children to their father,” she said adding that she later regretted having done so.
But parting with her children was a torturous decision, “and every day I was thinking about my children”. She went to see them.
“When I got there, my children cried and begged me not to leave them behind especially the undergraduate.”
Most heartbreaking she says, was discovering that her children then aged 10 and eight were the ones washing and cooking for the uncle's three toddlers.
She said she blamed herself for subjecting her children to the abuse they suffered.
She said she bundled her children up, put their clothes in a plastic bag and brought them to Windhoek after they told her about their suffering.
“For four years I never heard from the father of my children after we separated. I was left with the boys who needed food and education but with no job and little education. I only went up to Grade 6 but the streets have taught me to speak English. I had to learn in order to 'work',” she said.”
Life on the street has been a gruelling experience for her and she sobbed as she narrated her suffering.
In a situation where the streets are full of young girls, she is always the last one to be hired, she said.
“I only get work when the young ones are gone and that means going home as late as 03:00 or 05:00. My children depend only on me,” she said amid sobs.
The streets are dangerous at night and often the women are beaten up by their clients or street kids, robbing them of their cash.
“Because of my age, they run after me and trip me before grabbing the night's earnings. When that happens, it means I must continue working until the early hours of the morning.
Often, she said, the clients do not want to use their vehicles, if they have a vehicle, and they are forced into the veld, which compounds the danger.
She point to the pepper spray canister and taps on her chest, saying “this is where I keep it”.
Her case is one of the hundreds of Namibian women who are forced onto the streets to fend for their families while the fathers of these children live stress-free lives.
There is no police protection for these women if they are subjected to crime as they are arrested when they report incidences to the police.
DORCAS MHUNGU
The children's father does not support them or her, and left Windhoek years ago.
Her pension from a previous domestic job falls far short of her financial obligations that include rent and education fees for her two very intelligent children.
In a room she rents in Katutura, she shares a bed with her youngest, who is in Grade 10 while the elder child, currently at university, sleeps on a makeshift bed.
Narrating her ordeal, and breaking down repeatedly throughout the interview, the woman loathes what she does, but her determination, will and love for her children, and her commitment to educate them has forced her to be out on the street as late as 03:00 and at times 05:00.
“I pray and cry every day before I go out asking God to forgive me but I tell God that I have no choice because I must look after my children in high school and at university? One of them is an award-winning student from primary school right up to secondary,” she said showing the numerous awards won by the undergraduate, before breaking down again.
The mother of four boys, two of them now grown men, said ever since she developed a medical condition that requires her to go for almost daily treatment, her body has become too weak to take up cleaning jobs like she used to do in the past.
After she lost her job, she was forced to take her children to their father, unable to care for them.
“I did not have an option because I did not have a place to stay. I was staying with my sister but her husband kept complaining that he could not feed the enlarged family and I decided to take the children to their father,” she said adding that she later regretted having done so.
But parting with her children was a torturous decision, “and every day I was thinking about my children”. She went to see them.
“When I got there, my children cried and begged me not to leave them behind especially the undergraduate.”
Most heartbreaking she says, was discovering that her children then aged 10 and eight were the ones washing and cooking for the uncle's three toddlers.
She said she blamed herself for subjecting her children to the abuse they suffered.
She said she bundled her children up, put their clothes in a plastic bag and brought them to Windhoek after they told her about their suffering.
“For four years I never heard from the father of my children after we separated. I was left with the boys who needed food and education but with no job and little education. I only went up to Grade 6 but the streets have taught me to speak English. I had to learn in order to 'work',” she said.”
Life on the street has been a gruelling experience for her and she sobbed as she narrated her suffering.
In a situation where the streets are full of young girls, she is always the last one to be hired, she said.
“I only get work when the young ones are gone and that means going home as late as 03:00 or 05:00. My children depend only on me,” she said amid sobs.
The streets are dangerous at night and often the women are beaten up by their clients or street kids, robbing them of their cash.
“Because of my age, they run after me and trip me before grabbing the night's earnings. When that happens, it means I must continue working until the early hours of the morning.
Often, she said, the clients do not want to use their vehicles, if they have a vehicle, and they are forced into the veld, which compounds the danger.
She point to the pepper spray canister and taps on her chest, saying “this is where I keep it”.
Her case is one of the hundreds of Namibian women who are forced onto the streets to fend for their families while the fathers of these children live stress-free lives.
There is no police protection for these women if they are subjected to crime as they are arrested when they report incidences to the police.
DORCAS MHUNGU
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