ZAMBIA: Former prostitute now a role model
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,
Category: Culture
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
