Sex workers put on play in Jamestown

Last Friday women from the Peace and Love Club in Old Fadama put on a play to the Jamestown Community Theatre centre to educate people about the challenges and stigmatisation faced by sex workers in the area.

Theatre for Change, who helped organise the event, also launched a situational analysis report into the lives of sex workers in Old Fadama. The results of this study revealed that sex workers in this area suffer from low sexual and reproductive health and are highly at risk of contracting HIV.

They found that 33% of the women surveyed stated that they had suffered violence from clients during the past year and over 70% had been forced to have sex. All the women surveyed said they always used condoms when sleeping with clients but 86% said they didn't use them with their regular partners.

Lack of HIV testing was also revealed to be a serious issue - only 29% of respondents had a HIV test in the past 6 months.

Over the next few months the Peace and Love Club will put on performances and take part in workshops to build their confidence as well as their knowledge of sexual and reproductive health.