Visionary Reports

With the spurt on social media, Sex workers today post their pictures and prices online without fear or favor

 Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession in the world. But then in the days of old it was a shameful act as prostitute usually operate in the hiding. In most big towns in Cameroon, prostitutes are much present and on till now they have been operating in hiding, but customers always know where and when to find them.

Today, the profession is taking another twist as young girls and women do their thing  even during the day. With the coming of the internet prostitution is shifting towards this direction. With the spurt on social media, sex workers today post their pictures and prices online without fear or favor. They display their amounts and the period and request their clients to contact them for services .Some  at times  request their clients  to pay 1000FCFA  before they would  give out their numbers.

 On their facebook pages one find inscriptions like “ une nuit 50.000, une semain 90.000, un mois 150.000,un coute 20.000, replacement 70.000 ». « Disponible a Douala pour la doucer a domicile pour plus de… »,  « pigments en domicile”, “ton pimentiere brute »,  and many more. WhatsApp group have been created just to sell and buy sex and group members post nude pictures to attract customers.

 A sex worker, who requested anonymity, revealed that, she is a mother of two and hasn’t got a job to care for her two children. “I do not have any hand work, I have tried petty business but could not succeed because my capital got finished” she added. She said she has been into prostitution for the past  ten  years and have been able to take care of herself and two kids. She explained how her smart phone has facilitated her job. She gave details on how she usually contact some clients online and would travel anywhere to satisfy her client.She was aware of the dangers and revealed that if she finds something sustainable she will quite prostitution.

 Prostitution is not legalized in Cameroon, and there are many legal frameworks that discourage the act. The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family has different programmes to discourage the act and have equally taken steps to ensure  that young women and girls are gainfully employed. According to the Divisional Delegate of Women’s Empowerment and the family for Wouri, Bema Ewombe Hortence  Berthe Kingue, they have different programmes to trained sex workers  on income generating activities. She said  they often organized sensitization programmes to inform prostitutes on the dangers of their activities to their health and society as a whole. “We also have programs to reinsert them in the society and keep them away from selling sex”, she concluded.

Reaction

“We  have programmes to train them on income generating activities”

-Bema Ewombe Hortence Berthe Kingue, Divisional Delegate of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Wouri

“Be it on the streets, online or anywhere, the sale of sex is not legalized in Cameroon. The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family has different programmes to discourage sex workers and ensure that they are gainfully employed. We have programmes that  we withdraw the girls from the streets and trained them after which we give them money to start a new  life. Some of the programmes have loans which are offered to them  in which they pay back with little or no interest. At the moment there are some young girls and women who were recently withdrawn  from the streets and are  at the women’s empowerment centre in Akwa- Douala who are undergoing training so they can start small business to  fend for themselves. We also have sensitization and information programs were we educate sex workers on the dangers of their activities. The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family is not relenting in its efforts to ensure that prostitute desist from their activities and get into other gainful  activity”.