Izwi Lethu ebook

IZWI LETHU

IZWI LETHU Edited by Greta Schuler, Elsa Oliveira, and Jo Vearey

First published 2016 by The MoVE Project African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) University of the Witwatersrand Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND

About the editing process At the start of each newsletter workshop, participants had the opportunity to select pseudonyms if they wished. Therefore, names used in this publication are not necessarily the actual names of those involved.

The editors have corrected small typographical errors for the purpose of creating clarity for readers, but the changes have been minimal to ensure that the voice of each author is maintained.

ISBN 978-0-9946707-2-4 This MoVE Project must be credited when shared.

The work cannot be changed in any way, and it cannot be used commercially.

Editors: Greta Schuler, Elsa Oliveira, and Jo Vearey Publication design and exhibition curation: Quinten Edward Williams Printed in South Africa.

MoVE MoVE is a project housed at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Izwi Lethu: Our Voices Newsletter Project The project received ethics approval (H15 03 15) from the University of the Witwatersrand Research Ethics Committee (non-medical). Much of the material in this book was originally published on the MoVE website.

MoVE Social Media www.facebook.com/themoveprojectsouthafrica www.migration.org.za/page/about-move/move www.issuu.com/move.methods.visual.explore www.methodsvisualexplore.tumblr.com www.instagram.com/movesafrica www.twitter.com/movesafrica

CONTENTS

Project Context Elsa Oliveira & Jo Vearey Setting the Scene

Featured Stories 11

Introduction The Stories in Izwi Lethu

27

Greta Schuler & Elsa Oliveira About Izwi Lethu

15

Chantel Plastic View

28

Kholi Buthelezi & Pamela Chakuvinga Sisonke’s Involvement

21

Heineken Clients in my Soccer Team

30

Clara The People’s March Against Xenophobia

32

Amy Durban Deep

34

Kagee From Rusty Streets to the National Stage

36

Relections on Process Introduction About the Reflections

41

Greta Schuler What’s in a Name

54

Tanaka Seeing the Vision of Izwi Lethu Unfold

42

Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon Seeing Sex Workers through Stories

58

Kagee Thinking about My Participation

44

Amy My Experience as a Writer for Izwi Lethu

46

Linda Izwi Lethu Reflection

48

Clara What I Like about Izwi Lethu

50

Dianne Massawe The Newsletter as an Advocacy Tool

52

Project Members Introduction People and Organisations

63

Project Participants

64

Project Partners

66

Project Funders

68

“We hope that this volume provides researchers, participants, and the public [...] with a unique opportunity to reflect and consider the messages and stories produced by a group of people who [...] are rarely afforded a public platform.�

SETTING THE SCENE Elsa Oliveira PhD candidate and co-coordinator of the MoVE Project, African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)

Jo Vearey Associate Professor and co-coordinator of the MoVE Project, African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)

People across the globe move within and across national borders for a variety of reasons; whilst some movement is forced—the result of political conflict, wars, and environmental disasters—the majority is linked to the search for improved livelihood opportunities. Due to high unemployment rates, economic pressures, and—for some—challenges in accessing the documentation required to be in the country legally, many migrants in South Africa find informal sector work most accessible. This includes sex work, an occupation currently criminalised in South Africa. Research— including that from South Africa—clearly shows that criminalisation places sex workers at increased risk of stigma, discrimination, violence, and poor health. In spite of this, many who choose to enter and remain in sex work report doing so for the high earning potential, the ability to work independently,

and flexible hours (see Schuler 2016).

The challenges faced by sex workers in South Africa are well documented (for example, see Richter and Delva 2011), yet discourses surrounding sex work remain cloaked in varying degrees of social scorn. Philosophical tensions regarding whether a person can actually choose to sell sex and/or whether sex work can be considered as a form of legitimate work continue to drive global debates on whether to decriminalise, abolish, or regulate the sex industry. These debates contribute very little to understanding the reasons people enter sex work, or how they thrive and survive.

To date, much of the information circulating about migrant sex workers has been produced by individuals who do not engage with, share, or occupy the same spaces as 11

SETTING THE SCENE

those that they research and write about.

To generate more complex portrayals of the lives of migrant sex workers, students and researchers at the ACMS are finding different ways of conceptualising, undertaking, and disseminating research related to underrepresented migrant groups, including sex workers. The ACMS establisted the MoVE:method:visual:explore project to house this research and encourage reflection on the use of these approaches.

challenge stereotypes and normative depictions of sex work and migration, but they also provide us with a new set of representations that widen and deepen our understanding of the diverse experiences of people who are migrants and who sell sex in South Africa.

This publication contains reflections on the newsletter and highlights a selection of sex worker narratives that “seep far beyond the popular discourses which label them as victims and which demonstrate that experiences of sex work can embody risk, hope, fear, enjoyment, violence, and fulfilment” ( Walker and Oliveira 2015, 129).

The MoVE project recognises the need to involve people and communities within research processes and is committed to developing ways of co-producing and sharing knowledge through public engagement (for example, see Oliveira and Vearey 2015; Oliveira 2016; Schuler 2016; Oliveira, Meyers, and Vearey, 2016). This includes the Izwi Lethu: Our Voice project—a newsletter for sex workers, written by sex workers—featured in this volume.

We hope that this volume provides researchers, participants, and the wider public—including those responsible for developing and implementing policy—with a unique opportunity to reflect and consider the messages and stories produced by a group of people who, through their work, face continuous violence and are rarely afforded a public platform.

Inspired by previous MoVE projects conducted in collaboration between the ACMS and the Sisonke Sex Worker Movement, this volume showcases the first year (2015) of the Izwi Lethu: Our Voice project. The newsletter continues in 2016 with the support of Sisonke and the maHp project of the ACMS, with funding from the Wellcome Trust.

Through reflections, stories, and images, the contributors to this volume not only 12

“To date, nearly all the participants in the newsletter project have been internal or cross-border migrants. Stories have included issues of migration, gender, identity, sexuality, and xenophobia.�

ABOUT IZWI LETHU Greta Schuler PhD candidate and coordinator of the Izwi Lethu Project, African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)

Elsa Oliveira PhD candidate and co-coordinator of the MoVE Project, African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)

Izwi Lethu is Zulu for “our voice”. The newsletter’s sex worker editorial team decided on the name after a brainstorming session during a monthly sex worker meeting in Johannesburg. Though there was competition to come up with the title, everyone agreed on the idea of our voice and the subtitle: a newsletter by sex workers for sex workers. Production of the monthly newsletter begins with a four-day creative writing workshop, facilitated

by Greta Schuler, an African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) researcher who has designed and facilitated creative writing workshops since 2012, with the help of Munya Masunga, the Gauteng Sisonke Provincial Coordinator.

actual layout of the newsletter; eventually ACMS will step aside so that the newsletter can become a sustainable Sisonke-led project.

Prior to the workshops, Sisonke members, all of whom identify as active sex workers, submit story ideas that the editorial board assesses. Those selected are invited to attend the workshop. Workshops typically begin with discussions of previous newsletters and stories with samples, but the emphasis is to learn through the process of writing and revising.

In the workshops, participants write stories and share them with the group. Over the course of four days, participants write, share, critique, revise, and repeat the process until the group is satisfied with each story.

Sisonke staff and members make up the editorial board. ACMS assists the editors with the facilitation of workshops and in the 15

ABOUT IZWI LETHU

16

The workshops are designed to have free days in between to allow participants to conduct interviews to augment their stories and in some cases borrow a camera to take photographs that complement the issue. On the last day of the workshop, participants type their stories on laptops and record themselves reading their stories. Work with laptops, digital recorders and cameras—we hope—will help build capacity within the Sisonke community and support participants involved in the workshops to strengthen their own skills.

To date, nearly all of the participants in the newsletter project have been internal or cross-border migrants. Stories have included issues of migration, gender, identity, sexuality, and xenophobia. Participants choose what they want to write about— though sometimes they are influenced by the group after reading their first story and decide to write on a different topic. Each newsletter includes at least three feature stories, an Editor’s Note, an advice column, and a guest column (which is the only piece not written by a sex worker).

Clara, an Izwi Lethu feature writer, who was also involved in the 2013 Volume 44 participatory photo project, recently became an editor because of her commitment to the project and skill in editing her peers’ work, said this about the project:

Special Issue Limpopo 2015, Issue 7 The Limpopo special issue featured stories by the 2013-2014 Volume 44 participatory photography project.

“In the Izwi Lethu workshop, you learn to be 17

ABOUT IZWI LETHU

creative. You do not write something you did not experience. If it was experienced by someone you know, you must interview that person.”

can document human rights abuses and violations better. I now know that I have to ask for details of things. Like, what were they wearing, what time of day was it, what did they say to you. I know how to use quotation marks and how these help when trying to explain something that happened. Before the workshops I just wrote but now I understand more about what it means to document something.”

All but one of the ten participants from the 2013-2014 Volume 44 project in Musina, Limpopo recently came together to create an Izwi Lethu newsletter for the Limpopo Province, the only participant that did not attend was travelling to Cape Town for a meeting as Sisonke’s Provincial Coordinator for Limpopo. Most participants travelled more than two hours for the weeklong workshop, one participant even travelled nine hours. When asked why they decided to travel such long distances the feelings shared were all along the lines of what Mpho said:

An important outcome of this project is the accessibility of the newsletter, which can be easily copied and taken to meetings with stakeholders. Teresa, another participant who is also a peer educator in Mokapane, a small rural town in the Limpopo Province said: “I think that the newsletter can be such a good thing because we can make copies and bring them with us to meetings with stakeholders and other sex workers. Maybe stakeholders will read them and learn more about our issues and maybe other sex workers will read something and not feel alone or maybe they will want to come to Sisonke.”

“People come back to these workshops because we are like a family now. Most people don’t know our lives like we all do.

We have been together for so long and most of us know more about one another than our families know. People support one another and it makes for a stronger movement.”

Tendai, who is now working as a project coordinator with sex work peer educators in Makhado said:

These remarks show a growing sense of the newsletter as a work of journalism and advocacy for migrant sex workers. Peer educators distribute the newsletter at Sisonke meetings and during outreach work to sex workers around the country.

“I have to write reports every month and through the narrative writing work I have learned skills that are important in my job.

When you know how to write a letter you 18

Not only does the newsletter offer a vivid picture to researchers of the lives of migrant sex workers in South Africa, it also has the potential to be an important advocacy tool to share information among migrant sex workers and migrant and sex worker activist organisations, as well as with policy representatives and the public at large.

In addition to distributing hard copies of the newsletter, all of the stories and others that are not in print are available on the project blog.

Regular social media updates by the research team and the participants are made on MoVE Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.

All newsletters can be found on Issuu; they are free for anyone to download, print, and distribute:

www.issuu.com/move.methods.visual.explore

19

ABOUT IZWI LETHU

“We ask you to fight for the decriminalisation of sex work and to support all efforts to make this happen.�

SISONKE’S INVOLVEMENT Kholi Buthelezi National Coordinator, Sisonke Sex Worker Movement

Pamela Chakuvinga Assistant National Coordinator, Sisonke Sex Worker Movement

The Sisonke Sex Worker Movement, first established in 2003, is the only sex worker movement in South Africa that is run by sex workers for sex workers.

is important and necessary that we as sex workers speak for ourselves and that when discussions about sex workers take place that we are included in the conversations and debates.

The central aims of the movement are: to support and create solidarity amongst sex workers, to advocate for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa, and to bring attention to the human rights violations that sex workers routinely face. In order to accomplish these things, Sisonke strives to equip sex workers with the necessary skills to take control of issues that effect our everyday well-being.

Thirteen years after Sisonke was formed, we can proudly say that we have stuck to our ideals. In order for our movement to grow we must ensure that we as Sisonke members—people who sell sex—are supported and encouraged to share our views and experiences relating to our lives and the worlds that we live in. Being able to tell our stories articulately without any fear of reprisals is one of the best ways of empowering ourselves.

A core motto of Sisonke is: nothing about us without us. However, the lives, experiences, and realities of sex workers across the globe are often represented by those who are not sex workers themselves. Therefore, it

Since 2010, Sisonke has been invovled in collaborations with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University.

21

SISONKE’S INVOLVEMENT

During this time, our members have participated in photo projects, in body mapping and narrative writing projects, and in the more recent newsletter project aptly named Izwi Lethu: Our Voice.

might not have otherwised felt they could do.

As a hugely marginalised group in our country, sex workers often come from impoverished backgrounds where tertiary or even secondary schooling, is seen as a luxury. Very few of us have been able to enjoy this luxury. Although there are many educated people who sell sex—people who did not enter sex work because they were living in poverty—the reality is that many, actually most of us, enter this industry because we needed to feed ourselves and our families. However, it is important to note that while we may have entered sex work because we were living in poverty, our lives have greatly improved as a result of our involvement in sex work. Not only do we feed and clothe our families, many of us have also built homes for our families and most of us send our kids to private schools through our sex work earnings.

These projects are the fruition of hard work, long hours, and dedication by sex workers, researchers, and the facilitation team. With the continued mentorship and guidance from the ACMS, newly empowered sex workers have been taking to the streets of South Africa. Armed with cameras, notebooks, and pens, Sisonke members are snapping, writing, and creating our own representations. In doing so, we are providing the general population of this country a glimpse of life seen, perceived, and, experienced through the lens of sex workers’ themselves. Like the proverbial saying goes—straight from the horse’s mouth.

Sisonke has been involved in this collaboration with the ACMS because we see how each project has made a positive impact on the participating sex workers’ self-esteem and confidence. For some, their participation has unveiled hidden talents, whereas others simply enjoy the newly acquired skill sets that they can use to express themselves.

The current criminalisation laws against sex work in South Africa harm those of us who are working hard to put food on the table.

These laws prevent us from safely filing police reports when our human rights are violated and pose barriers to us when we are trying to access safe health.

Through invovlvement in these projects, many have not only learned skills but they have also gained new confidence levels that are enabling them to apply for jobs that they

The stigma of sex work must stop!

We don’t deserve to be harassed, assaulted, violated, or killed because of what we do 22

to earn an income. We don’t harm anyone because of the work that we do!

become more independent individuals as we contibue to build a bigger and better Sisonke.

We don’t deserve to be discrimated against because we sell sex. We have the right to dignity and safety. We ask you to fight for the decriminalisation of sex work and to support all efforts to make this happen.

This collaboration has really helped Sisonke realise the idea of strengthening the movement. By offering sex workers an opportunity to learn new skills, by creating safe spaces where we can voice our particular concerns and experiences, and through supporting us to make our work public so that increased understandings, acceptance, and tolerance of sex work might happen, Izwi Lethu has helped our movement in powerful ways.

When we distribute the Izwi Lethu newsletter at our meetings, at local and international conferences, to our current and potential funders, to human rights defenders, to health and legal partners, and to the general public, we are not only showcasing our capabilities and potential, we are also using our voices and the material that we are producing as an opportunity to foster new and improved relationships and partnerships with our neighbours and with the community as a whole.

Thank you for taking the time to mentor and empower us and for helping us to 23

SISONKE’S INVOLVEMENT

FEATURED STORIES “Being a part of the Izwi Lethu: Our Voice newsletter is so important for me. I like to write and now I am not only writing I am learning how to edit and how to report on stories that are important to me and to the sex workers community.

I have presented my participation at conferences and meetings. I am very proud of Izwi Lethu and it’s only going to get stronger.”

Linda, Izwi Lethu Feature Writer and Contributing Editor

“Some shared stories about domestic violence or drug abuse whereas others told stories of triumph, affording to rent their own homes with their income from sex work or learning how to manage their health in the wake of learning their HIV status.�

THE STORIES IN IZWI LETHU

More than thirty writers brought their unique voices to shape Izwi Lethu in its first year. Featured writers chose to write on a vast array of topics, taking the reader from a courtroom in Botswana to online adult chat rooms. Many writers shared personal accounts, while some writers investigated the world around them. As they shared and revised their stories during workshops, writers received feedback but were not instructed what to write. Some shared stories about domestic violence or drug abuse whereas others told stories of triumph, affording to rent their own homes with their income from sex work or learning how to manage their health in the wake of learning their HIV status.

display the diversity of the newsletter’s subject matter. Linda takes the reader to a town made of plastic and interviews a fellow sex worker about business there.

Amy explores another informal , and also criminalised sector—artisinal gold mining.

Kagee shares his personal journey from working in a mining town to stealing in Johannesburg to finding Sisonke, with which he is now actively involved. Heineken disrupts stereotypes about sex workers and sportsmen by revealing how his teammates became his clients. Clara connects the personal and the public by reporting on her participation in Johannesburg’s March Against Xenophobia held in 2015. The following stories provide the reader with a glimpse of the diversity and nuance of the lives and worlds of sex workers in South Africa. Keep reading Izwi Lethu for more.

Presented here are five Izwi Lethu stories.

While representative of stories that focus on both the private and public, they also 27

THE STORIES IN IZWI LETHU

Plastic View Chantel Contributing Editor, Issue 1

I want to talk about sex workers who are working in Pretoria, and I myself also work there. We are working under harsh conditions.

My friend and I travel from Johannesburg where we are staying to Pretoria plastic view.

The place is called plastic view because the houses are made of plastic and cardboard boxes. There are a lot of people staying there and the place is good for business because a lot of men staying there are single. In terms of security there is no security at all.

Those men staying in plastic view are always fighting using knives and knobkerries. Most of the men are from Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

Lesotho people are called ‘amashweshwe’. So when we go to plastic view we go there at our own risk and we normally go to plastic view on Thursday and come back Monday morning. There is no security to look after us while we are working. There is a small room at the back of the bar where we do our business.

Sometimes when you are with a client inside that room, four to five men can just come inside with big knives and knobkerries and demand money from our clients. If the client does not give them money or his phone, they will beat him or even kill him with knives.

There is too much money in Pretoria but there is no security so anything can happen to us anytime, any minute.

I interviewed a woman who goes with me to plastic view. Her name is Fiona.

Chantel: Fiona, why did you choose to work in plastic view?

Fiona: I like it because there is a lot of money.

Chantel: How much can you make in those four days?

Fiona: I can make from R1000 to R1500.

Chantel: Is the place safe?

Fiona: No the place is not safe at all.

Sometimes thieves come and steal from our clients.

Chantel: Why don’t you ask the owner of the place to hire security guards who can watch you while working?

Fiona: It will not help because the guards can also steal from us and our clients.

Chantel: How many of you are working there?

Fiona: We are five but there are a lot of bars where a lot of ladies are working.

Chantel: when you finish business where do you sleep?

Fiona: There is a room for ladies to sleep.

Chantel: Do police come to monitor the place?

Fiona: Sometimes not always.

28

Following the business Chantel, Issue 1, p.4 Plastic View is one of Izwi Lethu’s most popular stories as it offers a vivid depiction of a particular place.

29

PLASTIC VIEW

Clients in my Soccer Team Heineken Feature Writer, Issue 2

I am an openly gay guy who plays soccer.

Yes! I know it sounds weird to others, but it is true. I grew up playing it, and everyone can see that I’m gay.

Well, as the time went by, I had almost everyone in my team as my client, including our coach, though they all do not know about each other. We do business after the matches or at the camps.

It was in the year 2010 when the first guy in my current team approached me. He told me straight to the face that he would like to f#@&* me. I laughed and told him that I could only sell it to him. He agreed. We started by going to my house everytime after we had a gym session; he would come to my house to have a sex session and then he paid me and left. He then became a regular client of mine since that day.

I sometimes get clients from the other soccer teams we meet. I think I’m more approachable because I am not in the closet, and I’m sexy of course. If there’s one thing I love about my teammates it’s that they are not judgmental, and I really appreciate that.

So since I am a semi-professional soccer player, I decided to go ask a professional South African soccer player about this.

One day another teammate came to me when we were at the camp. He asked me if I could give him a blowjob. He was asking infront of everybody during our breakfast in the kitchen. His aim was to make a joke out of it yet he meant it at the same time. So everybody laughed and laughed. That night, we met in the bathrooms, and he told me he was being serious about what he had said to me earlier. I then approved it and told him that I was going to sell it to him and he agreed. We then got to it, and he paid me.

He then also became my client since that day until today.

Interviewer: How do you feel about gay guys?

Jersey no.11: I don’t judge anyone in life and I don’t mind chilling with them but I am a straight guy.

Interviewer: Do you know of anyone who is gay in the South African football association?

Jersey no.11: Nope…not that I know of.

Interviewer: What do you usually do when you are in a camp and you feel like having sex?

Jersey no.11: (laughs) We buy some female sex workers, depending where we will be at 30

though. And it is not that often.

Interviewer: If one of your guy teammates would sell sex to you, would you buy?

Jersey no.11: (laughing out loud) Well ,there is a saying that goes like “never say never” but me I would buy only if that’s a girl (laughs).

From my experience, many guys who play soccer are not homophobic, and they are bisexual. But when you’re a soccer player you don’t want to let your team know that you are bisexual because of ignorance. Peer pressure can also take over people’s minds at times.

There are a lot of gay guys out there as well but it’s just that they are in the closet. I don’t blame them because our backgrounds are not the same.

Buying sex from sex workers during soccer camps is an “in thing” and I am sure it isn’t gender or sexuality based. It’s just out there and natural to soccer players because they can afford it.

Unsolicited clientele Heineken, Issue 2, p.2 This article shows how one gay sex worker finds clients while pursuing his dream.

Know who you are and what you want in life.

Do not judge. Live your life and take care!!!

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CLIENTS IN MY SOCCER TEAM

The People’s March Against Xenophobia Clara Feature Writer and Photographer, Issue 3

The death of Emanuel Sithole, a Mozambican street vendor who was killed over a packet of cigarettes in Alexandra during xenophobia attacks, forced me to protest against xenophobia. I braved it out in chilly weather, joining others from different parts of the world marching against xenophobia on the 23rd of April 2015. It was the People’s March against Xenophobia in Johannesburg here in South Africa. We had people from all walks of life including South Africans who were also very supportive. It is not all South Africans who are xenophobic. It was a huge march.

a packet of cigarettes? Emanuel Sithole was killed over a packet of cigarettes. Men stole cigarettes from Sithole’s stall, and when he demanded that they pay, they stabbed him.

Killing someone over a packet of cigarettes is unheard of. Was it xenophobia or a criminal act?

Because of the relationship we have with other South Africans we joined together as brothers and sisters on the 23rd of April.

Protected by the South African Police, we went for a big march. With Greta being good company we marched about five kilometres from Hillbrow to Newtown.

The members of ANC, the Zulus in their traditional outfits, and other South Africans were with us. It was quite a success. After this March I then realised that it is not every South African who is xenophobic.

I do not understand xenophobia.

Xenophobia is hating a stranger or a foreigner. When it comes to killing someone, it is now criminal. There are other South African women I know who are married to foreigners. If these foreigners are killed or hurt, who will take care of their children?

No father-in-law would want his son-in-law killed, no brother wants his brother-in-law killed and no sister would want her brotherin-law killed or hurt.

There are foreign woman married to South African men. Would they want to drive their wives away because of these criminal acts?

Is it xenophobic taking someone’s life over 32

Thinking through xenophobia Clara, Issue 3, p.3 Clara took to the streets with her questions and concerns about xenophobia.

33

THE PEOPLE’S MARCH AGAINST XENOPHOBIA

Durban Deep Amy Feature Writer and Photographer, Issue 4

It’s a windy Saturday afternoon, and I’m in Durban Deep. Where is Durban Deep?

Durban Deep is a small community just outside Roodeport. It’s a community that has become notorious for illegal mining, immigrants, and violence.

nearby suburbs and sell whatever they can salvage, including recyclables like plastic and scrap metal. The community of Durban Deep is striving to make their community a better place to live in. Although there is no electricity in the squatter camps, there are toilets and taps with clean drinking water.

There are two community halls, a clinic, and a soup kitchen run by the women in the community.

Most of the population here lives in three sections of squatter camps. It’s in these squatter camps that you find illegal miners and foreign nationals, mainly from Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Mozambique.

There is also a section of Rural Development Project houses, which have been built as an extension of the old mine’s hostel. Durban Deep is a fairly poor community, making the crime rate very high here. There are gangs and drug dealers who occasionally fight over territory. With the recent xenophobic attacks, shops belonging to foreign nationals were looted.

It’s around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and I’m waiting anxiously outside Ntate’s shack. I met him on my previous visit to Durban Deep and asked if I could interview him. He agreed.

Ntate is an illegal miner from Lesotho. I found what he does fascinating, so I had to interview him. About 30 minutes later he arrives wearing a traditional Sotho blanket, a baraclava, and gumboots. He looks like he has just been through a sandstorm. He apologises for keeping me waiting. He said that he was busy purifying some gold that he and his team had from the previous day. He unlocked his shack and took out a bench for us to sit on. I offered to buy him something to drink.

With that said, members of the community of Durban Deep have found different ways to earn money for their families. In the squatter camps there are many spaza shops and a few women who sell take-away food on the street corners. There are also dumpster divers. These are the people who wake up at the crack of dawn to dumpster dive in the

He turned around and said, “A beer would be nice.”

34

I laughed and said, “It sounds like you’ve had a long day.”

He sighed and said, “You’d have to see it to believe it.”

Just as we were about to start with the interview, I saw a young man dressed in the same manner that Ntate was dressed coming up the street, blowing a whistle. Ntate quickly put down his glass of beer and said, “I have to go.” I asked him why he had to leave. He explained that the young man was sent from the mine to inform the community that a miner was trapped, possibly dead, in the mine. He had to go, and I couldn’t stop him. He had to go and help the others. As for my interview, well, I was left with a glass of beer and the words, “You’d have to see it to believe it.” I’m a very curious person, so I took my camera and went to find out more about how these miners go about mining and purifying their gold with no modern machinery. Honestly, you’d have to see it to believe it.

Digging for gold Amy, Issue 4, p.6 A sex worker reporting on a different informal income strategy.

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DURBAN DEEP

From Rusty Streets to the National Stage Kagee Feature Writer, Issue 6

I am a 33 year old MSM (male who sleeps with other males) and a proud member of Sisonke Sex Workers Movement. I came to Joburg from Rustenburg in 2002 to work for a driving school company. I was introduced to the MSM world by a friend of mine. The first time I engaged in anal sex, I felt dirty and guilty. I went to church in Plein Street, because I felt sinful and thought I had done wrong. I would go clubbing and engage in unprotected sex.

for R50. I worked online, in hotels, on streets, in casino and all over as an MSM sex worker who is well trained and knows his work.

Under the Sisonke movement I attended workshops to train as a peer educator, a paralegal, a human rights defender, and a media liason. I was given the platform to speak in the Gauteng legislature, S.A.B.C News, and Cape Town health symposium on behalf of MSM sex workers. I sat with Honourable Ntombi Mekgwe (a member of Gauteng Health portfolio in Parlament). I attended two of Sisonke National meetings, one in Gender Links Cottage and the other one in Birch Wood Hotel.

Then I found myself out of work. I mugged people, did all the illegal stuff, and used alcohol to self medicate. I got stabbed by two guys and nearly came to an early grave.

Things went from bad to worse and going home was not an option at that time. Then I start sleeping with guys for money and a place to stay. One day, Clara invited me to a Sisonke Creative Space Meeting. Sisonke is a national movement in South Africa. It is run by sex workers, and it’s a safe space for sex workers. It values sex workers as human beings. It protects the rights and health of sex workers.

My dream is to see more MSM sex workers become members of Sisonke. Today I am empowered by the movement as I know and understand my rights and I have better access to health system as an MSM. It is now in our hands to correct the wrong that the law as done to sex workers. Let us voice all the wrong that has happened and happens to sex workers. We all can change the world.

I got a chance to understand the work of sex workers and that sex work is a job. After two or more of these safe spaces, I joined Sisonke 36

Knowledge through membership Kagee, Issue 6, p.3-4 Kagee describes the important role that Sisonke has played in his life.

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FROM RUSTY STREETS TO THE NATIONAL STAGE

RELECTIONS ON PROCESS “These projects give our members an opportunity to talk about their lives and get support and this is very important. Most of the times sex workers don’t speak about the things that they go through, and this prevents them from being free.

By telling their stories, they let the pain go. They tell stories and learn new things, and this only makes our Movement stronger.”

Pamela Chakuvinga, Assistant National Coordinator, Sisonke Sex Worker Movement

“[These reflections] highlight the newsletter’s power to influence the reader’s perspective, how it can grab the attention of audiences who may never have had exposure to the voices of sex workers.”

ABOUT THE REFLECTIONS

The first year of Izwi Lethu was a learning process for all involved. The following reflections on the newsletter come from an activist, a researcher, the facilitator, and selected reporters, who share their thoughts on the project and product. These reflections explore both the impact of the workshop process on the participants and the impact of the newsletter on its readers, whether government officials or other sex workers.

able to write these articles. Facilitator Greta Schuler draws from participants’ anonymous post-workshop evaluations to reflect on the workshops.

ACMS writing fellow, Matthew WilhelmSolomon, looks at Izwi Lethu’s first year, offering encouragement and advice going forward. He urges Izwi Lethu reporters to write stories that push beyond topics of sex work and to write more about their lives outside of work.

Several reflections speak to the importance of writing about personal experiences, including the therapeutic and empowering aspects of this process. Others highlight the newsletter’s power to influence the reader’s perspective, how it can grab the attention of audiences who may never have had exposure to the voices of sex workers. Reporters repeatedly emphasised the importance of the reader knowing that sex workers were 41

ABOUT THE REFLECTIONS

Seeing the Vision of Izwi Lethu Unfold Tanaka Editor in Chief

At the first Gauteng Legal Partners meeting when Elsa first suggested the idea of a newsletter for sex workers or alternatively doing zines, I thought, “Great idea”. I envisioned what the newsletter would look like, what the title would be, and how the target audience would respond to it.

Learning that Sisonke and the ACMS had received funding from OSF to run this project, I was so excited to see my vision unfold into reality. I was determined to share all that I had experienced in the sex work industry.

We sat down at the former SWEAT office in Braamfontein with Greta, Elsa, and Dianne to structure the project. At the end of our meeting we managed to structure and name columns, nominate editors, reporters, and more. It was such an honour for me to be appointed editor in chief.

Forms of advocacy The act of coming together to discuss the newsletter is as much an act of activism as distributing the finished newsletter.

I have always had a thing for soccer players for obvious reasons. The story by a feature writer “Heineken” entitled “Clients in my Soccer Team” (April 2015) made me realise that it was possible for a gay man like myself to get a chance with one, whether short term or long term. I so much love the article because it displays a different kind of sex work that most people would not have knowledge of.

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I can’t forget one of the Gauteng Department of Health meetings I attended around May 2015. My colleagues and I had taken a few copies of Izwi Lethu with us just to see what the reaction of government officials and other members of the civil society would be like. I was pleasantly surprised to see us run out of copies and officials still requested more.

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SEEING THE VISION OF IZWI LETHU UNFOLD

Thinking about My Participation Kagee Feature Writer

I remember the first time I got an invite to come and be part of the Izwi Lethu team as a Sisonke member and Sisonke Advocacy Liaison Officer. I thought to myself, “Writing short stories in an advocacy form? I won’t make it!”

After three days of continuous writing, editing each other’s stories, correcting the wording, and taking lots of pictures at home, in the street, at the office, I was not sure if my story would make it into the Izwi Lethu newsletter.

I felt like my story, titled “From Dusty Streets to the National Stage”, was too boring and no one will want to read that. My story was about my personal journey and growth. It took almost a month for my first story to hit the pages of Izwi Lethu. I could give it to other sex workers to read as it is a free newsletter. I could not believe that indeed someone out there in the world had the courage to fund a project like this—just for sex workers to tell their stories in a way that is not propagated for the purpose of sales.

Participation in workshops One of the best aspects of participation for Kagee was meeting other feature writers and hearing other people’s stories.

My best experience was to meet other story feature writers, sitting in those groups every month, hearing all of the stories being told before the stories are penned to paper. It was at times heartbreaking, sad, and others they will lift your spirit to write more.

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Izwi Lethu can be used to raise awareness about sex workers’ safety, health related issues such as HIV and STIs because studies have shown that 70% of sex workers are HIV positive, which is the reality. It can also be used as a campaigning tool to expose the impact our current law has on sex workers, such as the violation of our human rights by police. To de-stigmatise sex work, we need our communities and leaders in the big debate on whether sex work is a 9 to 5 job. Ijob ijob! We also need to expose poor reporting on sex work, like in the media houses that have branded us “magoshas.”

I have learned that every story is unique and events are not all the same. One of the difficult parts was finding a captured photo that you feel goes with your story. Out of hundreds of photos captured, you become unsure which photo tells your story best. But the selection process is good.

What I liked was that the participants were allowed to do their own wording. I remember one participant used the word “mcimbi,” which means a client. And that process opened doors for the other participants to start using street based language that can be translated into English.

Izwi Lethu can also help sex workers’ families, kids, and friends to read those stories and know that not all sex workers have the same background.

I also liked the story typing sessions. As one specific participant said, “I cannot believe that I am sitting with the laptop typing my own story. Can you take me a photo? I want my family to see that I can now type.” It was her first time touching a laptop in her life.

I am thinking for future recommendations, it will be nice to have field reporters that will interview and interact in story writing with sex workers at their safe spaces. As at times board rooms and offices can be very intimidating to sex workers that have never worked in an office space.

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THINKING ABOUT MY PARTICIPATION

My Experience as a Writer for Izwi Lethu Amy Feature Writer and Photographer

In July 2015 I was invited to write an article for Izwi Lethu, a newsletter for sex workers.

It was one of the most exciting things I have done in a long time. Needless to say it was a great learning experience.

Being part of the creative process was interesting and very educational. I learnt how to write and edit an article. The most intense part about writing my article came when I had to reflect on my experiences, which became an emotional journey. I discovered things about myself that I had never taken into consideration before.

Writing for Izwi Lethu was meant to be a learning experience to develop my writing skills and share stories with my peers.

Writing has become therapeutic for me. I can now reflect on my everyday experiences and document them in a journal.

Informal gold mining Amy, Issue 4, p.1 Amy’s curiosity took her outside of the city to Durban Deep, where she photographed what she saw because “honestly, you’d have to see it to believe it”.

Izwi Lethu is a platform for sex workers to share their experiences and feelings on burning issues they face in their day-to-day lives. I would like to thank the funders and facilitators of the Izwi Lethu newsletter for the opportunity to write for the publication.

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MY EXPERIENCE AS A WRITER FOR IZWI LETHU

Izwi Lethu Reflection Linda Feature Writer and Contributing Editor

My name is Linda, and I come from Zimbabwe. I am a sex worker and a member of Sisonke since 2010. I became an Izwi Lethu newsletter writer in 2015.

I want to thank Sisonke for giving me a chance to be part of the newsletter team. Also I want to thank Elsa Oliveira and Greta Schuler for molding me and teaching me how to write a newsletter. I was also involved in Volume 44 and the zine projects.

Being an Izwi Lethu newsletter writer, I have learned a lot of things like using a computer and improving my writing and English speaking skills. I have also learned to communicate with different people, especially when doing interviews. I have travelled to different provinces, doing the Izwi Lethu newsletter, and I have written a lot of stories. One of the stories that I have written, the one I like most, is “Plastic View�

[Linda wrote under the pseudonym Chantel].

In this story I wrote about challenges that sex workers are facing where they are working. I also work in Plastic View in Pretoria.

Let me take this opportunity to thank Sisonke, SWEAT, ACMS, and everyone for this opportunity.

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Reporting across borders Linda’s stories span southern Africa from Pretoria to Windhoek, from Limpopo to Mmpumalanga.

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IZWI LETHU REFLECTION

What I Like about Izwi Lethu Clara Feature Writer

Documenting my story for the world was the chance I was waiting for for so long. As sex workers, the way we experience life is different from other people. I never thought that one day I would sit and write about my experiences as a sex worker and a mother, as a sex worker and a relative, and as a sex worker and a student.

My thanks goes to Sisonke, Kholi Buthelezi, and Pamela Chakuvinga, without them I wouldn’t be standing here as a Sisonke member. And also to SWEAT and the Gauteng Provincial Manager for SWEAT, Dianne Massawe, who is always there at every project. I would also like to thank the ACMS team, Jo Vearey, Elsa Oliviera, and Greta Schuler, for the tireless long hours they spent working on Izwi Lethu.

Reporting on current events Clara, Issue 5, p.3-4 Izwi Lethu’s contributing editor, Clara, reported on the the People’s March Against Xenophobia that took place in Johannesburg in 2015.

Izwi Lethu is a newsletter by sex workers. In the naming of the newsletter, I do not know how we were going to come up with this name if it wasn’t for Sisonke members. The name Izwi Lethu was chosen at a creative space meeting which took place at the Women’s Jail in February 2015.

When we started writing, we thought we were writing for other sex workers only to 50

Izwi Lethu serves as a sensitisation tool for those who oppose or do not understand sex work, including some policy makers, police officers, and members of the community.

The power of the story told by a sex worker can influence change and bring the decriminalisation of sex work. We hope to increase the number of platforms and distribution of Izwi Lethu.

realise that there were more people out there who are interested in reading our newsletter, which I think during National Reading Week must be showcased so we can reach out to many readers.

Sex workers are marginalised but with Izwi Lethu, we are able to report our experiences and also be able to air our views regarding matters that concern us as sex workers, for example police brutality and deaths of sex workers, who are eighteen times more likely to be murdered than other women. If a sex worker is murdered, no one wants to speak about it. They just sweep it under the carpet.

What I like about Izwi Lethu is that the stories are based on true stories. Everything in the newsletter is nothing but the truth.

When Elsa Oliviera and Greta Schuler do their research, they do not write what they don’t know. It is us sex workers who write our life experiences. I have learnt from them to report responsibly.

Izwi Lethu is informative and an education tool for us sex workers and other key players in the industry such as clients, pimps, brothel owners, and some of my colleagues, I mean sex workers who do not understand what the decriminalisation of sex work means. Society thinks that sex workers are dirty, dumb, and lazy. The decriminalisation of sex work is built on a public health model, and it allows for a cooperative relationship between sex workers and the police to reduce violence.

This would recognise the dignity of sex workers as people.

To all sex workers, I hope one day we will all come out and fight for the decriminalisation of sex work here in South Africa.

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WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IZWI LETHU

The Newsletter as an Advocacy Tool Dianne Massawe Research and Knowledge Management Officer, Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT)

The Izwi Lethu newsletter project is a great advocacy tool for many reasons. Sex work is criminalised in South Africa, and many sex workers face stigma and discrimination.

As a result, many sex workers are not vocal about the work they do and the issues that they face; they are silenced. It is important for people to have a voice and to vocalise not only their experiences but also their interests, views, and opinions. The newsletter provides a platform whereby sex workers are able to record, report, and distribute their self-produced stories.

The newsletter allows for sex workers to creatively come to the fore as they decide what stories they want to share and write about. The contributors develop the stories and decide which images best represent their stories. This process is very exciting for those involved, and they see it as a positive opportunity to engage in journalism and advocacy work.

In addition to sex worker generated and produced stories, the newsletter also includes a guest column—written by someone who is not a sex worker. In one issue, the guest columnist was a pastor who wrote on his views of religion and the reasons he supported sex workers. This article has been shared with other religious leaders and the community.

The newsletter is utilised in multiple spaces for different purposes. The single narratives that people often have about sex workers are debunked and challenged. The newsletters can be taken to meetings with stakeholders and pertinent articles can be shared. I have found this to be very useful especially during times when we need increased sex worker representation. The newsletters serve as a necessary voice. The articles in the newsletter range in themes. Although many are about issues related directly to sex work, some are not. Some are about community events and opinions about life events in general.

The newsletter is an advocacy tool that builds capacity for those invovled thereby making the sex worker movement stronger.

Distribution Izwi Lethu editors distribute newsletters at Sisonke’s Creative Space.

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THE NEWSLETTER AS AN ADVOCACY TOOL

What’s in a Name Greta Schuler PhD candidate and coordinator of the Izwi Lethu Project, African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)

Sisonke members gathered on a hot summer day in what was once a cell of Johannesburg’s women’s jail. The building sits at a high point of the city, a historic place that was a fort, then a notorious prison, and now is Constitution Hill. I introduced the idea of a newsletter to the skeptical group of sex workers. They had heard me speak before about research that I was conducting as a graduate student at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS). I wanted to stress that this project was different.

is important to both the research and advocacy aspects of the project. Researchers are interested in the lived experiences that sex worker reporters portray in their stories, the ways in which they represent themselves, and the topics they choose to write about.

Activists are interested in the voices of sex workers to give firsthand accounts of the challenges they face. But the newsletter is also valuable to the community beyond raising awareness or building knowledge.

The printed word has power. Some sex worker reporters who came to multiple workshops changed their pseudonyms to names closer to their own, telling me that they wanted to prove to certain people that these were their stories in print.

When Tanaka, who led the meeting, corroborated the plan, the group was more interested. But it was the discussion of the name that drew everyone in. There is something special about the naming of a thing. The members who had been sitting in the stuffy room for hours suddenly grew animated. Though there were various opinions on the name, the most vocal insisted that the project was “ours”.

As facilitator, I tried to remain aware that my position might influence reporters since I introduced the idea of the newsletter and guided discussions about stories. I soon realised that I had less influence than I thought, a marked difference from similar workshops I conducted for my master’s degree, in which I led creative writing classes with migrant sex workers to amass stories for analysis. In my workshops for my master’s thesis, participants asked me what they could write about. Although I encouraged

The name Izwi Lethu: Our Voice is not only significant because it came out of a brainstorming session in a Sisonke meeting, but also because it cuts to the heart of the project. The emphasis that the voice coming through the newsletter is that of sex workers 54

Field reporting Reporters took to the streets, attended meetings, and went to conferences, sometimes accompanied by the facilitator, to cover events of interest to Izwi Lethu readers.

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WHAT’S IN A NAME

them to choose whatever idea they wanted, most insisted on a “topic” or writing prompt.

For the Izwi Lethu workshop, I was ready with ideas for suggestions; however, I found that they were not needed. I think a big difference was that each newsletter workshop began with an introduction of Izwi Lethu: Our Voice, written by sex workers for sex workers. Naming audience and authors seems to embolden reporters to write on an array of topics that they themselves choose: an article about online sex chat rooms, another about informal gold miners in Durban Deep; a story about stealing from clients, another about handing out copies of Izwi Lethu to women who engage in transactional sex but look down on sex workers. In anonymous workshop evaluations, one reporter wrote: “I was very

comfortable [in the workshop] because as a sex worker with a voice I was allowed to say what I want and not told on what to say.”

Reporters sometimes changed their initial story after group discussions, but most wanted to keep to their original idea. Most knew the story they wanted to tell, and the group discussions helped refine and polish the article.

The emphasis on unity in the name “Our Voice” belies the myriad voices presented in Izwi Lethu, which in turn challenges stereotypes of sex workers. While the newsletter shows a diversity of voices among the sex worker reporters who participated, it also shows the desire to be heard and connect.

One participant responded in the postworkshop evaluation that “yes, [the Sisonke 56

community will enjoy reading this issue] because they can relate easily to the stories, as they are from people who speak the same language.” The irony is that for most participants, English is a second, or a third, or fourth language, and rarely did a group share the same mother tongue. Responding to the question, “What would you like to read in Izwi Lethu?” one reporter wrote, “Stories that will motivate me and know that I am not alone.” Izwi Lethu: Our Voice is not only a document that gives researchers a glimpse into the lived experiences of sex workers or activists stories of human rights violations, but it is a means of connection.

Newsletter making During workshops participants discussed previous newsletters, shared story ideas, wrote their articles, and edited one another’s work. Participants typed their own stories; for some this was their first time working on a computer.

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WHAT’S IN A NAME

Seeing Sex Workers through Stories Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon Writing fellow, Migration & Health Southern African Project (maHp), African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)

The Izwi Lethu: Our Voice newsletter has become an important and powerful platform for sex workers to share stories and information, both within the trade and to those outside it.

Reading Izwi Lethu, the diverse lives of sex workers come into view—the complexities of street-side trade, the escapades of escaping an angry wife, the fears of violence and serial killers, the constant games with police.

The stories in the publication bring to life the lives of sex workers, but they also speak to broader, more universal themes—the disappointments of love and life in the city, the desire for excitement and money, and the need for care, health, and protection.

Clara reporting Reporters took images to compliment their stories. These images offer a visual entry into the subject matter through the eyes of the reporter.

A powerful story always speaks to a wider, and shared experience, even while it makes real a single particular life, a particular space.

In doing so stories take us into other worlds, but they also make us feel less alone.

Jack Hart, the well known editor, wrote in his book Story Craft, “Story makes sense out of a confusing universe by showing us how one action leads to another. It teaches us how to live by discovering how our fellow human 58

beings overcome the challenges in their lives. And it helps us discover the universals that bind us to everything around us.”

concerns from their unique perspectives on the world: the scenes they see and characters they meet. To write about their favourite music tracks, bars, political views, or their spiritual experiences.

I think the importance of a publication like Izwi Lethu is to share experiences of sex work—its challenges, difficulties, and its excitements, and to share information about healthcare, laws, and protection.

None of us are defined by a single identity.

Sex worker, it seems, is one identity among many others—identities as friends, as parents, as lovers, as artists. But our paths through the world, and the bodies and lives we touch and encounter, shape the stories we can tell.

But I also think it important for its contributors not to have to write only about their experiences of sex work, but to find the freedom to write about other issues—music, art, politics, clubbing, religion, city life, parenthood.

The contributors clearly have a wealth of life experience, which arise from their unique and often precarious labour. But this perspective on the world can offer a range of insights about the world that is not only about the trade of sex.

It seems to me that a publication like Izwi Lethu will serve the struggle for the recognition of sex workers’ rights if it continues to show that the labours, excitement, and sufferings of sex workers require specific attention, but also if it makes the world they live in vivid and alive, detailing experiences that speak to a shared human condition.

I would encourage the contributors to Izwi Lethu to continue writing about the particular difficulties or their trade, and the struggle for healthcare and decriminalisation. But I would also encourage the writers to write about other

Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon is a writing fellow on the Migration & Health Southern African Project (maHp), hosted by the African Centre for Migration & Society. He has published as a journalist in many publications including the Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times, and ConMag. 59

SEEING SEX WORKERS THROUGH STORIES

PROJECT MEMBERS “Izwi Lethu is an advocacy tool that we take with us everywhere. [. . .]

It’s important that our voices are shared and that there is a space where if people want to learn more about our lives and the ways that we feel about certain topics that they can read our newsletter: something that is written by sex workers not people who are not sex workers. Nothing about us without us!”

Katlego Rasebitse, Sisonke Media and Advocacy Coordinator

“When we started writing, we thought we were writing for other sex workers only to realise that there were more people out there who are interested in reading our newsletter.�

Clara, What I Like about Izwi Lethu, p50

PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS

The Izwi Lethu newsletter would not be possible without generous funding from the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and support from maHp, a Wellcome Trust funded project.

Together funders, researchers, activists, and writers have helped bring dozens of stories to the world that might not otherwise have been captured in print through Izwi Lethu: Our Voice.

Many people have dedicated their time to making Izwi Lethu a success. Thirty-three people wrote and edited the newsletter (excluding guest columnists) in 2015. A core group of committed contributing editors attended multiple workshops while featured writers each attended one workshop. These contributors worked both inside and outside of workshops to report on events, take photographs, and write and revise their stories. They have shaped the newsletter with their contributions.

The ACMS and the Sisonke Sex Worker Movement worked in partnership to create the newsletter and oversee its facilitation, production, and distribution. Izwi Lethu is part of the MoVE project, a series of participatory arts-based projects housed at the ACMS.

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PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS

Project Participants Editors and Feature Writers People who contributed to the newsletter issues.

Issue 1 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Contributing Editor: Alisha Contributing Editor: Nelly Contributing Editor: Chantel

Issue 5 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Contributing Editor: Linda Feature Writer: Mpilo Feature Writer: Sellinah Feature Writer: Namhla

Issue 2 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Contributing Editor: Linda Feature Writer: Heineken Feature Writer: Clara Feature Writer: Chidhavazo

Issue 6 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Feature Writer: Tiny Feature Writer: Kagee Feature Writer: Odele

Issue 3 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Feature Writer: T.T. Feature Writer: Clara Feature Writer: T.G. Diva

Issue 7 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Contributing Editor: Linda Feature Writer: Julia Feature Writer: Poppy Feature Writer: Nina Feature Writer: Rumbasi Feature Writer: Tendai Feature Writer: Theresa Feature Writer: Tafadzwa Feature Writer: Sandra Guest Columnists: Vinno and Pro

Issue 4 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Feature Writer: Kita Feature Writer: Skara Feature Writer: Lutse Feature Writer and Photographer: Amy Feature Writer and Photographer: Clara 64

Project Support

People involved in planning and organising the project.

Issue 8 Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Contributing Editor: Clara Contributing Editor: Linda Feature Writer: Makzo Feature Writer: Nandi Feature Writer: Lerato

Project Organisation MoVE Coordinators: Elsa Oliveira & Jo Vearey Izwi Lethu Coordinator: Greta Schuler Sisonke Coordinators: Pamela Chakuvinga & Kholi Buthelezi

Issue 9 Sisonke National Coordinator: Kholi Sisonke National Reporter: Gavin Editor in Chief: Tanaka Managing Editor: Greta Contributing Editor: Clara Contributing Editor: Linda Feature Writer: Nandi Feature Writer: Nicky

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PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Project Partners MoVE

www.migration.org.za/weblog/move

MoVE is a project housed at the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand located in Johannesburg, South Africa, and it focuses on the development of visual and other involved methodologies to research the lived experiences of migrants in southern Africa.

Our approach aims to integrate social action with research and involves collaboration with migrant participants, existing social movements, qualified facilitators, and trainers, and students engaged in participatory research methods. This work includes the study and use of visual methods—including photography, narrative writing, participatory theatre, collage—and other arts-based approaches in the process of producing, analysing, and disseminating research data. These approaches to research facilitate story-telling and self-study, incorporating various auto-ethnographic approaches. Central areas of investigation relate to issues of social justice in relation to migration, with a specific focus on sexuality, gender, health, and policy.

Since 2006, the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) has explored the use of creative methodologies with more traditional qualitative research methods in social science research. These projects engage in the co-production of knowledge through the development of partnerships with migrant groups; a central focus is the involvement of under-represented migrant groups that face multiple vulnerabilities to collectively develop methods that ensure that their voices are heard and seen.

To date, projects have been conducted with migrant men, women, and transgender persons engaged in the sex industry, informal settlement residents, inner-city migrants, and hostel residents. These projects have culminated in a range of research and advocacy outputs, including community-based exhibitions, public exhibitions, engagement with officials, and outreach into multi-media forums.

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ACMS

Sisonke

The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), formerly known as the Forced Migrations Studies Programme, is based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. The ACMS is an independent, interdisciplinary, and internationally engaged Africa-based centre of excellence for research and teaching, which shapes global discourses on human mobility, development, and social transformation. Through research, teaching, and outreach, the ACMS is a regional leader for migration on the continent, with partnerships around the world.

Sisonke Sex Worker Movement, lauched in 2003, is South Africa’s only sex worker movemet run by sex workers for sex workers.

Sisonke aims to unite sex workers, improve living and working conditions, fight for equal access to rights, and avocate for the deciminalisation of sex work in South Africa.

www.migration.org.za

www.sweat.org.za/what-we-do/sisonke/

Address correspondence to: Pamela Chakuvinga, Assistant National Director, Cape Town, South Africa. +27 021 448 7875 pamelac@sweat.org.za

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PROJECT PARTNERS

Project Funders Open Society Foundations (OSF) www.opensocietyfoundations.org

The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people. We seek to strengthen the rule of law; respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of opinions; democratically elected governments; and a civil society that helps keep government power in check. We help to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. We implement initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. We build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. Working in every part of the world, the Open Society Foundations place a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities.

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maHp

Wellcome Trust

The migration and health project southern Africa (maHp) at the ACMS is supported by a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award. Involving a series of unique research and public engagement projects, maHp explores ways to generate and communicate knowledge to improve responses to migration, health, and wellbeing in the SADC region.

Multiple disciplinary perspectives, mixed methods, and the involvement of various stakeholders—including migrants—are considered central to exploring the production of knowledge and its application.

The Wellcome Trust is dedicated to improving health. We believe this can only be achieved if advances in biomedical research are accompanied by advances in our understanding of the social, cultural, and historical contexts of medicine, health, and wellbeing. Only with an understanding of those contexts can we address the practical, political, and ethical challenges that are raised by the global burden of illness, disease, and health disparity. Izwi Lethu is supported by a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award held by Jo Vearey.

www.mahpsa.wordpress.com

www.wellcome.ac.uk

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PROJECT FUNDERS

Bibliography Soccer World Cup: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 12.

Gould, C. (2011). Trafficking? Exploring the relevance of the notion of human trafficking to describe the lived experience of sex workers in Cape Town, South Africa. Crime Law Soc Change, 56: 529-546.

Schuler, G. (2016). At Your Own Risk: Narratives of Zimbabwean Migrant Sex Workers in Johannesburg. Urban Forum . Online: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/ s12132-016-9282-z

Oliveira, E. (2016). “I am more than just a sex worker but you have to also know that I sell sex and it’s okay’: Lived Experiences of Migrant Sex Workers in Inner-City Johannesburg, South Africa”. Urban Forum. Online: http://link.springer. com/article/10.1007/s12132-016-9281-0

Vearey, J. (2011). Challenging urban health: towards an improved local government response to migration, informal settlements, and HIV in Johannesburg, South Africa. Global Health Action, 4: 1-9.

Oliveira, E. and Vearey, J. (2015). Images of Place: Visuals from Migrant Sex Workers in South Africa. Journal of Medical Anthropology, 34(4): 305-318.

Walker, R. and Oliveira, E. (2015). Contested spaces: Exploring the intersections of migration, sex work and trafficking in South Africa. Graduate Journal of Social Science, 11(2): 129-153.

Oliveira, E., Meyers, S., and Vearey, J. (eds) (2016). Queer Crossings. MoVE and ACMS: Johannesburg.

Richter, M. and Delva, W. (2011). “’Maybe it will be better once this World Cup has passed: Research findings regarding the impact of the 2010 Soccer World Cup on Sex Work in South Africa”. South Africa: United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA).

Richter, M., Luchter, S., Ndlovu, D., Temmerman, M., Chersich, M.F. (2012). Female sex work and international sport events - no major changes in demand or supply of paid sex during the 2010 70