Izwi Lethu: Our Voice, Issue 13, 2017

IZWI LETHU: OUR VOICE

Issue 13

Izwi Lethu

Our Voice

2017: Issue 13

A NEWSLETTER BY SEX WORKERS FOR SEX WORKERS

Editor’s Note by

The Poster Project

Katlego, Editor-in-Chief

by

The first edition of Izwi Lethu 2017 has landed in your hands. The reading and empowering of the mind has begun.

Sisonke and the African Centre for Migration and Society facilitated a poster project with sex workers in Bundu Lodge in Mpumalanga this year. A total number of nine sex workers participated. The workshop took place from March 22 to 25.

Izwi Lethu has an all new team of reporters and a loyal distributor.

This year there are going to be three issues published. In this edition, we celebrate our fallen comrades and super heroes as we introduce the #SayHerName campaign. The stories are real and from the heart; feature writers share their feelings, pen to page.

On that note Mama Mastoep has a new man, but my lips are sealed for now.

We have a photo feature of Sisonke advocacy posters that were made in Nelsprit. Our poems will make you chant sangomaaticaly. Our Headquarters in Cape Town embraced us with a oneon-one interview to introduce our new Sisonke communications officer Kholiswa. Her interview

Kagee, Reporter

The idea was to create different Sisonke and sex worker posters that will speak on behalf of voiceless sex workers about what sex workers are facing, the impact of criminalization and stigma in our society. The posters will also sensitise different communities all over the world. will melt your heart as she speaks about her concern for sex workers.

There are highlights from Mothers for the Future as we celebrate mothers’ love.

Continues on page 17.

Yours truly, Katlego Editor in Chief Editor in Chief: Katlego Managing Editor: Kholiswa Reporter: KG Loo Reporter: Kagee

Reporter: Ndumie Reporter: Linda Reporter: Ziyanda Distributor and Contributor: Chidhavazo

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Reality Strikes by

KG Loo, Reporter

In Mpumalanga there is a spot popular to most gays and trans sex workers; we get protection and acknowledgment not only by our clients but also the community and some open minded police (though some like to act like we don’t exist).

Though this is our chosen space surrounded by trees, it is not the safest space as there is no means of light.

We have to use our makeshift source provided by our phones to be able to identify even your friend next to you.

For many of us who have been in this business, we have made a solidarity with some security guards from the nearby factories; as such they are the one who even warn us when the brutal members of the police come to our side to harass and intimidate us.

One night after an hour of standing in our business space, we received a call from our security guard friend alarming us of a gunshot coming from the direction where my friend Thando had disappeared with what we thought was a client.

We ran like headless chickens following that lead until we reached the spot where we found my helpless friend. To our relief, he was breathing. Thando was still alive. We had to act fast, but what does one do in this state of shock when you see so much blood coming from a living person like a butchered animal? He was bleeding from the gun wound on his back (a sign that he was running from someone, maybe something).

We called the police and told them that someone was shot in our area.

We hoped that they would respond to the call, but to our surprise they never did, because a gay sex worker was not “human being” enough. We sat and waited until we could not wait anymore. It was like we were in a movie scene where everything was happened as if it was scripted. We had to think fast and act fast to save what was

remaining of my friend’s life.

In all this rush hour, we also had to know why my friend was in this blood bath. How did it become that we last saw him on a client’s car to do business, and we are rushing him in a hired car to hospital?

All we got from asking Thando was that the client does not like gays. But everyone who comes to do business

in our dark spot knows that it is a prominent area for gay people. Are we not transparent as this community?

Thando died before we could get anymore clarity on our way to get him help. He died with his face down on my lap without saying goodbye. He died because he was gay and a sex worker in a society that criminalises the victims and glorifies the criminals.

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My Anger on You by

Kagee, Reporter

Dear Society, hear me out: Here I want to voice my anger on you!

You mob Justice in the community, I want to voice my anger on you, too.

What type of society are you?

Are you that society that beats women?

Women who raised you by survival of hardship.

Are you that society that sees sex workers as non-human?

I refuse to engage in your barbaric behavior.

I have witnessed the colour of the blood From the wounds that you created on us sex workers.

I witness the motherless children Because you allowed death to take their mother.

Sex workers are humans who made a decision To enter the industry as an adult choice.

Consent is sexy, if you respect sex worker rights.

I challenge you to respect sex worker rights.

Bully all you want, I am coming for your heads.

I am a society that protects and hugs my society of sex workers.

I will fight with my mind and all the meat of my body To protect sex workers as they humans.

I Want the World to Know by

Linda, Reporter

I want the world to know That a sex worker is a person, A human being like you, A mother, a sister, a brother, and friend like you.

To become a sex worker is by choice, But you just don’t wake up one day And say I have decided to be a sex worker.

Circumstances like poverty can force you To become a sex worker.

When other people discover that you Are a sex worker, they look at you differently.

They think that maybe you are not normal, but what They don’t know is that I am putting food on the table for my family, I am sending my kids to school with that sex money.

I am a sex worker.

I am proud of myself.

I work for myself.

I am my own boss.

So I want the world to know that I also a human being with five senses.

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Gone But Not Forgotten by

Ndumie, Reporter

This story is dedicated to my friend who passed on. I will forever miss her wherever she is. I am proud of her, and she will always have a special place in my heart.

Back in the year 2014, I met this young, brave lady with dreams. As young as she was she had a 5-yearold son to which she gave birth at the age of 16. The poor background she grew up in made it so hard for her to support her son as she and her family, including her uncle, were staying in a small, mud hut.

Sometimes they would sleep on empty stomachs. Our friendship grew stronger as I was coming home from Johannesburg every month. One day when she visited my house, she trusted me enough to disclose her secret that she had kept for years.

We sat, and she burst into tears.

“Friend,” she said. I looked at her astonished, wondering what the tears were about. “I was raped.”

She continued with a crumbling voice, “My neighbour raped me.”

The tears flowed down her cheeks.

I did not know what to say. After some while I asked her if she had told anyone about it. She shook her head and said, “It’s not easy.

This neighbour is the only one that helps us with food, and no one is going to believe this because all people think that he is good to us.

Even my son is the result of that rape.”

My heart was sore and bleeding after hearing the shocking news, but I tried to be strong. All I said to her was come with me to Johannesburg. We arrived there so late in the place where I was renting. I stayed with her there.

The following morning I took her to the Women’s Legal Centre for counselling and support. After a few days she was feeling much better, and she told me that she wanted to leave the past behind

and face the future. That’s when I realised that she had found peace to let go of the past. Later on she asked me to find her a job where I was working. I was worried how she would react when I told her about my work. I looked at her for some minutes and thought about her honesty that she trusted me and told me her secret so I should also tell her mine.

“Well, girl, I am working as a sex worker,” that’s what I said in a polite voice. She opened her mouth in shock and said, “OK, I want to give it a try.” So the following day we went to the street together where I was working, and that’s how she continued doing sex work.

Through that job, she supported her son and family.

Her son is staying with her mother and he is now seven years old. Since my friend passed on, her family is surviving with her mother’s pension and her son’s foster grant. As for the neighbour perpetrator, justice was served.

Her memory will live on because she left such an adorable son that I always see.

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Say Her Name: Dedication to Nokuphila Kumalo by

Kholiswa, Managing Editor

A Human Being Died That Night While struggling with the reality of being a woman instead of being a myth, the strong black woman passed away. Societal sources say she died of natural causes, but those who knew her know that she died from being silent when she should have been screaming.

Those who knew her know that she smiled when she should have been raging. Those who knew her know that she died from being sick and not wanting anyone to know because her pain might inconvenience them. She died from an overdose of other people clinging to her when she didn't even have enough energy for herself. The strong black woman is dead.

She died from loving men who didn't love themselves and could only offer a crippled reflection. She died from being seen as a crime. She died from the lies her grandmother taught her mother and her mother taught her about life

and men and racism and society.

She died from secrets she kept trying to burn away instead of allowing herself the kind of nervous breakdown she was entitled to. She died from being responsible because she was the last rung on the ladder and there was no one under her she could dump on. The strong black woman is dead.

She died from being dragged down and set upon by unevolved women posing as sisters. She died from tolerating Mr Pitiful just to have a man around the house. She died from sacrificing herself for everybody and everything when what she really wanted was to be a singer, a dancer, a poet, you see...

She died from lies of omission because she didn't want to bring A BLACK MAN DOWN! The strong black woman passed away.

She died from the myths that would not allow her to show weakness without being chastised by the hazy and lazy.

She died from hiding her real feelings

until they became hard and bitter enough for her womb and breasts like angry tumours.

The strong black woman is dead. She died from never being good enough for what men wanted, or being too much for the real man she wanted. She died from being too black and died again for not being black enough. She died from being misinformed about her mind, her body, and the extent of her royal capabilities—sometimes she refused to die but was killed, and it was only through court appearances and the giant judgement made that we really noticed she was human.

She carried the family in her belly; The community on her head; Her race on her back; But it was her line of work that divorced her as part of society.

The strong black woman is dead, and it’s time we all Say Her Name.

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Silent Killer by

Chidhavazo, Distributor and Contributor

I want to warn other sex workers about working under the influence of alcohol and drugs. I had a roommate who was taking drugs. She was from the same country as me. She was addicted to a drug called nyaope. I asked her why she was taking drugs, and she said a friend of hers taught her. I tried to teach her about how dangerous drugs are. They will damage your body. She would not believe me what I was saying to her.

One day she woke up in the morning, telling me that she was going to see a boyfriend somewhere. When she came back later, she was very drunk.

I asked, “How many beers have you taken?”

She laughed at me and said, “Me drinking beer? I take one of the most strongest ones called nyaope and mix it with ganja.”

I said to her, “Stop using drugs.”

Drugs can make you feel as though you are having a good time.

Sometimes they give you courage to do things you wouldn’t normally do without taking them. I said, “Drugs are harmful to your body, so please learn to say no to drugs.” She refused, and she went to the bar and started working while she was very high.

She came with a client in the room and started fighting for money before they do business. She wanted R100, and the client said, “No, R50.” Since I was in the room, I found that she was doing business without using a condom. Later on I tried my best to teach her about using condoms and to stop drugs because you cannot do business and drugs at the same time.

But she never listened to me. After some time, I went home to Zimbabwe where I stayed two months. I left her staying with another lady. When I came back home, I found that she was pregnant, and she didn’t know the father. She gave birth to a baby boy who was not healthy. After a few months the mother passed away, and a week later the boy passed away also.

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Confused, Desperate Mom

by Ziyanda,

Reporter

I am a Zulu woman who dated a white guy in 2001. Things went well. He was taking good care of me until I fell pregnant.

He told me to go and get an abortion.

I wanted to do it, but I was afraid to do it. I kept on postponing until it was too late. There started the drama!

When he was drunk, he would swear at me, calling me a bitch and telling me that he knew that I was doing sex work at Rosebank. My other friend told him that I was also going out with other white guys and maybe that baby was not his. “When the baby is born, we should do DNA test,� he said.

I went to my friend and told her about my problem. I was advised by her to put the baby up for adoption. Because he said that he has got nothing to do with the baby, I had to move out and go stay with my friend. Months later I gave birth. After giving birth, I told the nurses that I wanted to give up the child for adoption. The social workers were involved. I gave up my beautiful daughter. After giving up my daughter, I went back to the street and carried on as a sex worker. If I could turn back the hand of time, I would not have given my child up for adoption. Based on my experience, I would not give up a kid for adoption again because I know the Mothers

for the Future project is forming. I would advise other sex workers to get more information about Mothers for Future, which will help sex workers care for their children. I hope one day while I am still under the sun, I will meet my daughter.

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Mothers for the Future The Mothers for the Future is a programme run by sex workers which supports female sex workers to be the best mothers they can be.

Programme objectives • Provide basic healthcare services, referrals, and educational materials to mothers; • Highlight the importance, methods, and locations to access safe family planning; • Educate and refer mothers to legal support and social development grants and assist with necessary applications; • Discuss safe child care techniques and link mothers to services; provide reproductive health support for sex workers; • And support mothers and the community to embrace mothers who are sex workers and their children. www.sweat.org.za/2016/03/26/the-mothers-for-the-future-21-october-2015/

Read the Guest Column on page 14 by Duduzile Dlamini and Kholiswa about Mothers for the Future.

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Health Tip for Female Sex Workers by

Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute

Contraceptives (Family Planning) The sex workers programme data shows low uptake of family planning amongst sex workers accessing our clinics. Regardless of sex workers reporting condoms use with clients, some of them frequently report condom bursts to the clinic. Therefore contraceptives use becomes crucial especially because of the nature of sex work, which is engaging in sexual

activities with multiple clients.

There is a range of mixed contraceptive methods that are available and can be prescribed according to the specific needs of the sex workers. For example, the clinic offers injectables (Depo Provera and Nur-Isterate) and oral contraceptives (Ovral, Triphasil, and Nordette). In addition, sex workers will be referred for long acting Implanon (birth control implants)

to Primary Health Care Clinics.

Contraception gives peace of mind concerning unwanted pregnancies and will lessen the amount of women needing termination of pregnancies.

HAPPY ENDINGS

By The

Pleasure Engineer

How to tighten your pussy Some people can tell you to put stuff like Colgate and snuff inside to tighten your vagina, but you can just exercise to tighten it.

Your vagina is a muscle that you can tighten through exercises called Kegels. To exercise it, tighten your vagina and hold it tight for a few seconds. Then relax. Repeat at least ten times, and exercise your vagina every day.

You can also do the same exercise during sex.

It will make your partner to feel good.

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Ask Dear Mastoep

Did You Know

by Dear

by Mosima

Mastoep

Dear Mastoep, Is it true that Prep prevents HIV? Safety First Dear Safety First, PrEP means Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, and it’s the use of anti-HIV medication that keeps HIV negative people from becoming infected with HIV. PrEP is approved by the FDA and has been shown to be safe and effective. A single pill taken once daily, it is highly effective against HIV when taken every day. The medication interferes with HIV’s ability to copy itself in your body after you’ve been exposed. This prevents it from establishing an infection and making you sick. But that does not mean you can’t double up and use additional protection, because prevention is better than cure.

Always use a condom to protect against other STIs. Regards, Mastoep Dear Mastoep, Do all Sex workers use drugs?

of traumatic experiences in the lives of the sex worker involved. Also it would be very unfair to paint all sex workers with one brush, as the sector is stigmatised enough—we don’t need more negative stones thrown at the sector.

Regards, Mastoep Dear Mastoep, Is it acceptable to fall in love with a client?

Generally the criminalisation of only the clients of sex workers can result in displacement of street based sex workers to more dangerous areas and makes it difficult for sex workers to access outreach services, which results in sex workers working in isolation to avoid being caught and in sex workers rushing conversations with clients to evade arrests— ultimately jeopardising sex workers’ safety. For more information, contact the Women's Legal Centre.

Smitten Dear Smitten, When a therapist and client enter into a relationship that is outside of or in addition to the therapeutic relationship, it is generally referred to as a dual relationship. Dual relationships are discouraged by most professional organizations. However, not all experts in the field believe that all dual relationships are necessarily harmful. It would depend on the context. As long as it does not interfere with your business, and you make your positions clear.

Regards, Mastoep

Assuming Dear Assuming, You know what they say about assumptions?

The real relationship between drug addiction and sex work is much more complex than the simplistic causal attribution of sex work to drugs. Drugs and sex work are interconnected in a vicious cycle of violence and corruption and in most instances they affect the most vulnerable parts of society. This link between them does not imply that drugs are responsible for pushing women into sex work. Sex work and drug use can have a merely coincidental connection and can be the symptoms

Kekana, Attorney

Send your questions! | Dear Mastoep is now on Facebook! Connect with her at Maggie Mastoep or email her at mastoep@gmail.com

The Women's Legal Centre is a non profit law centre that seeks to achieve equality for women, particularly black women, through impact based litigation, the provision of free legal advice to women, support for advocacy campaigns, and the provision of training that ensures that people know and understand the impact of the judgments of the courts around women’s rights.

Cape Town and Johannesburg 24 hours helpline: 060 377 4439 www.wlce.co.za

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The Poster Project: My Posters by

KG Loo, Reporter

The poster project was the most powerful project that we attended at Bhundu from 22 to 24 March this year. We were introduced to the poster project by the ACMS. It was a very short project, but we were expected to deliver more. Elsa Oliveira and Quinten Williams gave us the information about posters and topics with blanks to complete.

One topic was “I am a sex worker and a...” I chose to write about the topic “I am a sex worker and protector” because people need to know that we are not only sex workers but also protectors.

stop end stigma. I think what I do doesn’t involve other people’s decisions. Instead of judging me, I prefer them to respect my decision and what I do to earn a living.

We also made up our own topics.

Mine was: It is my choice full

I wish more projects like this could be provided in the future, because

We are wives and family members, and we are part of the community.

Speaking of the community and where we want our poster to be put, I said electricity poles and other poles in the community are the right place to put them. Many people live near electricity poles, and the message on the poster is for them to read.

it is easier to communicate with the community this way. We created the most beautiful posters as you can see in these photos.

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Guest Column: Mothers for the Future

by Duduzile

Dlamini and Kholiswa

Mothers for the Future (M4F) is an initiative of the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT). It provides support groups, outreach, and home visits.

Mothers discuss difficulties such as domestic violence, child grants, and the challenges that they face when their children are targeted as a result of their work.

M4F is the brainchild of Duduzile Dlamini who is a mother, a sex worker, and an advocate for the decriminalisation of sex work. She identified the need for a platform and support group for female sex workers. M4F members are encouraged to do outreach in their communities. This might be in the form of providing sex education, caring for orphaned children, encouraging other female sex workers to join SWEAT, and helping other members in times of crisis, for example, when they are sick and not earning anything.

Duduzile, who is also a programme coordinator, says that some mothers even have their children taken away from them by social services and that their children, like their mothers, are criminalised.

Portia, who is a member of M4F, has two children and said that she sees herself “as a worker like everyone else.� She is a member of the community and goes to church every week. She makes donations to the church from the money that she earns as a sex worker.

M4F also assists with court support, for maintenance and other domestic issues, social services, home-based care, and other services that women in the sex work sector are often denied. Aslo when M4F receives more funding, the organisation plans to assist with school tuition and school fees (depending on funding availability or donations).

With M4F, we are fighting to ensure that our children are treated with the respect they deserve, not to be sidelined or punished because their parents are in the sex work sector.

We want our children’s future to be secured.

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Know your Sisonke Leaders: Interview with Kholiswa

by Ndumie,

Reporter

In the workshop that was held at the Workers Museum in Johannesburg, hosted by Sisonke and the African Centre of Migration Society, I had a chance to meet and interview Sisonke’s new National Communication Officer Kholiswa.

Here are some questions that I managed to ask, and she answered from the heart.

Ndumie: Tell us, why did you choose to be a communications officer for a sex worker led movement?

Kholiswa: I regard myself as a human rights activist, and I try to couple my journalism skills and my passion for human rights to come up with strategy that will make that course grow.

Ndumie: Have you ever done activism work before?

Kholiswa: Yes, all my life. Activism chose me cause as long as I can remember I have been working in human rights campaigns, activism lead struggles, or with pressure groups around the country, or even globally. I believe in a united front.

Ndumie: Where do you get the passion to work with sex workers although you know that sex work is criminalised in South Africa?

Kholiswa: I always side with a victim; currently sex work is criminalized and those in the sector feel that it should be decriminalized. It came naturally for me to assist in strengthening the voices of this marginalised sector.

Ndumie: What role do you play in working with sex workers?

Kholiswa: My vision is to see sex workers capacitated enough to speak for themselves and not rely on messiahs to populate their

message. It is good that there are activists who are assisting in the sector, but I want this community to stand on their own and be their own powerhouse also for them to not see themselves as in competition, rather a support system, because that is what is killing the sector, the rival mentality.

Ndumie: Some organisations call for legalisation of sex work. What is Sisonke’s stand on this?

Kholiswa: Decriminalisation because decriminalisation allows people to move freely and imposes no limitations on where they can do their business while the opposite is true for legalisation.

Ndumie: Given the platform to communicate to millions of sex workers, in three words what can you tell them?

Kholiswa: You hold the power.

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My Roommate by

Linda, Reporter

In 2009 I was staying with a lady from Zimbabwe, and her name was Shupikai. She was a mother of one boy. We stayed together for nine months, and we became friends and shared everything together even our problems. Little did l know that she kept a secret from me. It all began when Shupikai got sick for some time. I took her to the clinic, and she was tested for HIV. She was positive plus her CD4 count was very low.

Immediately she was put on ARV treatment.

Shupikai became worse even after she was given her medication. Every

month she used to go to the clinic to collect her tablets, but she became weaker and weaker every day until she passed away. Her relatives came all the way from Zimbabwe to collect her body and her belongings. Her sister is the one who came to pack everything from our room. She noticed a small bag hidden behind Shupikai’s clothes. When she opened the bag, we were shocked to see a lot of unopened bottles of ARVs. Everyone was shocked with what we found. They asked me what was happening, and l told them that she was on treatment but l never

bothered to check if she was taking her medication. That is how Shupikai died, keeping her medication without drinking it. Most people wanted to blame me, but l told them that if someone told you that she had already taken her medication what are you supposed to do.

She was not taking her medication but her clinic card was ticked up to date that she was collecting her treatment every month. That is the little secret that killed my friend. Rest in peace, Shupikai.

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The Poster Project: Selected Works by

Kagee, Reporter

Continued from page 1. Here is a selection of posters made in Nelspruit during March 2017 by sex workers in a project partnership between Sisonke and The MoVE Project from the ACMS. These posters were made by Doe Doe, Duladula, Freedom, Kagee, KG Loo, Less31, My Baby, and Zazazi. These are just some of the posters from the poster project.

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Kholi's Desk

by Kholi, Sisonke National Co-ordinator

Welcome to this year’s first edition of Kholi’s Desk. It has been a while since we last communicated. As always, we are working on something exciting, developmental, and uplifting for our Sisonke supporters, members, and of course those who have not joined yet. I am quite excited with the new developments that come with this edition.

Enough about developing your taste buds, let’s get to the order of the business, presented to you by Kholi’s Desk.

As Sisonke our aim is to engage with communities on issues faced by sex workers on a daily basis, issues that are encouraged by the current criminal laws that continue to marginalise sex workers and create conditions in which exploitation and violations happen.

Also I would like us to share what we all regards as a mile stone for

the sector: the guilty verdict passed against Zwelethu Mthethwa for killing Nokuphila Khumalo on the on the 16th of March. This also highlights the importance of using every platform created in our spaces (like the creative spaces) to absorb as much knowledge as we can on how best we can capacitate ourselves especially when dealing with the law and defending our rights, not only as sex workers but also as members of society. While his legal team is playing sick games and delaying the sentencing process, we hope that justice will be served and that the whole world realises that a human being died that night.

I cannot emphasise enough the importance of becoming a Sisonke member, as it is the means that we can have a one team, one bang approach when we deal with issues that affect the sector, which, similar to the murder case of Nokuphila, talk about human rights violations.

Another important issue is attendance of creative space, so that we can be able to share the latest developments in our spaces and outside them. Creative space is where, as Sisonke, we share our vision and drive for sharing our knowledge and engaging with our colleagues and engaging in strategies for protecting our human rights. Which is the same reason why Sisonke was formed in the first place, to create a movement that allows a space and a voice for sex workers while advocating for their human rights. We will not be made invisible, and we will not be silenced. We are human beings and deserve human rights.

Also we all need to organise ourselves, complement, celebrate each other’s strength and share each other’s sorrow.

More than anything this is an opportunity to make sure that we are capable and strong enough and know the importance of reporting human rights violations and other issues.

Sisonke Sex Worker Movement Sisonke Sex Worker Movement, lauched in 2003, is South Africa’s only sex worker movement 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 advocate for the deciminalisation of sex work in South Africa.

Izwi Lethu is a collaboration between Sisonke Sex Workers Movement and ACMS’s MoVE Project.

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