Dressed
in her Cameroon Red Cross peer educator T-shirt, Hortense is
an elegant 30-year-old woman. She attracts everyone’s
attention at the start of the evening’s activities in
the small room at ‘La confiance’, a modest health
centre in Emombo district, not far from the centre of the Cameroonian
capital, Yaoundé.
Together with her friend Pauline, Hortense has brought together
some ‘filles libres’ from the neighbourhood –
as young female sex workers are known in Cameroon. Hortense
tells them, amongst other things, about the importance of ensuring
their clients wear a condom in order to avoid being infected
with HIV and then passing the virus on to others. She also talks
to them about sexually transmitted diseases, and answers what
are often very specific and explicit questions from the women
who have come to listen to this educational talk.
Hortense knows better than anyone the motivation and worries
of the women in the audience. Just a few years ago she too was
a ‘fille libre’ and worked as a sex worker in the
‘secteur’, the name given to the area of the Cameroonian
capital where many women sell their bodies at night.
“I fell into prostitution at the age of 25,” she
tells us. “I suddenly found myself having to provide financially
for my mother and so I began walking the streets like many other
women, who are often forced to sell their bodies in order to
survive and support their families,” she adds.
However, Hortense quickly decided to escape the world of sex
work and the violence that goes with it. “There were some
very dangerous times,” she admits, remembering in particular
the difficulty in resisting the demands of some of her clients
who did not want to use a condom. “Sometimes, physical
strength won,” she says, looking away.
One day, Hortense learned about the ‘club des amis de
la prudence’, a small association which, supported by
the Cameroon Red Cross where its headquarters are housed, is
leading a sensitization campaign and trying to help those girls
who want to leave sex work.
Today, Hortense has become one of the association’s most
active members. As well as the sensitization campaigns in which
she takes part, she is also involved in a small theatre group
which acts out scenes from everyday life which show how potential
pimps and clients try to approach girls in financial difficulty
in order to persuade them to become sex workers.
Hortense has now given up sex work for good. This move was made
possible mainly thanks to a micro-project offered as part of
the Cameroon Red Cross Society’s Filles Libres programme,
which also receives the support of the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Hortense began by selling
yoghurts before moving on to sell mobile phone services, which
provides her with financial independence. However, Hortense
still thinks of those women who continue to sell their bodies.
“We, the former ‘filles libres’ turned peer
educators, are virtually the only people able to talk to the
young women who prostitute themselves in the ‘secteur’,”
she explains. “They know we endured the same hardships
as them, that we are not judging them and that we want, above
all, to help them protect their health,” she adds. A view
shared by Dominique, an attractive 22-year-old woman, who is
also a ‘fille libre’ and who took part in the educational
talk at the Emombo health centre. “Hortense and her friends
have led the same kind of life as us. They’ve got the
experience that we don’t have. It’s good to listen
to their advice,” she tells us. The aim of these talks
is first and foremost to protect the health of the girls and
their clients, and not necessarily to persuade them to change
profession.
This collaboration with local associations, including those
of people living with HIV, is one of the main features of the
Filles Libres programme. It also provides psychological support
for women who are often subjected to violence, and who face
rejection by their family and friends if they were to find out
about their night-time activities.
“Initially launched in the country’s two main cities,
Yaoundé and Doula, this programme targets one of the
most vulnerable HIV groups, and will now be rolled out in other
parts of the country,” explains William Etteki Mboumoua,
President of the Cameroon Red Cross Society. “We’ve
just begun in the Bertoua ‘secteur’, and other regions
will follow if we secure the necessary funding,” he continues.
So far, 2,000 ‘filles libres’ have already benefited
from the project.
The Cameroon Red Cross programme sits within the framework of
the International Federation’s global HIV policy, which
stresses the need to involve local communities and encourages
them to lead the way with the support of volunteers from affected
neighbourhoods. Special attention is given to the most vulnerable
groups, particularly orphans and girls. During the last three
years in Cameroon, 5,300 information sessions on prevention
have been organized at over 100 different venues, notably in
bars and nightclubs.
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Hortense
is a former fille libre and works with her friend Pauline
as a peer educator. (p16738)
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Hortense
became a peer educator in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.
(p16739)
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Information
sessions are a good way for women to ask the Cameroon
Red Cross volunteers questions. (p16737)
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