How I became a prostitute – 19-year-old HIV positive girl

A 19-year old commercial sex worker, Samuel Favour, has recounted her ‘ugly’ experience as a prostitute in Lagos State.
The lady, who hails from Igbariola in Odu Local Government Area, LGA of Delta State says she is in a dilemma after giving up her lucrative sex work, with three months pregnancy and HIV positive status.

Favour said her journey into prostitution started when her parents could not fend for her and she was left with no option in a bid to cater for herself.
Speaking with The Sun, Favour said, “After finishing my secondary education in my hometown, I could not continue my education because of my poor background.
“In my family, I was like the breadwinner. I had to support my poor mother to provide for the family, so I joined my friends to do menial jobs to meet up with the family responsibilities.
“At a time, my family situation became so tough that I got tired of bearing the hardship in the village, so I relocated to Lagos to ‘hustle’ to survive and continue my education.

“I arrived Lagos in July 2016 and I was lucky to secure a job in a canteen at Orile where I worked for some months and made some money.
“I then travelled to Delta to see my family but, when I returned, my employer had already replaced me and did not make any provision for my accommodation. I became homeless and jobless and that was the beginning of my present predicament.
“I started wandering around looking for job and accommodation; this landed me in a hotel where I later joined other prostitutes in the business.
“A lady at Orile, Iganmu offered to accommodate me while I was prostituting. Then, I was there managing, looking for another job.

“But after sometime, I had accommodation problem, so I left and ended up in a hotel around the area,” she said.
According to her, she did not plan to be a prostitute. But due to frustration and hunger, those who accommodated her lured her into becoming one.
“I was doing the job and making little money, but I was not comfortable with it.
“I had an ugly experience being a prostitute. One day, I went to a hotel in Ajegunle for my usual ‘hustling’, and three men made love to me consecutively to the extent that I became unconscious and could not go home in the morning.
“They made love to me one after the other and paid me the sum of N3,000 each. I had pains all over me. I regretted being into prostitution because I saw hell.
“So, after that, out of the N9, 000 I made that night, I used the sum of N7, 000 to pay my weekly rent. Then, I spent the balance for my feeding.
“Along the line, I met a young man who later impregnated me and could not show up to bear the responsibility.
“My boyfriend in question, Lawrence, an Edo boy who works as a cleaner in a bank. I knew him shortly when I joined prostitution. When I went to where we used to meet at Ajegunle, Apapa Lagos to inform him, I was told that he had left the place. And, I cannot get him on phone any longer.
“With the pregnancy, which is now about three months old, I went back to the hotel, frustrated and refused to continue my business.
“One day, a Non Governmental Organisation, NGO operating in Lagos, DECSON Savechild Life Organisation, met me at the hotel, and in the course of an interview, I narrated my ordeal, telling them that I was tired and no longer interested in the business.
“I was in the hotel at Orile Iganmu Lagos when a man from the NGO saw me and wanted to know why I decided to be a prostitute at my age. Then, I explained to him what happened and he took me to a pastor for counselling, when we eventually got there, they did not allow me to see the pastor after the church service.
“While I am suffering, I do not want to go back to my village now because my mother cannot cater for my three months pregnancy.
“The NGO took me to the Ajeromi General Hospital for test and I found out I was HIV positive.
“I don’t want to go back to my former life,” Favour said, advising young women to desist from prostitution as it was the road to an end.