PRECIOUS Life Foundation in Bulawayo has become a safe haven for several young girls who are being trafficked from areas surrounding the city and as far as Botswana. SHANNON WILSON
An investigation by NewsDay revealed that the girls were duped from leaving their homes under the pretext that they would get jobs in Bulawayo.
A recent report by the Zimbabwe Youth Council in partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) revealed that girls as young as 12 were being forced into prostitution by “cartels” that were making them charge as little as $1 per “client”.
Precious Life Foundation head Agnes Kwenda and volunteer Shereen Thompson help some of the girls who managed to escape or were rescued by police. The girls were mostly trafficked from their rural homes, through a cartel involving haulage truck drivers.
They are promised with jobs in Bulawayo as maids or waitresses.
But on arrival, the girls are sold to “pimps” and “madams”. The girls are raped by an average of four men a day. Thompson recalls the story of one girl, Andile who lived in a small centre just outside of Bulawayo in a family of 10.
A relative told the family that Andile who was 13-years-old at the time could go and work in Bulawayo and send money back to the family. When Andile arrived in Bulawayo, she was sold to a “madam” and raped four times by four different men that night.
The horrific situation continued every day until Andiles’ madam took her to a restaurant for lunch. She had sores all over her body. The madam ordered steak and asked the waitress to bring “the girl” some scraps from the kitchen. The waitress went back to the kitchen and called the police.
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Andile was withdrawn, quiet and she looked sick, says Thompson. The “madam” was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison.
But she was released after four days in unclear circumstances. Police took Andile to Precious Life Foundation where she was moved to a safe house at a farm just outside Bulawayo where other girls in her predicament are now sheltered.
Thompson maintained that Andile was a story of hope.
“She is doing great and is fortunately HIV negative,” she said. Andile has been with the foundation since March this year and is among the about 15 girls staying at the safe house.
About 1 500 girls have received support from Precious Life Foundation for the two years, officials there said.
