"How I Started Prostitution At age 13, became HIV positive" - Teenage Girl (read up)

BLESSING Bassey Okon from Etop, Akwa
Ibom State was an innocent girl who was
forced into prostitution at the age of 13, a
time she was supposed to be under the care
of her parents. Her father died immediately
after her birth and thereafter, her mother remarried and left her with her mother- in-
law who could neither feed her well nor
train her in school. That therefore, made
her feel rejected. At a point, she started to
seek a better parental care. Her
grandmother, who was taking care of her
tried her best and was hoping to get a
support one day.

Coincidentally, an offer came and it was that
of a professional prostitute who disguised as
a businesswoman. The woman who stays in
Calabar and a relation traveled home and
convinced Blessing's grandmother that she
needed someone to assist in the shop where she sells rice.
According to Blessing, the young lady gave
her grandmother N4000 and took her to
Calabar. “When that Aunty came to my
village to pick me, she deceived my
grandmother that she had a big rice shop
which she wanted me to manage. She gave my grandmother some money and the old
woman asked me to go with her. In fact, I
was very happy because I wanted to leave
the village to an urban area, so I would have
the opportunity to engage myself in one
trade or the other, since there was no one to support me”, she stated.

Blessing also explained that on getting to
Calabar, her madam, instead of taking her to
the shop where she would manage, she was
taken to a hotel room for prostitution.
“Unfortunately, it was when we got to
Calabar that I understood that what I went to do was prostitution. She showed me a room
and instructed me to ensure that I deliver
enough money to her otherwise I would die
of hunger. I felt bad and wondered what to
do. After much thought, I remembered that I
had no option than to obey her directive.

So grudgingly, I started the job. I wanted to
report to my mother and grand mother
what I was going through, but due to lack of
mobile phone, I could not. While doing the
job, I used to deliver between N10, 000 and
N20, 000 to my madam on daily basis. It was from the money that she feed me and pay
for my room. Sad enough, I was not given
any cash, even when I was the one who
used my body to make the money”, she
said.

As God would have it, Blessing managed to
hide some money from what she made to
buy a phone worth N2,000, so as to narrate
her ordeal to her family members. She
ended up being disappointed when she called
and explained to her grandmother her condition but she encouraged her to go on.
“When I reported to my grandmother that
the lady she gave me to later introduced me
to prostitution business, she was not
bothered, rather, she advised me to try to
cope, in order to survive the hard times. From her statement, I understood that it was
a planned work. She even later gave me one
of my sisters to join me in the business.” Like other prostitutes,
Blessing was busy
hustling for customers and making some
money for her madam. But one day, some
policemen stormed the hotel and arrested
her for being in the business as an
adolescent.
According to her “I was in my room when
some policemen came. When they saw me,
they were surprised because of my age. So,
they arrested me. the following day, my
madam sent someone to bail me from the
police detention. When I left the station, a woman I did not know took me to her house
and was giving me food. I was really
satisfied and comfortable than the place I
was. At a time, her son started abusing and
beating me for eating their food, without
doing anything for them. As a result, I left
the place and went home to inform my
mother, instead of discouraging me, she also
encouraged me just as my grandmother did, probably due to the bag of rice and other items I gave to her. So, when
I returned, I decided to leave my madam to
be on my own. Thereafter, I started going
from one hotel to the other and was making
some money, but could not see what I did
with it.”

Though Blessing was into the business, her
spirit was not there as she prayed on daily
basis for God to remove her from there to a
better place where she would have a rest of
mind and be proud of who she is. “While in
the business, I contacted HIV from one of my boy friends. Even at that, I was still having
sex with several men. But I do not know whether they also
contacted HIV or not. At a stage, I began to
get worried about my condition and a
possible way out because I could save
money to do any reasonable thing from
what I was doing.

So, one day, some church people who introduced themselves as
members of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic
Revival Ministries in Calabar came to preach
to us in our hotel. Their message centered on
repentance. And as they preached to me, I
was touched to heed their advice to leave the job and join them, but another mind told
me not to go. But after much thought, I made
up my mind to follow them to church.” Initially, when she joined The Lord’s
Chosen in Calabar, Blessing was not still free.
“Even when I joined The Lord’s Chosen,
the demons in me were still at work. And, I
was fighting with some members regularly,
on little provocation. But the members ad­vised me not to do such things in the church,
yet I did not listen. One day, I prayed to God to
remove the demons in me and those in my
siblings because we are known to be
troublesome people in our community. Good
enough, I was managing myself to attend the Church and they were really working hard
to deliver me.”

Blessing’s turning point eventually came
when she was brought to a recent
programme organized by the church in
Lagos. “I was brought to The Lord’s
Chosen Crusade in Lagos from Port Harcourt
on Friday, June 10, 2016 by their members. They sent me to Port Harcourt branch from
Calabar. Then from there, they brought me
to Lagos for this programme. When the 2-
day programme started on Saturday and
prayers were offered, I felt relieved of the
problems I used to have. I also noticed that the HIV has disappeared because I do not
notice some of the symptoms I used to have.
What is left is for me to be tested to be
medically sure.”

The young girl who has denounced
prostitution asked God and those she has
offended in the course of her business to
forgive her. “I want God to forgive me. I
also want those I have wronged to forgive
me also. I want to start a new life. I want to be a child of God and do not want to go into
prostitution any longer. So, what I need now
is a job and accommodation to enable me
take care of my self."