Children, Youth, and Families. In bars, nightclubs, brothels, and lorry parks truck stops , they engage people in animated debates, persuading skeptics that AIDS really does exist and that condoms can prevent the virus.
Passing around large, color photos of genitalia with obvious signs of sexually transmitted infections STIs , they describe signs of the most common STIs and demonstrate correct condom use.
One hot afternoon in August, as two AWA members prepared for the annual board meeting, they talked about the organization. Your parents beat you, people on the street attack you. Inspired by their new knowledge and with the support of clinic staff, the women requested additional training so they could pass on the information to their clients and to the clandestine sex workers who are not registered with the local STI clinic.
Madina Bambera, a former sex worker who is now a board member of AWA, was among the first set of trainees. Membership in AWA has given Bambera a new sense of purpose. No longer just another sex worker on the run-down streets between the main market and the lorry park, she now has special status in her neighborhood. The garage mechanics and drivers who frequent the street come to her for advice and condoms and, occasionally, she even persuades one of them to come to the clinic for testing.
There are now about sex workers enrolled in AWA in five towns in Senegal. Based mainly on a series of decrees and laws made since the s, legislation on sex workers focuses on three main points. It aims to prevent soliciting in public, control STIs through regular mandatory medical tests, and prevent sex work by minors who are under the age of The legislation requires sex workers to register with their local STI clinic and obtain a special ID card.
