Patricia Watson, Senior Staff Reporter
I met Sandra Watts two months ago while carrying out research for articles on commercial sex workers (CSW). She appeared quite shy, but was willing to talk about working in the industry. She insisted then and still does now that she always uses a condom during sexual intercourse with her clients. Last week, she sat down with Outlook, and told the secret she had been carrying around for years. She no longer works in fact she has not worked for three weeks. Not because she doesn't want the money, but because of the heightened risk she faces.
FOR 17 years, Sandra worked the streets, selling sex to clients first in Downtown Kingston and later Uptown Kingston. Like many of the women selling on the streets, Sandra felt it was the only job she could get and the pay was good.
But unlike many of the others, Sandra carried a deep secret for six years. She was HIV positive. For six years, she has had sexual intercourse with men. But according to her, none of the transactions were done without condoms and none of her clients were told of her status. Now at age 29 and an uncertain future ahead of her, Sandra has decided to give up sex work. She has not been on the streets now for three weeks.
"Hear how mi find sey mi have it. Mi see mi period running heavier than usual in 1996 and me go do the test. They sey mi have syphilis and HIV. Mi cry because is sufferation make mi on the street," Sandra said sighing.
Indeed, she described a childhood full of pain and abandonment which finally ended up with her in the arms of a much too old man, who himself exploited her. Sandra told Outlook that at a very young age she was sent to Kingston to live with her mother. This, many felt would enrich her life. But that did not happen.
Her mother abused her physically and emotionally and at age 12 she was put out of the abusive home to fend for herself on the streets.Sandra never had the chance to go to school or to learn any trade except selling sex. That was the trade she was taught at a young age and it is what has kept her alive and what may eventually kill her.
"Is so comes mi start have sex. A man see mi and like mi and carry me to his house and mi live at his house until mi get another man and so it go on. In those days, there was only gonorrhoea and syphilis, but mi never get any of those," she noted.
When asked if she had any idea how she came to be infected, she was unsure.
"Mi feel sey is bus' one of the man condom bus'," she stated matter-of-factly. "It mek mi feel bad over the idea."
And like many Jamaicans, she also didn't know much about HIV and AIDS prior to her contracting the infection.
"From 1981, AIDS come in when mi a likkle girl. Mi only hear dem talk 'bout it, but mi neva know anything otherwise. Sometimes they show pictures with people who have it on T.V. but not the face," she said.
Now, "mi know is a sickness that will kill yu, if yu don't take precautions it will kill yu faster than yu expect," Sandra warned. That is why she explained she has decided to leave the business.
"Mi stop have sex on the road now for three weeks. Since mi stop mi better off. Mi used to fret more when mi on the street because sometimes yu out there whole night and yu nuh get nutten," Sandra stated.
She could earn at least $1,000 per transaction when business is good. In addition, she said the other women on the streets treated her badly. "Dem sey mi have AIDS and mi mustn't deh pon di road."
And how did she manage with overzealous men who insist on sex without condoms. Sandra noted that if they refused to use it, then they would get no sex.
"I would use a condom if me and a man deh. If dem insist sey dem nuh want to use the condom, mi tell them sey mi a nuh yu wife, so protect yuhself."
No members of her family, both within the industry and her blood relations know of her status. She is basically managing on her own.
"Mi don't want dem tek it and curse mi. Nowadays, the least little thing you and anybody have they tell yu fi go away yu have AIDS."
Sandra says despite her hard knocks, she is happy, as she is healthier now. She does washing now and earns $1,500 per fortnight, a far cry from the $1,000 minimum she could be earning per day. She also gets food from the Jamaica AIDS Support. She buys her own medication and clothes and is looking forward to starting a new relationship.
To work or not
Looking back on the six years in which she worked knowing she was positive, Sandra said she should have stopped taking clients as soon as she found out. "Mi nuh think mi shoulda out dere," she said. However, this was not because she felt she was putting her clients at risk as she took precautions. Instead she noted her health and body were deteriorating.
"You can't stop an HIV positive person from working, whether man, woman, homosexual or sex worker. It is against their human rights. It is their entitlement to work," Ian McKnight, executive director of the JAS said.
According to him, even if as health/social workers they are aware of a person's status, they are under no moral obligation to prevent them from doing the job they want to do.
"Our mandate is never to change people, but to do what they do safely. We are not into changing people, only their sexual behaviour."
Director of the HIV/STI Programme at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Peter Figueroa, agreed with Mr. McKnight.
"Clearly, it is desirable that once someone is HIV positive that they protect themselves if they are going to have sex and preferably we prefer them to tell their partners. (However), we must recognise that most sex workers who are infected, we may not know," Dr. Figueroa said.
It is estimated that approximately 2,000 to 2,500 persons are involved in the sex trade. Ministry of Health data show that the rate of infection among CSWs is six per cent, or three times the rate of the general population. One in four HIV positive persons also report having had sex with a CSW in their risk history. In 2001, sex with prostitutes (20.8 per cent) was the second highest means of HIV transmission in Jamaica.
"Our message to sex workers is that each person must take responsibility and protect themselves and their clients. If we do know the sex worker is infected, we would encourage that this person find alternative work," Dr. Figueroa explained.
He further added that it is not possible to remove sex workers, who are positive from the streets or anywhere they ply their trade, as the law does not allow it.
"If we did this, what message would we be sending to other workers, it would not do the programme any good."
Mr. McKnight also pointed out that CSWs tend to have more power than the average Jamaican woman as it pertains to demanding condom use from their partners. In addition, the JAS experience is that women who are tested positive are more likely to use condoms than those who have not done the test at all.
But Dr. Figueroa noted that sex workers may be hesitant to tell their regular partner about their status and may also not use condoms. This becomes even more difficult if the sex worker is abusing crack or cocaine.
Names changed on request.
