I am 27 years old and come from Jima, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. I was a student in Jima when I began to quarrel with my family. They refused to send me to school anymore because they were too poor and I grew very angry about it. I couldn't stay there, so I left and went to Addis Ababa. My plan was to be a housemaid. I travelled to Debre Zeyit [a town 25 miles south east of Addis] and stayed with relatives there. I got a job as a housemaid with a family, which was extremely hard work, and it was very difficult for me to stay there.
I can't blame the family, they were fine, it was me β I just didn't want to take orders. I regret this deeply now. All I wanted was to stay with my parents and continue my studies. I always thought I would be a 'somebody'. I never thought I would end up this way.
He told me about the 'brokers'. After I had found them they asked me if I wanted a job as a housemaid or as a sex worker β I chose a job as a housemaid. I had to wait a few days at the broker's house first, but then they found me something.
The brokers are OK. The brokers then found me a job as a sex worker. It is not a job. A sex worker does not have a life. But I have nothing else to do, there is nothing else I can do to survive. I have no choice. This is the only thing I can do. I am not happy about it. I usually have five or six clients a day, and they each pay around five birr. I pay half of whatever I earn in rent I share with two other women and my son, who is nine years old. When you first agree a room with the landlord, he makes you swear that you will give him 50 per cent of what you earn and I am afraid of what might happen if I try to hide how much I make.
It is difficult sometimes, because if I have not had enough clients and do not have much money, my landlord does not believe me. I have to borrow money from others and give it to him. My son goes to school and has to stay there until the end of my working day, which is usually about 9pm. It is a Koran school, a madrasa. This is a horrible life and I am very depressed about it. I would like to quit the job and bring my son up properly.
