A HIV-infected man, from Malawi, has revealed how he makes a living by being paid to have sex with school children.
Eric Aniva, who is in his 40s, works as a sex worker in the Nsanje district of southern Malawi.
He is known as a ‘hyena’ – someone who has sex with girls or women in order to ‘cleanse’ them.
Having sex with a hyena is often punishment for an offence such as having an abortion but they’re also used during coming-of-age rituals, where girls take part in sex for three days after their first period.
Mr Aniva told the BBC: ‘Most of those I have slept with are girls, school-going girls. Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older.
‘All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman.’
- Malawi has one of the highest HIV prevalence in the world.
- More than 1 million people in Malawi live with HIV
- Malawi accounts for 4% of the total number of people living with HIV in Africa
- It contributes to the country’s low life expectancy of just 54.8 years
- There is a higher HIV prevalence in Southern regions of Malawi than Northern and Central
Yet the work of hyenas comes with the risk of spreading HIV as one in 10 Malawians carry the disease.
Mr Aniva, who has HIV, continues his work regardless and gets paid £3 to £5 by locals to carry out the ritual.
Locals consider the ‘cleansing’ necessary in order to ‘avoid infection with their parents or the rest of the community’.
While officials admit that though the rituals do need changing, they don’t condemn the people carrying them out either.
Dr May Shaba, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Gender and Welfare, said: ‘We are not going to condemn these people. But we are going to give them information that they need to change their rituals.’
