By Jacaylbaro , March 31, in General. Hodan spends most of her afternoons sitting outside her tiny house in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, blowing fruity smoke from a hookah pipe, her face covered in a green paste to help her skin look its best.
She does not trawl the streets looking for customers; most of her clients make appointments to visit her at home. In this conservative Muslim country, commercial sex work is practiced out of sight. Hodan says not even her neighbors know how she makes a living and if they ever found out, she is sure they would evict her immediately.
The money she earns is enough to pay rent and feed and clothe her year-old daughter, but what Hodan wants more than anything is to be able to make enough to learn new skills that would enable her to stop selling sex. Hodan has never been to school and can neither read nor write. Although she still hopes she can switch occupations, she knows it is highly unlikely that it will happen without a helping hand.
Somaliland has several NGOs that assist the disadvantaged members of society, but so far no organization has tackled the issue of sex workers, largely because of fear of repercussions from the wider community. Because they are outside mainstream society, sex workers tend not to visit regular health centers and despite the risk their occupation poses, there are no HIV messages specifically targeting them.
Hodan knows about HIV and has even been tested, but her use of condoms is sporadic, despite being diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection in the past. According to the NGO worker, most sex workers will not risk walking into a pharmacy to buy condoms, or even go to a health center where they are available free of charge.
