Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Saturday December 15, 2001
Silvia Aloisi

A beautiful 18-year-old with big, velvet eyes, Joanna is one of a group of AIDS-savvy prostitutes working at the Bataclan, a brothel in Ivory Coast's western town of Daloa.

"He says he'd rather do it without and he'll give me 10,000 (CFA francs, about $14)," said Joanna, who didn't want to give her real name.

"I say 'No way, you don't know what's in me and I don't know what's in you'. He says 'I won't pick you next time'. I say, 'Fine'."

Sitting next to her, a fellow prostitute who calls herself Marguerite proudly shows Red Cross aid workers how to put a condom on a dummy plastic penis.

Humanitarian organizations are stepping up the fight against AIDS in Ivory Coast, whose 10 to 12 percent infection rate is the highest in West Africa, in an attempt to stop the rate there reaching the three-in-one of the continent's worst hit countries.

In Daloa, a regular stop for truck drivers on the main road to neighboring Ghana and Liberia, Red Cross volunteers scour brothels and adult cinemas preaching safe sex, showing educational videos and handing out condoms.

WAKE-UP CALL

At the Super Mini Cinema, young viewers had come to watch "Beautiful Beasts: The Best Whores Around" and "Meet Mr. XXL." They were happy to watch the anti-AIDS videos too.

"AIDS is a dangerous disease. Some people say it doesn't exist but that's just a lie," said 20-year old Kanate.

"It's good that these people come to talk to us and show their video. It's a wake-up call," he added.

But despite efforts to spread the word on safe sex, condom sales remain disappointing to aid workers.

Only 26 million condoms of the most popular brand, "Prudence," were sold in Ivory Coast in 2000 -- an average of three condoms per sexually active person per year.

Aid workers say it should be more like three condoms a week. Back at the Bataclan, Marguerite, for one, has learned her lesson well.

"I put the condom on them myself, even if they say they know how to do it," she says, repeating the movements mechanically and talking the audience through every step.

"Some people cheat. They tear the condom or pierce the top and then pretend they didn't do it on purpose."

CALCULATED RISK

Neither Marguerite nor Joanna have taken the blood test to find out whether they have the HIV virus which causes AIDS.

Both know how deadly AIDS is, but they seem to treat the possibility of getting it as a calculated risk of their profession.

"Not everybody can face it. What do you do if they tell you that you have AIDS? They give you drugs to keep you alive, but I'd rather kill myself," said Joanna, fiddling with the chipped polish on her finger nails.

"So, I wait. The day I feel ready for the test, I will go."

From day to day there might be more immediate occupational hazards to contend with, such as dealing with drunken clients.

"Sometimes they get angry and don't want to pay -- then we call the owner," said Marguerite, a 32-year-old mother of two.

BETTER PAID THAN CIVIL SERVANTS

Marguerite said she didn't like "working in this sector" and would happily quit if it weren't for the money.

Clients pay 1,500 CFA francs to have sex with the Bataclan's so-called "femmes libres" -- free women. After paying 500 CFA francs for every hour spent in the rooms, the prostitutes are left with the equivalent of $1.40.

On a good day, they say, they can earn up to 10,000 CFA francs ($14) -- more than what most Ivorians can dream of.

"If the client is kind, he might give you 2,000 francs. But then, others come and say 'Today, I'm broke'. Then it's up to you to decide if you want to be understanding," said Marguerite.

At one point, she had managed to save 900,000 CFA francs -- twice the national annual per capita income -- but then she had to help one of her sisters who fell sick.

"We do better than civil servants," she said. "But if someone helps me now, I can leave."

A few yards away Geremie, the brothel's owner, looks at the empty, filthy rooms and shakes his head.

Ramadan was never good for business in a place where most customers are Muslims, he says. But with the Christmas season drawing closer things should begin to look up again soon.

"At Christmas, this place is full," he says. "It's the only time when all the girls -- the Ivorians and the foreigners -- work together, all day long, as many as 40 of them."
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