HIV-Positive Malawian gets Paid N2,000 to Sleep With Underage Girls

One HIV-positive Malawian man, dubbed ‘the hyena’ has revealed how he is paid as little $4 to $7 to have sex with teenage girls, including 12-year-old in a report that has shocked the world.

In his chat with BBC, Eric Aniva, gauged to be in his 40s, lives in Nsanje District of southern Malawi, where their sacred traditions include punishing girls by forcing them to have sex with a hyena. In this case, however, they sleep with the HIV-positive Malawian man, Eric Aniva, who is also called the ‘hyena’.

The act of sleeping with the girls is described as a ‘cleansing’ of their sins, some of which include having abortions.

The BBC reports that some of the local traditions also dictates a coming-of-age ritual, where girls take part in sex over a three-day period, after their first menstruation.

“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,” Aniva says, adding, “They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman.”

However, Aniva’s sex work has exposed him to having sex with infected people, especially because BBC claims one in every ten Malawian has HIV. And so, Aniva’s work, unintentionally, includes spreading the disease.

The report adds that the ‘cleansing’ ceremony is organised by the village elders who insist that the shocking tradition is to “avoid infection with their parents or the rest of the community”.

Speaking with the press, Dr May Shaba, the 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.”

Also, one of the village elder’s, Chrissie, had this to say: “There’s nothing wrong with our culture. If you look at today’s society, you can see that girls are not responsible, so we have to train our girls in a good manner in the village, so that they don’t go astray, are good wives so that the husband is satisfied, and so that nothing bad happens to their families.”

Watch the video here: