Zimbabwe: Sex workers now farmers

Loveness Dube may be new to farming, but this Zimbabwean former sex worker is committed to making a success of her new venture and never returning to selling herself to support her family.

She is one of 30 women, many of whom are also former sex workers, who are working a newly dug urban community garden in Gweru city in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. The fenced garden, just on the outskirts of the city, measures one hundred square metres; each woman has her own plot.

'I plan to grow some sweet potatoes and tomatoes as well as some green leaves for soups,' said 41-year-old Loveness. 'I didn't know how to grow food, but after receiving training, I am now confident I can produce enough to feed myself and my family.'

Loveness Dube's story is typical of many women who have fallen into the commercial sex work business. She came to Gweru in 1995 from an impoverished rural area in search of a job, but all she found was unemployment. 'One of my friends told me it was easy to make money from selling myself. It is not a job any woman likes but as I had no other choice, I accepted.'

She tells how she was beaten and raped by clients and harassed by the police during the years she spent on the streets. She is now also HIV positive.

The garden has been established by the Gweru Women Aids Prevention Association (GWAPA) and funded by the European Commission (EC). Up to 90 similar gardens are planned in the city.

Gweru City Council is supporting the initiative in the hope that one day the city may become self-sufficient in food. Shangwa Mavesera, the Director of Housing and Community Services, says that, if successful, the gardens will make a huge difference to the city. 'Hundreds of jobs will be created but more importantly, we believe that enough cheap food will be produced to feed the population here,' he said. 'At the moment, food has to be transported from a great distance to Gweru. It is expensive; so many people can't afford it.'

For people like Loveness Dube, a nutritious and balanced diet is crucial if the anti-retroviral drugs she is taking to control the HIV virus are to be effective. So precarious is the food security situation of many city dwellers in Gweru, that they are considered in need of humanitarian aid, a relatively unusual situation in an urban setting.

The humanitarian aid being provided by the European Commission is targeting the most vulnerable people in the community, according to the EC's Regina Gapa. 'This urban setting contradicts, to a certain extent, the thinking that vulnerability exists only in rural areas; these people are extremely vulnerable so they do need help.'

Access to food is the key problem for the poorest and most vulnerable people in Gweru. There is plenty of food in the well-stocked market, but it simply costs too much and people do not have access to the foreign currency required to buy it. 'The main benefit of these community gardens is that people will be able to grow their own food, so they will be food secure,' said Regina Gapa. 'However, an added benefit is that they will be able to sell the food that they don't eat, and so will have additional money to spend on other essentials like medical care, clothes and education.'

Shangwa Mavesera is eager for more gardens to be built. In time, he believes that the urban community gardens in his city could become a model for cities across the rest of Zimbabwe.

As for Loveness Dube, she is busy tending her garden, hoping for a bumper harvest and the certainty that, once and for all, she will never have to return to commercial sex work.