In the first part of our Hungry For Change series, Health-e News shares the story of a Johannesburg mother who turned to sex work to feed her three young children. Her youngest was hospitalised with malnutrition earlier this year.
A Johannesburg mother of three says she sells chicken feet on the street and sex to men to make sure her young children have something to eat.
32-year old Zinzi* from Lenasia South has never been to school and cannot read or write. She has three children – two boys aged four and three, and one daughter who is one year and nine months old.
Zinzi* came to South Africa from Mozambique with her husband in 2014, hoping to escape poverty and hunger. She separated from her husband in 2019.
Illiterate and unemployed, she was financially dependent on her husband, but says he hasn’t supported the children financially for the past seven years.
Her children do not receive social grants.
“I am my children’s only hope.”
Making food stretch
Zinzi* says she makes between R150 and R300 a day selling chicken feet. She spends about R250 buying new stock every two days.
The profits are not enough to buy groceries in bulk. Instead, she buys small amounts of food, such as mealie meal, a few tomatoes, cabbage or bread for one family meal.
“On difficult days, pap may be all we have,” says Zinzi*.
“I try to at least have cooking oil and mealie meal because we can mix those and eat, drink water and sleep.”
Zinzi* says she cooks enough pap to keep some for breakfast for the following day. When there is not enough, the family shares meals.
“We share one plate.”
“On days when the mealie meal is not enough, we share one plate, me and my daughter. Then the boys eat together,” Zinzi* tells Health-e News.
When her chicken feet sell well, Zinzi* buys food the children enjoy. This includes bread, a few eggs and a couple of affordable snacks.
Selling sex to survive
Zinzi* started selling sex after separating from her husband in 2019.
“I had no other alternative but to sell sex to feed my children,” she says.
The men pay her between R100 and R300 cash for sex. She says she makes about R500 from sex work most months.
Zinzi* says at times the men will buy food instead of giving her cash.
“I find sex clients who can at least buy us food, even if they only last for a week.”
When hunger affects health
In March, Zinzi’s* daughter got sick.
“She had diarrhoea, she was vomiting and very weak,” she says.
“I was told that my daughter was going to die and we were rushed to hospital.”
Zinzi* says her daughter spent a week in Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
“Doctors told me my daughter was malnourished and not getting enough nutritious food,” she says.
“I am humiliated by the way I feed my children.”
No support system
Although she has relatives in South Africa, including a brother in Gauteng, they are not able to support her.
“My family will never be happy to learn that I sell sex for survival.”
She says the stress is affecting her physical and mental health.
“Currently I have periods that stop for a few days and start again. Sometimes I lose my temper and am very harsh on my children,” she says.
“I attempted suicide. Things felt heavy.”
Zinzi* says she attempted suicide last year because the pressure became too much.
She is too afraid to go for medical check-ups after her daughter’s hospitalisation, or to take her toddler back to a clinic.
“At Baragwanath they threatened to take my daughter to social services,” she says.
“I wish I had a stable income or had money to sustain my business and stop selling sex.”
*Not her real name.
