Foco

One of my housemates, Cynthia, has quite an interesting (and also very hard) job. She works with a program through the Managuan Christian Base Communities called Casa Samaritanas. This program does quite a lot in the social work realm, including work with sex workers (primarily women) to get them various services that they need, spreading awareness of and trying to prevent sex slavery, and giving empowering workshops to children and adolescents of these women.

A couple weeks ago, I went with Cynthia and her coworkers on a Foco. This means that we loaded ourselves and a couple hundred condoms in a truck and drove around Managua, stopping to talk with sex workers on the street and hand out previously mentioned condoms. We left at about 9:00 PM, and we first drove up Carratera Norte. They have been doing this twice a week for a few years now so they not only have an idea of the places where women will be waiting, but they even knew the names and lives of quite a few of them. After Carratera Norte, we went down Carratera Masaya. Since this area is a bit safer with more traffic and lights, we were actually able to get out of the truck and stand around talking with the women for a bit. (I mostly just stood there silently as I really had no freaking clue what to say.) At the end of the conversations, we offered the condoms, and they always accepted.

We saw all shapes, sizes, and ages of women (and even a few dressed up men). Some women were very full-figured; others closer to skin and bones. Some were outgoing and talkative, while others hardly even made eye contact. Most were dressed very nicely. On one corner we found a bunch of girls smelling glue, and upon seeing us, they ran up to the truck and thrust their hands through the windows asking for condoms. They all looked about 15 years-old. In another area we met a woman who admitted to having given birth fifteen days before. Another woman was very pregnant. We saw women negotiating with stopped taxi drivers and getting into cars with people. 

The whole experience was completely eye-opening. I had never seen prostitution in real life like this before. It made me so sad and frustrated. I know I need more experience and information before I start making judgments and conclusions, but I just refuse to believe those that say sex workers choose that type of work because they want to do it. MAYBE in select cases this occurs, but in general, I saw what looked like unhappy women and girls.

The human body is a precious living temple, the physical manifestation of all that we individually are. We must recognize this and treat them as such. Both the buyer and seller sides of prostitution are not only disrespecting the beauty and sacredness of sex, but also of the body and really the entire human being. Women are not inanimate, purchasable objects. Men are not soulless, greedy consumers.