Cape Town - Charleen Matatin, 56, was only 18 years old when she started working as a sex-worker in the streets of Cape Town.
She says she had been chased out of an orphanage where she had been living since her mother died when she was 8 years old.
After living in the streets for a few months, a friend introduced her to drugs as a coping method and to help adjust to life in the streets the street life.
She said she had trusted her street friend because she had become family and bought her drugs and food for the first few months.
“You know that nothing is for free, after smoking and doing drugs without any money. My friend got tired of giving me hand-outs and she suggested a quick buck. By that she was indirectly suggesting that I become a sex worker.”
She admitted she had not been comfortable with the idea at first but she went along with it because she needed to earn a living.
Former sex worker Charlene Matatin. Picture:
David Ritchie
“There was not quick buck there, I had to work for my money and sometimes I would work and still end up with no money, but instead I just got a beating.”
Matatin said when she began as a sex worker she had no knowledge of the diseases that came with the job until she got a sexually transmitted disease, something unusual for her at that time.
“I struggled with passing urine and I felt like flames were coming out of my vagina. I knew something was wrong and I immediately went to the clinic in Greenpoint.”
She said she felt ashamed and judged by the nurses and people at the clinic.
“I got funny looks from people there. I don’t know if it was my mind but it felt like they knew what kind of work I was doing without me saying a word.”
After disclosing her job to the nurses, she felt judged but continued with her consultation and treatment for the infection even though she felt she would never come back to a public clinic again.
This week, Matatin’s mindset about clinics changed following the official launch of the TB/HIV Care Association clinic in Cape Town's CBD. The clinic provides a holistic service including on-site ablution facilities and counselling as well as biomedical services for sex workers, drug users and people living on the streets.
The clinic is in line with the new national strategic plan for HIV, TB and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to overcome barriers of access to all those who need the servicess.
Speaking at the launch of the clinic, Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said the the new clinic, which had opened its doors in February, was in line with government’s plan of bringing health facilities to everyone without discrimination.
“Sex workers’ lives matter, they deserve quality health care just like all of use. It is their choice to use their bodies as means of making money. No one should deprive them from get quality health care because of their choices.”