A Game of Russian Roulette.

The backdrop is Russia; it is war-time, early 20^th century.  Feeling the loss of their status, money, family and country; a group of aristocrat soldiers play a lethal game, perhaps to display their bravery, perhaps to commit suicide.  One of them picks a revolver, places a cartridge in one of the several chambers of this revolver.  They spin the cylinder so that the location of the cartridge is not known.  The aristocrat points the revolver to his head and pulls the trigger. Bang!

Obviously, many aristocrats died. Others were lucky, they walked away alive, unharmed and celebrated.  While many Africans living in Europe would not dare play the game of Russian roulette, no matter how much money they were offered, many are caught up in a riskier form of a similar game. There are few chances here; it is a ‘no-win’ situation.  Young undocumented Africans, eking out a living in the big cities of Europe, find themselves alone in a foreign land. Many gamble with high risk sex, playing a game of  Russian roulette as it were.

For the young African woman especially, illegality is a challenge.  She is placed in a vulnerable position. She may view being undocumented as having no rights, no shelter, no access to medical care, no money, no food, no peace. If she is not well informed or protected, she falls into the trap of selling her body. In the big European cities, female migrants are caught up in a fast growing endemic of promiscuity, for no other reason than being illegal. On one hand, these may be women who are fleeing dangerous situations in their countries, where men have raped women as a weapon of war. Others have undergone traumatic and often brutal genital mutilations.  Yet when these same women arrive in Europe, only to find their applications to stay in the country rejected, and out on the streets, the harsh reality begins to set in and sex becomes a strategy for survival.

Research done by SOA-Aids Netherlands in October 2006 among the heterosexual Black community, established that sex was used as a salient exchange commodity by women. Men gave them money, and women in return took care of all their needs. When money begins to flow and the women are past survival, they find themselves at a point of no return and trapped in a life on the fast lane. Free-lance writer Zack Bigalke from Portland, Oregon writes that, “Women smarter than ever, have learned that their bodies are money-generating machines which can easily draw much larger pay-checks than most other jobs.’   

And that is the main problem, sex does sell, and many African migrant women get addicted to the business of having myriads of sexual partners. Where does the pull to hang in there come from? A combination of factors; bad company, a lack of social skills, a low-level of education and the rush to make big bucks quick. Many women unwittingly encourage others to join them.  Money comes easy in this business, they say. So there’s the attraction of the ‘invincible Euro,’ the demands of relatives back home, the desire to mirror the lifestyles, dress and mannerisms of the characters played out by the beautiful West African actresses of Nollywood; keeping up with the latest designer fashions, smelling like a queen, and owning the latest gizmos at the drop of a hat.’  All at a risk of catching a Sexually Transmitted Infection (S.T.I).

Despite the fact that most men initiate and control sex, paying for it with their greater wealth; given that a woman’s body is structured to receive, a woman is eight times more likely to become infected from a single sexual act with an infected man than a man is likely to become infected from a single sexual act with an infected woman, states Arthur J. Amman, President of Global Strategies for HIV prevention, San Francisco. Not only is the likelihood for infection for women greater, but also infection can be present in and spread by them when they do not have any symptoms of the disease. It becomes a silent killer. African migrant women should be empowered and educated about their sexual health and reproductive rights. They need to have good social skills that include the ability to negotiate safe sex, a better understanding on the working of their bodies and the risks of a promiscuous lifestyle. Global agencies, international policy makers, African leaders and civil societies should push to make education for the Girl-Child in Africa free at all levels; such an action would encourage society in Africa to send their female children to school. Migrant churches and faith-based organizations in Europe need to address sexuality and behavior change among both men and women.