The rate at which the homes of female commercial sex hawkers are growing in Bayelsa State is alarming. Girls of 12 years and above now find pleasure in selling their bodies in exchange for petty amounts. What's very offensive is that there are adult men and women sponsoring this act. There are over 10 homes for female commercial sex hawkers in Bayelsa State witlh matrons and patrons overseeing their affairs. What is so painful is that some of these girls are there not of their own free will. Some were taken there by their own parents in a bid to earn money from their daughters' trade, others are there due to lack of love and acceptance from their guidance right from childhood while the rest are there just to earn money for themselves and live an easier life according to them, little do they know that this path is even harder than going to school, getting a degree and becoming successful in business and other legally established carriers. They do not know the dangers involved in this carrier path; aside from sexually transmitted diseases and other dangerous effects of multiple sex partners, it would affect their mental state as time goes on.

I was oppotuned to speak with some of these girls on the 26th of June, 2020, when myself and a group of young ladies determined to see our fellow ladies who are involved in commercial sex hawking stops and change their paths, visited one of those homes in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, when they were asked why they chose this carrier path, they said it was not as if they loved what they were doing, but that they just found themselves doing it just to survive, that there's no place for them in the society and that they have made a place for themselves. Most of these girls are not well schooled while the rest are not schooled at all.

In my conversation with some of them, I asked, would you be willing to take a different carrier path should you get the opportunity. Would you be willing to abandon this lifestyle and give yourself to training and mentorship, some said yes, others turned down the offer, that they were already used to that lifestyle and cannot do any other thing.

The matron and patron of this particular brothel were not very pleased with our presence, so they watched us closely to ensure that we were not trying to talk the girls out of their jobs and lifestyle, but we managed to manover the situation. We presented our gifts of sanitary towels (pads) and left. We took some of their numbers, especially the ones that were very receptive and left. We were not able to make much impact due to lack of finance and mentors so the change process stopped.

We are calling on the government to ban these homes and rescue these girls from the carrier paths they have chosen out of their free will and some of them not of their own will. The government should close down these homes, rescue the girls, and put them through a rehabilitation process, there after train them on Skills that can fetch them an income for a life time. By doing this, our society will become a better place, because the quality of life given to a woman determines the quality of children she raises and this in turn affects the society positively or negatively. When Value is put on Women as home builders, it stabilizes the nation consequently.