MALAWIAN MAN ALLEGEDLY RAPES AND INFECTS UNDER AGED GIRLS WITH HIV

A Malawian man named Eric Aniva, has told the BBC how he is always being paid £3 to sexually abuse children by members of their family for ritual purposes which is called ‘hyena’.

This ritual practice is a very popular in Southern Malawi, especially when a woman becomes a widow or aborts a baby.

Family members usually force their little girls into this initiation the moment they attain the age of puberty. Unbelievably, these girls are ‘taught’ how to have sex in such camps. This is done for more than three days at the end of their first period. According to the report, the purpose of it is to ‘avoid infection’ with their parents and other community members.

Notwithstanding the fact that Eric is an HIV infected man, these family members do not give any thought to the health of and safety of those children. This is because, according to their tradition, the use of condom is a taboo, as they believed that the ‘hyenas’ are free of disease because of their ‘good morals’ as claimed by the natives.

Eric, a native of Nsanje in southern Malawi told the BBC during an interview that he was initiated into ‘hyena’ in 1995 and has since then had affairs with more than 100 females, through which he has had five children.

According to him: "Most of those I have slept with are girls, school-going girls.

"Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older. All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena. Thy actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman."

Though Eric never told any of these families he is HIV-positive, this was made to during the interview with the BBC.

According to the Permanent Secretary of the Malawian Government Ministry of Gender and Welfare, Dr May Sheba: "We are not going to condemn these people. But we are going to give them information that they need to change their rituals."

Meanwhile, Chrissie, a community elder who organises the initiation process in the camps, told the BBC: "There's nothing wrong with our culture.

"If you look at today's society, you can see that girls are not responsible, so we have to train our girls in a good manner in the village, so that they don't go astray, are good wives so that the husband is satisfied, and so that nothing bad happens to their families."