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Website Link includes VIDEO.
IRAQ - VULNERABLE WOMEN WITHOUT
SUPPORT, AS WIDOWS
& ORPHANS - MAY TURN TO
PROSTITUTION - VIDEO GIVES STORY
By Mohammed
Jamjoom, CNN
November
2, 2009
Baghdad,
Iraq (CNN)
-- Wedad can't bear to live this way much longer. Disgusted by the work, she
can hardly stand it. Wedad is a prostitute in Iraq.
Sectarian
violence claimed the life of her husband three years ago. Unable to rely on her
family, Wedad tried getting a job to support her three young daughters, but
found the men interviewing her didn't want her for her work skills, only her
body.
"It was
extremely difficult to make the decision to do this, because nobody goes into
this wanting to do it," she said hesitantly. "My situation forced me
into it because I couldn't find a job and the government didn't have a job for
me."
For Wedad,
who is using a false name to conceal her identity, the difficult circumstances
could not be overcome. So she took a step she never would have thought
imaginable and became a prostitute.
Yanar
Mohammed, an Iraqi womens' rights activist, estimates there are thousands of
women like Wedad working in the sex trade in Iraq. Most are too afraid or
ashamed to come forward and ask for help.
"She is
looked at as an outcast in the society, and nobody to be respected and nobody
to support her," Mohammed said.
Mohammed,
whose Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq tries to help women like Wedad,
said many Iraqi women enter this life because they have no support systems and
no way to make a living.
Prostitution
is illegal in Iraq. According to Mohammed, a typical prison sentence for women
convicted is three to four months in jail, but their customers are rarely, if
ever, arrested.
When the
women get out of prison, they generally have nothing to look forward to,
Mohammed said. "On the day she is released she finds her pimps, the people
who exploit her, waiting for her at the door," Mohammed said.
"In
many of the cases, this is what happens. In other cases, she simply has nowhere
else to go. She is either a widow or an orphan of this war, and she has no
alternatives."
Wedad, one
of those war widows, lives in constant fear of being found out, more because of
the shame she would face from her family than the punishment she would face
from authorities.
"I
won't be doing this forever; it's impossible," Wedad said. "My girls
are still young, but when they get older, I can't..." she stopped in
midsentence, overcome by emotion.
So far,
Wedad has been able to keep her work a secret, but her daughters are getting
older and more curious. They've started to ask her where she's going.
"I'll say I'm going to the doctor or I'm going to the salon, that I have
an errand to run," Wedad explained.
"But
sometimes, when they know I'm going out and they ask me to get them something
specific like food, it's really hard for me to tell them I'm going to get it
for them because I don't have the money. It's just really hard." Wedad's
voice trailed off and she began to cry.
After her
husband's death, Wedad did everything she could to avoid this outcome. Now she
does everything she can to get through it.
According to
Wedad, she is only able to perform by pretending she is giving herself over to
her clients as a "dead body".
It's a
coping mechanism that allows her to feel as little as possible, so she can
shield herself from as much mental anguish and pain as possible.
Wedad
clings to one hope: that her daughters will not have to end up doing what their
mother does.
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