A Malawian man in his 40s, Eric Aniva, who hails from Nsanje district in southern Malawi and serves as one of the 10 "Heyenas" in his community has in a chat with BBC disclosed what his 'prestigious' role in his community entails.
In some remote southern regions of Malawi, it's traditional for girls to be made to have s3x with a paid s3x worker known as a "hyena" once they reach puberty. The act is not seen by village elders as rape, but as a form of ritual "cleansing".
Aniva is by all accounts the pre-eminent "hyena" in his village.
''Hyena" is a traditional title given to a man hired by communities in several remote parts of southern Malawi to provide what's called s3xual "cleansing".
If a man dies, for example, his wife is required by tradition to sleep with Aniva before she can bury him. If a woman has an abortion, again sexual cleansing is required.
And most shockingly, in Nsanje, teenage girls, after their first menstruation, are made to have sex over a three-day period, to mark their passage from childhood to womanhood. If the girls refuse, it's believed, disease or some fatal misfortune could befall their families or the village as a whole.
Aniva told BBC boastfully: "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. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman."
Aniva who happens to be a middle-aged man has two wives who are well aware of his work. He claims to have slept with 104 women and girls - although as he said the same to a local newspaper in 2012, which means he has long ago lost count. Aniva has five children that he knows about - he's not sure how many of the women and girls he's made pregnant.
He disclosed that he's one of 10 hyenas in this community, and that every village in Nsanje district has them. They are paid from $4 to $7 (£3 to £5) each time.
According to custom, s3x with the hyena must never be protected with the use of condoms. But they say a hyena is hand-picked for his good morals, and therefore cannot be infected with HIV/Aids.
It's clear, given the hyena's duties, that HIV is a huge risk to the community. The UN estimates that one in 10 of all Malawians carry the virus.
When asked about his status, Aniva astounded the BBC reporter by saying he is aware that he is HIV positive but he doesn't tell the women he sleeps with.
He further disclosed that due to his status, he now does fewer cleansing than before. "I still do the rituals here and there," he confides.
*Faints*
See matter ,so your proffesion is sex
ReplyDeleteIs alright ,one thing must kill a man
Unsafe sex for that matter! Sharing his virus with reckless abandon; so much ignorance.
DeleteClick my name for all your celebration cakes and cupcakes, cheers
All that sex be making him look like 60 years. People please know that sex makes one age.
DeleteOmg,are u for real why are african's so ignorant with their backward traditiona's
ReplyDeleteWell, at leaSt now they know he is hiv.
Oghene!!!
ReplyDeleteJesu!
ReplyDelete*Faints* on a bed though.
Jesu!
ReplyDeleteAre you for real?
ReplyDeleteSleeping with girls as young as 13??
Haaaaa, and you say they are proud and says that you know how to please a woman?
#throwsup#
#ohGod, may evil be far from me#Amen.Amen
MOGBE. ...AHH CHINEKE ...
ReplyDeleteWhat did I just read?
OGHENE BIKO OOO
I have no adjective to describe how I felt while reading this.
Sobbing
ReplyDeleteOghene biko
ReplyDeleteTueeeeh!
ReplyDeleteHian ooh!!
ReplyDeleteSee how people use their own money to buy HIV in 2016 all in the name of tradition.
When will Africans ever end these barbaric and baseless practices bikonu?
Ignorance is indeed the worse thing that can happen to a people.
What!!! *faints* someone wake me up
ReplyDeleteOhh boy!
ReplyDeleteOhh boy!
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ, it is finished.
ReplyDeleteAfricans tho.. We have a long way to go. This is one of the reasons the whites see us as they see us
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what did I just read!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I have heard of a more primitive and damaging traditions as these ones!
ReplyDelete*Trembling*
Omg!
ReplyDeleteWhat did I just read?
I have no words for this sort of culture. it means girls are initiated into sex from a very young age. I hope the international community will pressurize Malawi into outlawing this abhorrent practice whilst following up with sensitization programs designed to educate, counsel the women and the stupid elders who haven't got enough sense to have stopped this practice.
ReplyDeleteWhat kinda of tradition is this, no body can't ever try that tradition with me... @Karmaisabitch should I bring water or milk for you so that you will wake up from your faints.
ReplyDeleteAngel with the trumpet blow already!!! Been 2000 and something years.
ReplyDeleteLmaooo abeg make he never blow
Deleteoo�������� I never go half sef
Africa is truly a dark continent.
ReplyDeletewhy are some communities "ignorant". seriously an Hiv postive man was choosen for such role. what kind of barbaric culture is that, he sleeps with girls and women in the community because he is an "Hyena". Such cultures should be abolished.
ReplyDeleteGod forbid! Useless barbaric tradition...
ReplyDeleteheight of stupidity.
ReplyDeleteTufiakwa, Nwokeojo
ReplyDeleteFaints and wake
ReplyDeleteJeez!! What did I just read?!
ReplyDeleteChineke!
ReplyDeleteWhat is this???
Hahahaha
ReplyDeleteHe reply abt knwing he has the disease n thats y he performs fewer cleansing is quite funny. Ignorance at its peak.
Mouth open
ReplyDeleteIt's a lieπ©π©π©π©.
ReplyDeleteThey should be forced to abolish this deadly tradition. WTF
Na waah. This is serious
ReplyDeleteWhat sort od barbaric, ignorant thing is this. The girl child has suffered sha
ReplyDelete