“I am tired of having sex for money”

By Emmanuel wise Jipoh 

“I am tired of having sex for money and living street life. I need a new life, and we all here need a new beginning, but it is too hard for us. Where do we go? No rehabilitation center, help from government, our family has abandoned us, and we have stayed in the ghetto years in years out”, laments Matee Kallon, a drug addict.

She continues, “This has become our style of living, this is what we depend on; we need people who will support and take us from the street, provide us capacity so that we can learn, and help ourselves, and our children.

Matee narrates that she hails from Nimba County, along the Ivory Coast Border, and is tired of living a disadvantaged life.

Speaking in an interview with the New Dawn, she explains how she was introduced to drugs by her boyfriend at age of 19 and has never thought of quitting till now.

“Drugs have my life and everything I have tried to make it work has proved futile. I have been doing drugs since 2012, I don’t have help. After my boyfriend taught me to do drugs, ever since my life has become miserable. I have tried everything possible to quit but nothing seems to work for me.”

“I have sex for money as minimum as 300 Liberian dollars to support my habit. I stay here in the ghetto, sometimes we are faced with torment, torture and are beaten; our money we sexed for are taken away from us; this is an unfortunate situation I find myself into and want to change. Sometimes I feel guilty of myself, I feel like taking my life away, but yet again, it starts all over again as soon as I take a kush”, she narrates.

A mother of two, Matee notes that she has consumed drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroin and kuch, among others and in the end, she has sex for money to support her habit.

However, she says she is ready and willing to quit if maximum support is provided to end the lifestyle, pleading to all, including government to come to her aid to quit drugs.

This is a reality. Drugs or substances are on the increase in Liberia, with majority of the country’s youth involved in the habit.

The Weah Administration with support from the United Nations took an initial step in launching a rehabilitation fund drive last year to curtail the increase of drug users and disadvantaged youths.

They continue to pose threats to the peace and stability of the State despite the launch of a US$13.9 million fund drive for At-Risk Youth in June 2022.

Despite the launch, not much has been seen from the government to enable the disadvantaged youths (Zogos) leave the street and taken into a rehabilitation home. Editing by Jonathan Browne