Combating HIV/AIDS in the urban jungle

A bus station worker helps his peers fight for their lives and livelihoods

Moustapha Diouf, a 33-year-old Senegalese “coaxer” in Dakar, tells his story:

I dropped out of school at nine. My parents suggested that I become a tailor, but I only wanted to play soccer, which I wasn’t very good at anyway. I ended up hanging out at the bus station in the Grand Yoff neighborhood, which offered me freedom, new acquaintances and the chance at a livelihood.

I work as a coaxer. A coaxer's job is to coax passengers onto minibuses that serve as Senegal's informal transportation system. I stand by the minibus and call out its destination: “Dakar! Dakar!” I earn 40 cents for each bus I fill.

An informal bus station is a crowded and sometimes violent jungle of street boys, homeless old men, and female water vendors. At the station, sexual banter passes easily between men and women, youth, and adults. It’s a market governed by supply and demand. I yielded to all temptations. I discovered drugs and drug-induced illusions. I chased girls and had multiple partners. I slipped into the underworld of prostitutes who sapped my money and my strength and gave me sexually transmitted infections. Many believed that AIDS was a myth, a white man’s disease, and that condoms were a ploy to slow down procreation and take the pleasure out of sex.

It was at the station that I met with ENDA-GRAF (Environmental and Development Action, Research, Action and Training Group), a local non-governmental organization supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and its partner, Family Health International (FHI). I was suspicious during our first meetings, but I was lucky enough to be one of the first persons trained by ENDA-GRAF to educate my peers to adopt a safe sexual behavior.

Interaction with my peers led me to question who I was. I had had tons of unprotected sex without a second thought. ENDA-GRAF’s intervention shook me awake, and I began to understand that my life was in jeopardy. A voice inside me was saying: “No! Moustapha, you can’t hate yourself to the point of your own destruction.” I realized that in order to reclaim myself and lead a healthy life, I had to own the positive values of self-esteem and safe living that ENDA-GRAF was teaching me to promote.

I gradually strengthened my resistance to the temptations of risky sex. But however hard you try to resist, you occasionally end up giving in. So I resolved to use condoms to avoid being “bitten by the snake” and to escape from the venom of AIDS. I must confess that it was not easy. It was a huge effort to get past all the negative attitudes around condoms. But when it dawned on me that I’d eventually like to get married, have a family, and protect the health of my children, I felt even stronger about my choice to use condoms. It was just the right thing to do.

I got up the courage to get tested, too. And after my first test, I went back three months later for a second test. I thank God that I am HIV-negative.

Strengthened by this experience, I started organizing the community of coaxers with the support of ENDA-GRAF and the other educators ENDA-GRAF had trained. There are over 200 young coaxers in Grand Yoff, all at risk of HIV infection. We hold group discussions and distribute condoms on demand.

We were all fighting to make a living. Competition for passengers was fierce and we were paid in an anarchic system, with everyone trying to make the most at others’ expense. So I decided to reorganize the coaxers into eight teams that work in shifts and that also make up our discussion groups. Now all our payments are collected each day and deposited in an account we opened at the Grand Yoff Women’s Savings and Credit Union near the station.

We collect about 2,000 dollars each month and each coaxer receives a monthly salary of 150 dollars. Now, instead of competing with each other, we cooperate and together we have improved the image of our station. It’s become a friendlier place and the neighbors no longer see us as outlaws. We saved enough money to buy two minibuses that generate income and allow us to pay for driving lessons and to become drivers.

We have also been able to offer loans to the female vendors, increasing their economic power and making them less vulnerable to commercial sex work. Our AIDS discussions began with men only, but the Women’s Credit Union offered us a good opportunity to involve women and now we hold discussions together.

On Labor Day we organized a big rally with the Women’s Credit Union and we met with the local leaders to tell them our concerns about AIDS. We had a remarkable turnout and they listened to us. The women vendors and coaxers support each other and we feel we are recognized and accepted by the community.

ENDA-GRAF, FHI and USAID have made me a resolute person committed to combating AIDS. They have allowed me and my fellow outcasts to organize income-generating activities whose success rests largely on our ability to protect ourselves and our families against AIDS.