the tragedy of tragedy Post Courier 19 July

"SEVERAL prostitutes in Mount Hagen, mostly teenagers, are planning to protest and petition the Mount Hagen City Authority and police if nothing is done to relocate them or find other alternatives for them. The women claimed they have “suffered terribly” since a brothel, which used to be their only lifeline, was closed four months ago. The brothel, commonly known in the city as the “DVD room’’, was opened as a video shop by an Asian, but later used by prostitutes - in the pretext of movie-watching – to trade sex, taking advantage of the building’s cubicle-type rooms. Clients or “partners” were charged K8.50 a visit by the Asian until closed by authorities who saw it as a hotspot for HIV/AIDS. A 15-year-old girl (named) of Togoba outside Mount Hagen, who spoke on behalf of the affected women, said they had nowhere to go since the DVD room was forced to close, as their clients (men) saw hotels and guesthouses as too expensive. The girl, who has earned a living in the area since she was 11, said she did not care if people called her names or mistreated her, as “nobody would come and put rice and tinned fish on my plate everyday”. “We are trying to make ends meet. Every time the media gives prominence to politicians and bureaucrats and forget about us. Do we have a government that will care for us, or just because we are prostitutes they will dump us like this,” she said."