I was very excited to join University and not just any University but Makerere University. In August 2012, I packed my belongings and headed to a 650,000 hostel.
I come from a financially decent family and while I didn’t have most luxuries of life, my deficit was not un common at campus. I lost my virginity early in first year to a fellow virgin and we continued to grow in love.
Campus was my nest away from home and I loved it until I made a misdemeanor, at least I thought it was but my parents didn’t think so.
The long holiday after first year, I was taken to my village in Bundibugyo, as was the way at home. The problem was the thrill of fruits in the village held no appeal to me anymore.
I missed my sweet heart immensely. I spent almost 24 hours on phone until I decided to lie after one month that school was resuming. I spent the rest of the holiday at his rental in Kikumi Kikumi.
Somehow my parents got to know and I was banished from home. All that I had ever taken for granted in my life became a necessity; the calls demanding that 10k like you had lent it to the parent, the tuition, hostel fee…
Apparently my parents wanted to invest their money in a person that appreciated their efforts more than I did.
The hurt was unbearable, the loss of a parent’s trust, the ridicule from family, the knowledge that family didn’t have your back. I decided redeeming my education was the way to keep the balance. Soon the boyfriend was history and I thought to myself “I am a girl”. I read a few blogs for escorts and decided to embark on the journey.
My first client was a man I met on facebook. I made my intentions clear and soon we met for a coffee. I could see he was much older than the 42 years he had claimed. He could have been in his late 50’s.
The whole time I was bracing myself for the act. I wasn’t going to be a cheap girl. My first payment was 300k. It later became easier. While I got mostly gentlemen, finding men that only saw you as a sex object was not un common. There are times I would cry to God and ask; “God is sex all I can offer?”
I had a good room, clothes, paid my tuition but I felt degraded sometimes more strongly than others when I was past caring.
The disgust stayed larking somewhere on the inside. The hushed whispers and disapproving looks from the once envious girls who got to know were hard to miss.
It ate me up. I quit about four months after school which was hard because you get used to “easy” money.
I now have my degree, run a small boutique and have started relating again, one man.
As told to Esther Nantambi
