My name is Inês Lurdes Manuel, I am 24 years old, and a single mother of two children, a girl, and a boy from different fathers. I am a young woman who has completed the 12th grade at the Kuphé Secondary School in Chiúre, I live with my mother and six brothers and sisters, some of whom are still in primary school and others who are in secondary school. My parents are separated, and my father has never assumed his responsibilities.

I am the only adult woman in my family, it weighs on my head, and it hurts my heart to see my brothers, sisters, and children unable to go to school and without any future prospects. I had to do something to support myself and minimize the extreme poverty that plagued us. I realised it would be difficult without resources, without sufficient education to generate income, I had no idea what I would do to survive.

Through some friends, I visited several brothels and learned how to seduce men and look for clients to earn some money in exchange for sex. I had to embrace this profession as a sex worker to meet my basic needs and keep my brothers and daughter in school.

Saying that sex work is a very risky job is an understatement, I worked during the night and sometimes during the day, in hot zones, in shacks, in hostels, and on the streets looking for clients. I did sex work in exchange for some material goods and money, I have always encountered many barriers and difficulties in this profession, I have suffered various types of violence from physical to psychological, and I was discriminated against in various ways by clients and people from the community in general and sometimes some clients used me and did not pay me or paid an insignificant amount that we had not agreed on.

Even with all the humiliations I never thought of giving up the profession because it was my only source of income for self-support and for my family "I had NO CHOICE", I suffered in silence, some unpleasant situations that I experienced, and my clients hurt me a lot, they created darkness in me, an emptiness. In short, there are things I don't like to remember.

Nobody encouraged me or forced me to have sex in exchange for money, I chose to be a self-employed sex worker combined with the extreme poverty in which we lived. I had to make this decision even though I knew there were many risks, I never stopped sacrificing myself to help my mother with the household expenses.  However, what I earned was not enough to meet the basic needs of the family and because of this practice, I had two children.

I tried to work in the Catholic Church, and Nigerian and Indian shops, but unfortunately, when I became pregnant, I lost my job because I got sick during pregnancy the second pregnancy was the most critical because I had a caesarean section and my health situation deteriorated. I had to stay at home for a long time, so I couldn't work, so I started selling jams, sweets, maheu, and other products to cover the family's small needs, but sometimes we went hungry because I didn't earn enough.

After recovering from the caesarean section, I immediately had to return to the streets to embrace the old profession of "sex worker" to support my children, as my parents could not the support the family, as they claim not to have a formal job.

Thank God I met a community activist who came to the hot zone and gave me some information about changing my life, she took me to the Wiwanana Foundation, and presented me with an opportunity. 

I enrolled in the Pastry course, and once again I'd like to reiterate my thanks to the activist or agent of change because I learned many things, I learned how to make sweets: bread, decorated cakes, coconut cakes biscuits, sweet bread, croissants, rings. Savoury dishes: samosas, pizza, chicken drumsticks, prawn cakes. Desserts: pudding, sweet bread, rice pudding, jelly, and other recipes.

Perhaps there are not enough meaningful words to thank YOUNG AFRICA, through the SKILLS TO LIVE project for setting up the Mobile Workshops in Chiúre, thanks are extended to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), once again thank you for the support and the opportunity, I will never forget everything that YOUNG AFRICA has done for me, my life has completely changed for the better, "ASANTE".

I am already a trained woman, full of wisdom, and with art in my hands, I promise to carry out my dreams, even in adversity, I am aware that no one wins without obstacles to build their history.

To my teacher, my thanks go to you for your dedication and I leave a word of recognition because I thank you for your patience, effort and tireless guidance, commitment, and confidence that made it possible for this dream that was so special to me, to become a reality, thank you Madam Trainer of the Pastry course for teaching me to know how to do and to be, I am a very different young person in life now.

I would like to continue with my studies, but I have no conditions, there is no way. So, I ask everyone for an opportunity to continue my studies, in the future I want to be someone with a good name in society, I am a woman, battling to achieve my dreams. In this struggle to become someone in society, I would like to show the people who once discriminated against me, that I am already capable and important in society.