<<Print>>When she told me she sleeps with six men every night, the expression on my face made her think I didn’t believe her, so she began to mention the names of her regular customers.
“Mike is a banker; Steve is a vulcaniser; Nana Kwame and Aboagye are both teachers; Tijani is a Tanker driver and Mawuli owns a bar. I sleep with at least four of these people every night, apart from the new customers I make every day.”
This is the confession of a 19-year-old Senior High School (SHS) graduate who engages in prostitution at Liberia Camp, a popular area in Kasoa in the Central Region. Lady Pan, as she prefers to be called, engages in prostitution to feed herself, her 57-year-old visually-impaired mother and two siblings.
Her light skin and sizeable backside are assets that open gates and get the attention of men.
So far, Lady Pan claims to have slept with over 700 men, majority of them being between the ages of 40 and 65.
“I don’t go for young men, particularly those in their 20s and early 30s, because they don’t pay well and yet it takes a long time before they ejaculate. My targets are married men who want pleasure they do not get from their wives,” she said with a coy smile.
Why I joined
Taking me through a journey on how she started, Lady Pan said it all began when she was in Senior High School (SHS) second year.
“My mother lost her sight and within two weeks she was out of business too. She was the cashier of a popular restaurant and pub at Apam in the Central Region,” she said..
According to Lady Pan, the responsibility to act as the breadwinner of the house immediately fell on her since she was the first born.
It was a Wednesday night at about 8 o’clock at the a popular pub at Liberia Camp.
A group of girls twisted and wriggled to mostly hip-life music topping the chart in Ghana. I spotted her enjoying a glass of Amarula Liquor at a corner in a noticeably tight-fitting red short dress.
Her outfit had exposed the curvy body, especially her breasts, which appeared to have been oiled.
This was the beginning of the journey into the life of a 19 year old who has survived what life has tossed at her and her family.
Prying into the private life of a prostitute, especially if you don’t want to buy what is on offer, can be expensive. After a few minutes of bargaining, we made our way to a two-bedroom apartment used by herself and other colleagues to entertain new guests.
It was a battle between my journalistic instincts, pleasure of the flesh and self-control. In the end, my journalistic instincts and self-control won. I explained my mission as flatteringly and cunningly as I could and put the money on the table. There was no turning point.
Life before prostitution
Recalling her life before she entered the world’s ‘oldest profession’, Lady Pan said although she was not born into a wealthy family, she and her sibling never lacked.
“After our dad passed away, my mother took over the responsibility and paid our school fees and also provided all our basic necessities,” she said.
Lady Pan said although her father was dead, life was moving on smoothly until her mother suddenly developed a sight problem.
“She couldn’t see things clearly anymore and was bumping into things everywhere she walked. I was told that prior to her being sacked, she caused her company to incur losses of about GH¢5,000. It was for that reason she was eventually laid off,” she said.
After all attempt to address her sight problem failed, Lady Pan’s mother became permanently blind.
She was about to enter her second year in SHS when it happened.
Lady Pan said her mother’s predicament, coupled with the needs of the family, made life hard to live.
“My uncle’s attention was brought to our predicament and he promised to support us but after paying my siblings’ school fees, he realised he couldn’t add mine too,” Lady Pan said.
Lady Pan’s uncles advised her to stop schooling and look for a job to support the feeding of her mother and siblings, a task that came too soon for a 16 year old.
First customer
Trading was out of question because she did not have the capital, neither was her uncle willing to give any. After a long struggle for a solution to her predicament, it struck her that prostitution was the answer.
Lady Pan said prostitution was not something new; some of her SHS two classmates were already deeply engaged in it.
“We didn’t call it prostitution; it was termed “my sugar daddy. Most of my classmates had about three sugar daddies they take money from.”
Her mates used the money to pay their school fees and also bought groceries needed to take them through the term.
She said it was so common that during prep times, her friends sat together and shared some of the stories they told their sugar daddies to get money from them.
“On one occasion, I asked them to link me up with some of them but none of my friends was willing to introduce me to their sugar daddies. Fortunately for me, I have big buttocks and could attract any man,” she stated and we both laughed as she got up, turned around and slapped her buttocks.
Lady Pan said she received invitation from one of her classmates to accompany her to her uncle’s 60th birthday party.
As she expected, Lady Pan said she was approached by an old man who was probably in his late sixties.
“When I met him, I knew he was going to be my first customer. We later exchanged numbers. Two days later, I slept with him. Since that night I have never looked back.”
On her night of baptism into prostitution, Lady Pan was a naïve virgin.
“I felt so much pain. I wondered what was exciting about sex when you have to experience such pain. I took a decision not to do it again. Even worse, the thought of sleeping with a man as old as my late father was disheartening,” she said.
But the sight of money changed everything. Her first client gave her GH¢200 and asked for another date. So her foray into the sordid world of sexual orgies began.
Being a prostitute is hard.
Lady Pan explained that life as a prostitute was very hard as some clients refused to pay the agreed amount after they had had their way.
She said customers perceived prostitutes as spoilt and because of that “they tend to demand all sort of nasty things from you.”
“Some customers double your asking price just to have anal sex with you,” Lady Pan said.
Asked whether she had been a victim of anal sex, she replied in the affirmative, saying “twice but after that I charged them thrice my normal rate.”
However, she was quick to add that “I will never allow a man to have anal sex with me because it is very painful and psychologically disturbing.”
Juju in Prostitution
The use of a charm is something Lady Pan describes as common in prostitution.
According to her, prostitution has become so normal and widely accepted that without a charm it becomes extremely difficult to attract customers.
“When I first moved to Kasoa after my SHS education, there were so many prostitutes that being noticed was extremely difficult. I realised that most of the prostitutes, apart from being prettier, had already registered their customers. If you make a mistake and attempt to take someone’s man, you are as good as dead,” she said.
Sensing the difficulties, Lady Pan was immediately introduced to the juju aspect of the profession.
“The first juju I used was a body spray which I obtained from a fetish priest. Any time I applied that on my skin, I was easily noticed. It was that charm that got me a rich 54-year-old married banker who continues to respond to my call anytime,” she said.
Apart from the body spray, Lady Pan said most of her colleagues used white handkerchiefs.
“You have to wipe your face with the white handkerchiefs before and after you sleep with your customer. Any amount you ask them, they will pay, provided they have it in their wallet.”
According to Lady Pan, even though juju in prostitution played a key role on how long a prostitute stayed in business, more depended on how well “you manage your customers after you get them.”
“You cannot always rely on the charm because sometimes it doesn’t work on your customers. It has failed me before and I nearly got into a problem,” she said.
She claimed most of the successful prostitutes who own houses started with juju.