HIV infected ‘hyena’ paid to take young girls virginity as part of ‘cleansing ritual’
A HIV-infected man in a remote African village has told of how he was hired as a “hyena” to “sexually cleanse” young girls – a practice that is tradition to southern Malawi.
Traditionally, the service of a hyena is used in parts of southern Malawi to have intercourse with a woman after her husband dies, before she can bury him.
But in the Nsanje district, the BBC has revealed the ritual is being used on teenage girls, after their first menstruation.
The girls, in one of the poorest countries in the world, are commonly 12 years old when they are forced to have intercourse with the hyena over a three-day period to mark their transition into womanhood.
The girls are often then pushed into arranged marriages afterwards.
Refusal to engage in the ritual is believed to bring disease or death to the young girl’s families or their village.
Eric Aniva, who says he is in his 40s and has two wives, estimates to have had intercourse with more than 100 girls and women.
He says he is one of 10 hyenas in the region who are paid between $4 to $7 for each client, and every village in the Nsanje district has one.
"Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older. All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena," he told the BBC.
"They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman."
However, a number of girls told the broadcaster they had no choice and feared their families would suffer disease or death if they refused.
The women believe a hyena is chosen for his good morals, and therefore cannot be infected with HIV or Aids, the custodians told BBC.
Ten per cent of all Malawians are HIV-positive, according to the UN.
When asked, Aniva admits he carries the virus but he doesn't disclose this to a girl's parents when they hire him.
One of his wives, Fanny, says she hates what he does, but it brings in income they need to survive, with the country suffering from rural hunger.
She said she hated being forced to sleep with a hyena and doesn't want her two-year-old daughter to be initiated.
"I don't want that to happen," she said.
"I want this tradition to end. We are forced to sleep with the hyenas. It's not out of our choice and that I think is so sad for us as women."
Charity organisations say “sexual cleansing” has the potential to do the opposite of warding off ill-health and death, and was a way of spreading disease.
Dr Howard Kasiya, health expert and director of the Adolescent Girls' Advocacy Network of Malawi, told the Guardian the ritual was “often a death sentence for girls.
“Malawi has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world and 10 per cent of the population is HIV-positive,” Dr Kasiya said.
