HIV Positive Man Paid By Community To Cleanse Their Young Girls And Women Through Sex.

A Malawian man in his 40s, Eric Aniva, who hails from Nsanje district in southern Malawi and serves as one of the 10 "Heyenas" in his community has in a chat with BBC disclosed what his 'prestigious' role in his community entails.

In some remote southern regions of Malawi, it's traditional for girls to be made to have s3x with a paid s3x worker known as a "hyena" once they reach puberty. The act is not seen by village elders as rape, but as a form of ritual "cleansing".

Aniva is by all accounts the pre-eminent "hyena" in his village.

''Hyena" is a traditional title given to a man hired by communities in several remote parts of southern Malawi to provide what's called s3xual "cleansing".


If a man dies, for example, his wife is required by tradition to sleep with Aniva before she can bury him. If a woman has an abortion, again sexual cleansing is required.

And most shockingly, in Nsanje, teenage girls, after their first menstruation, are made to have sex over a three-day period, to mark their passage from childhood to womanhood. If the girls refuse, it's believed, disease or some fatal misfortune could befall their families or the village as a whole.

Aniva told BBC boastfully: "Most of those I have slept with are girls, school-going girls," "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. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman."

Aniva who happens to be a middle-aged man has two wives who are well aware of his work. He claims to have slept with 104 women and girls - although as he said the same to a local newspaper in 2012, which means he has long ago lost count. Aniva has five children that he knows about - he's not sure how many of the women and girls he's made pregnant.

He disclosed that he's one of 10 hyenas in this community, and that every village in Nsanje district has them. They are paid from $4 to $7 (£3 to £5) each time.

According to custom, s3x with the hyena must never be protected with the use of condoms. But they say a hyena is hand-picked for his good morals, and therefore cannot be infected with HIV/Aids.

It's clear, given the hyena's duties, that HIV is a huge risk to the community. The UN estimates that one in 10 of all Malawians carry the virus.

When asked about his status, Aniva astounded the BBC reporter by saying he is aware that he is HIV positive but he doesn't tell the women he sleeps with.

He further disclosed that due to his status, he now does fewer cleansing than before. "I still do the rituals here and there," he confides.