JEDDAH, 7 May 2005 — The young women don’t look like merchants of death — they smile and promise a lonely man a good time for a few riyals, but those men who sought to fight their loneliness may find themselves fighting for their lives if the prostitutes they hire carry the AIDS virus.
Many sad stories come from south Jeddah neighborhoods of men who were infected by AIDS from such women. There are many pimps who target youth in search of pleasure for money, Al-Madinah newspaper reported recently. It’s a deadly reality that is spreading in neighborhoods, such as Al-Thalaba, Karantina and Qurayat. Pimps stand on street corners searching for customers. With their experience, it’s easy to spot potential customers.
It’s also easy to find prostitutes through taxi drivers who connect customers to pimps. The drivers use their experience to determine if the customer is approachable or not. Drivers try to talk to customers and gauge from his answers if he’s interested in girls or not. If the customer agrees to the driver’s proposition, he’s transported to a remote location to meet a pimp, usually an expatriate of African origin.
The sex trade has its own price guidelines — SR100 for an hour or SR500 for a day. When the deal is made, a signal is given and a woman emerges from a house in the neighborhood. After the money is paid, the woman goes with the man to any place he chooses. There are other girls who stand in the street awaiting customers to solicit. One girl, observed by a Al-Madinah reporter, was walking back and fourth through a south Jeddah neighborhood. She walked as if she was waiting for someone. A suspicious car stopped, and she directed him to wait for her on a small, dark street. The girl got in the car after negotiating the deal.
Another girl observed by the reporter was standing on the street with a pimp who asked her to wait inside a shop. A car pulled over, and the pimp entered the car to make the deal. Then the pimp signaled to the girl to go with the driver after getting the money.
Abdul Aziz Al-Thubaiti, a Saudi who lives in south Jeddah, said that the problem is not an epidemic yet, but it is going to be if officials don’t do anything about it.
“Most of the people who do this type of prostitution are from Africa, and their customers are of different nationalities, including Saudis,” he said. “This is beneath our society. What helps these people escape justice is that it’s easy for them to hide in these neighborhoods. We don’t see police or members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in these places.”
Al-Thubaiti said the price of that carnal pleasure can be disease and death. “Most people should be aware that these prostitutes come to this country already infected with AIDS, and they spread this disease on purpose.”
Al-Madinah interviewed a young Saudi man walking the street in tattered clothes. He’d been infected with AIDS from an African prostitute. “I used to come to this place every time in search of pleasure,” the doomed man said. “In this spot where I’m standing, I picked up one of these girls who was infected with AIDS.”
A young life; a shattered dream and a likely death sentence.
“She destroyed my life. I can’t even start a family,” the young Saudi said.
He doesn’t know how long it will take for the AIDS to kill him, but in the meantime he tries to warn others that the price of a prostitute isn’t SR100 or SR500 but perhaps life itself.
“Now I come to these places to ruin their work,” said the onetime pleasure seeker. “I throw rocks at the cars that stop to pick up these women. People on the street beat me up thinking I’m crazy. They don’t know I’m trying to save people from being infected with AIDS.”
Roads connect south Jeddah neighborhoods to the rest of the city, and many of the customers likely come from other areas. Some riyals, a car ride and someone’s very bad judgment and dishonesty is all it takes to bring death to your neighborhood, your street — or your home.
