The discovery of gold deposits in the hills near Tilora Trading Centre in Karonga has stirred a hive of risky sex transactions. Locals in the hilly setting along Lake Malawi are worried about a rising risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, as condoms fly off the shelves of shops and nearby clinics. They say health authorities’ response is slow and scanty as unprotected sex flourishes with increased mining activities and an influx of migrant gold miners, merchants and go-betweens.
The gold pans of Tilora and Chisese hills are teaming with people of different ages, nationalities and cultural backgrounds. The sites have no condom stocks to protect sexually active persons from unwanted pregnancies and STIs. Some are temporarily migrating to newly-discovered gold fields of Mpata and Nyungwe in the district, but hundreds of men, women, girls and boys keep moving and sifting rocky soil in search of gold and quick riches.
Tilora-Chisese gold mining vice-chairperson Frank Chisale says people from all regions in Malawi and neighbouring Tanzania and Zambia scramble for alluvial gold in the area. “Where people of different sex interact, a sex web can’t be ruled out. Sadly, we hardly get essential sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including condoms and preventive messages,” he says.
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Chisale says sex workers have poured into mining sites targeting sex-starved migrant workers and fast cash. “Health authorities should urgently intervene. We need condoms and information to save the lives of locals and migrants,” he says.
Local residents say schoolgirls, particularly in self-boarding, are trapped in intergenerational sex deals that fuel dropout rates, teen pregnancies, child marriages and STIs. “Girls from Tilora Community Day Secondary School [CDSS] fall prey to gold miners and merchants in exchange for money. Sex-for-money poses a serious threat to vulnerable girls’ futures and health,” says a concerned mother, who moves soil and draws water for gold panning.
Tilora CDSS headteacher Edward Sambamo says the mining workforce rent huts too close to girls’ informal hostels. He states: “The migrant miners interact and entice helpless girls with money and other gifts.
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