Amina grew up in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania under the care of her loving parents. In university, she pursued computer science. Upon completion, Amina was hired at Tanzania’s Ministry of Labor headquarters in Dar es Salaam. Life as an employee was great. She quickly formed friendships with her colleagues. Among them was a young lady named Rebecca.
In the course of their work, the two had to travel for a seminar to Dodoma, Tanzania’s legislative capital. One night during the trip, just past midnight, Amina went to Rebecca’s room but didn’t find her. She became worried, especially when Rebecca didn’t pick up her phone. Amina retired to bed with a sense of unease. In the morning Amina met up with Rebecca, and their discussion on Rebecca’s whereabouts was a short one. Rebecca just said she had gone to make money and had made about USD $350, but she didn’t say how exactly she earned it. This left Amina even more curious. She wanted to know how Rebecca was earning so much money. They completed their seminar in Dodoma and returned to Dar es Salaam. Amina continued to pester Rebecca to tell her how she made such serious money outside of their work. Eventually Rebecca explained that she was selling herself, inviting, “come join me and you will make money like never before.” Amina was confused. She needed to think for a few days. She considered her colleague’s comfortable lifestyle. She wanted it too.
After much thought, Amina eventually decided to join Rebecca. That night Rebecca took her to a suburb of Dar es Salaam. Amina’s first client paid roughly US $400 for the first session. By the end of the night, Amina earned over US $700. This amount was roughly equivalent to her monthly salary. It was too good to be true. Amina and Rebecca became a team that thrived together in the business.
After a couple months, the two had a serious discussion about their jobs. Why stay with the Ministry of Labor when they were making a month’s salary in a single night? Both decided to quit their day jobs and became full-time sex workers. The money poured in. They were on top of the world. Among Amina’s clients were top government officials. More interesting, one was her former boss from the Ministry of Labor. He was a senior official, and she had been a junior staff member. He didn’t know her, but she knew him.
Soon Amina and Rebecca discovered international markets. They applied for passports and before long they were flying across Africa to new clients.
After a short conversation, he left her with a set of Bible lessons from Light Bearers.
Their first trip was in Nairobi, Kenya. They made more in the first seven days than they had ever made in a week before. They decided to explore the West African markets. They flew to Nigeria. And, as always, they made lots of money in the process. But disaster struck when Amina was raped by about seven men in one of the hotels in Lagos. She was left alone and unconscious. When she woke up, she went to the hospital. A couple of days later she flew back home with Rebecca. This incident left Amina with questions. She was terrified and unsure what to do. A sense of confusion overshadowed her as she continued her work.
It was during this time that Amina met Evangelist Peter Daudi. After a short conversation, he left her with a set of Bible lessons from Light Bearers. Amina read them as she continued working. Every time Peter and Amina met, she had excuses and was not ready to make any decision in favor of the message. One day the evangelist appealed to her to consider the direction she was going with her life. She remembered the incident in Nigeria. The hopelessness of her future in this trade flashed before her. As she continued to read the Bible studies, she was convicted. She wanted freedom.
With much prayer and counseling from Peter, Amina eventually decided to quit prostitution and begin a new life. It was tough. Her father is a committed member of an evangelical church, yet even he didn’t appreciate his daughter leaving prostitution and becoming a committed God-fearing Christian. As if that was not enough, Amina and Rebecca’s friendship soured. Rebecca felt betrayed by Amina and left alone.
Amina started attending the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was eventually baptized. And God, not long afterwards, blessed her with a family. She got married and now lives with her husband and their daughter, Rehab, in Dar es Salaam. Amina is ever grateful to God for sending his servant the evangelist and for rescuing her from the sex trade industry.
Meiring Pretorius
Meiring works on the ground where Light Bearers literature is sent and writes regular reports on the progress of the literature work in these areas.
