HIV infected man gets paid to take girls' virginity in 'sexual cleansing ritual'

A man, who is infected with the HIV virus, has shocked the world after revealing that people pay him to have sex with underage girls once they reach puberty in a remote village in Malawi. Eric Aniva, earns an amount ranging from £3 to £5, for deflowering girls over a three-day period after their first menstruation.

It is believed that any girl who refuses to sleep with him risks her family or even the whole village to suffer from a horrific curse. Aniva is known as the ‘hyena’ in the area because of the ‘services’ that he provides. ‘Hyenas’ are men who are hired by village elders to carry out ‘sexual cleansing’ in kusasa fumbi initiations in certain parts of Malawi.

“Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older,” says Aniva, according to a report in the BBC. “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.”

He claims to have had sexual relations with over 100 women and girls in his paid role, which also requires him to have sex with widows before their husbands are allowed to be buried. Ironically, Aniva confesses that he would not allow a ‘hyena’ to have sex with his own daughter. He claims that he is now ‘stopping’ the practice.

There are several charity organisations in the country that are working towards curbing different forms of gender-based violence through education.