Mozambican girls say survival, lack of affection, lack of sexual satisfaction and ambition are some of the reasons they have multiple sexual partners.

Here is what they say:

Material things

“You may have a relationship with only one person but it is difficult because you may want a pair of expensive trousers and he may not have money to buy them, and we end up having other partners as a way of getting money to buy what we want,” says a  girl from  Manica, a rural area in Mozambique.

“Well, I myself that I am speaking right now I am a poor person, why? I do not work but I have more ambitions, I want to pursue my studies but I do not know how. Today somebody may come to me and say Meli, here is a purse, but in order for you to have this purse, you have to do something with me. I want to study. If it was you, what would you do? I cannot let this purse go away, I will give myself right away; I am a poor person but I want to continue studying,” a girl from Pemba, an urban area in Mozamabique says.

Another reason a girl may have multiple sexual partners is to get the money for day-to-day expenses. “A person who does not have a father and mother goes to school and depends on herself, helps the family, a family who does not help at home. So, this person will have to do something to get by on her own. She goes there and finds Joãozinho who gives her some money; but another boyfriend comes to me and he has got more to give me and I prefer to jump to that person who has got more because I sustain myself, I do not have a job, I go to school,”  a girl from  says Nampula.

Different responsibilities for different partners

“I have various partners because a partner is business. One partner is for affection, the other one means friendship, I always want to be with him; the pleasure of being with João because he has got money or because he has got a car, that will I always be in the car and go for a walk and this ends up in having various partners; I end up being with João, Alfredo, Tomás, because João may have money, but João with the money he has, he does not satisfy me sexually, he is always at home but Alfredo is not, he is an out-going person and likes going to discos, to the cinema but he does not have money, he is completely poor, then comes Tomás who is a married man, he is not always with me. This will turn the circle and when you count them, you realise that he is the 10th partner,” says a girl from Beira.

Sexual adventure

The girls also have multiple sexual partners  because they are searching for sexual variety and adventure.

“If I am with my partner  and we have our active sexual life, at the moment it is good for me, but when I am in a party, in a different environment, as soon as I see an interesting person, I say to myself: what an excellent athletic physical feature and who knows, he may be excellent in bed, so I approach him, we talk and everything else happen. We may have sex, and I start making a comparison and if my boyfriend is not so tasty in bed, this person I have just known is special!!! Sas things go on that way, this will mean more partners coming into my life, and I keep on having this illusion in my mind, I sum up partners and so there will be a lot of partners,” a girl from Beira says.

Because I want to

“A lot of ladies also do it for fancy. Fancy is when you know that you have everything and you have somebody who you love but you wish to have another partner just because you want to do it, to do it just to feel what the other lady does, that is what I understand by fancy. You have everything at home but you do things that you are not supposed to do, you have that pleasure because you a human being and have that pleasure of doing things that you should not do,” a girl from Pemba says.

This article is based on the content of a research report on multiple concurrent partnerships in Mozamabique. The research was conducted by N’weti and its partners.

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