HIV infected Man Paid To Have Sex with Underage Girls

"Hyena" is a traditional title given to a man hired by remote communities in the southern part of Malawi to provide what is called 'sexual cleansing'. Eric Aniva a HIV positive middle aged man who lives in the Nsanje district in southern Malawi happens to be one of the hyenas in his community. He is paid £3 - £5 by locals to perform the sexual rituals. For example, a widow is required by tradition to sleep with Avina before she is allowed to bury her husband. Also if a woman has an abortion, she has to sleep with the hyena inorder to purify herself. And most shockingly is that teenage girls after their first menstruation are made to have sex with him over a three day period inorder to mark a passage from childhood to womanhood, and if a girl should refuse, it's believed that misfortune and diesease could befall the family or the entire village. 

Mr Avina who spoke to BBC said "most of the girls I've slept with are school going girls, some are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older. All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena and are actually proud to tell other people."