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Female Truckers Stories * South Africa - Brave the night shift
With HIV taking its toll of male drivers, firms look to women to bring stability
Johannesburg,SA -The Guardian (UK), by David Smith -22 May 2009: -- Eunice Sikhunyane clocks on at 5.30pm for one of the loneliest jobs in the world. The single mother climbs into her cabin, turns on the ignition and spends the next nine hours driving a 16-wheel, 28-tonne truck through the African night... Eunice is part of a growing occupational group in South Africa: the female trucker. Women are in demand for a job once synonymous with masculinity because of the devastating toll of HIV/Aids on male truck drivers... About one in four truckers are estimated to be HIV positive. It is a transient lifestyle notorious for long stopovers far from home and easy access to prostitutes. About 3,000 truck drivers are lost annually to Aids as well as accidents, armed hijackings, alcoholism and other causes. The industry says it needs 15,000 new recruits each year. Women are often seen as more likely to take care of themselves and their vehicles... Eunice, 36, used to drive tractors and fire tenders but joined the Rennies haulage company three years ago because it paid better: 4,700 rand (£350) a month. She has seen the culture of promiscuity among male drivers... "Most of the guys sleep with prostitutes and don't know if she's sick or not sick," she said... "Maybe he will buy a lady and the next day he'll go with his wife. Someone asked me: 'So, will you buy a man?' I said: 'No, I have a boyfriend'."... Happiness Sibisi, 27, became a truck driver after leaving school. She is one of two women drivers, alongside 58 men, employed by Unitrans in Durban. "They treat me like a kid because all of them are very old," she said... She had one terrifying experience when she was being followed. She called her depot and was told to return. "I went faster but they kept following me... "I do worry but a job is a job. My husband wonders whether I'll come back in the morning. When someone wants to steal a truck you give it to them, because a truck can be replaced and you can't."... (Picture: South Africa Illustrations Truckers Against AIDS)
Labels: female truckers, truckers stories
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