Editor's note: Kwaku Owusu Peprah's documentary titled Behind the Curtain is a two-part series about the fear's and anxieties of female sex workers trafficked into the country from different parts of Africa. It goes beyond the ordinary to reveal the untold stories of life and death. They walk the streets of our towns and cities donning provocative outfits – the miniskirts and the tight-fitting trousers that reveal portions of their upper buttocks. Tops with lowly cut necklines to reveal prominent cleavages are an important signature, and it seems to work well for them. Yes, female sex workers have many things to attract members of the opposite sex. Behind these aesthetics however, are the sorrowful stories of pain, fear and anxiety. Kwaku Owusu Peprah’s documentary dubbed Behind the Curtain, put the spotlight on these including the adventures of prostitutes in Ghana’s red light districts. Anita, 22, was trafficked into the country when she was 16 years and had never “seen” a man. Today, she’s a hard core prostitute. “I’m a Nigerian from a family of three. I’m the last born. I didn’t wake up one day and decide to come to Ghana. When I finished my secondary school I was in the village. I met another lady who’s also a Nigerian. She said she wanted to take me to Ghana to help her at her shop. My mother did not want me to go but I was able to convince my mother. “So I followed the woman with another girl. Once we crossed the Aflao border she told us that we were going to practice prostitution. That we would pay her 3,000 Ghana cedis. She dared us to return to Nigeria. But I had no money on me. Then I said we’ll follow you. That was what landed me in this job.” To bond her, she’s made to swear to a powerful deity. This is the trap her trafficker used on her and scores of girls brought in from Nigeria and other countries to please men looking for a moment’s pleasure. Anita has been plying her trade in the principal streets of Takoradi. She sleeps with men of all ages, classes and statuses – the suave, the ugly and the wretched-looking alike. Her good gooks make her a big attraction for men and her friends even suspected she had juju. However, young Anita is not happy; a senior high school leaver, her education is now truncated. She’s now opened a new grisly, sordid chapter of life and the future now looks very bleak. Thoughts of her bad experiences with some clients make tears well up in her eyes. “Most of us die here and our parents don’t even know our whereabouts. When I was in Kumasi a certain girl died and they couldn’t even locate which part of Nigeria this girl comes from but somebody brought her to Ghana. “When I was in Kumasi, a certain man took me. The man told me that we were going to the house. But when we got the place the man sped up past the place and what came to mind was that this man either wants to take me to a ritualist or he wants to go and murder me. He pointed a gun at me. “I rushed to the steering because he was speeding and I bit him on the hand and took out his flesh. That was when he threw me out of the car. I rolled on the ground for several seconds and all my dress was torn.” Like this sex worker many prostitutes would love to stop and live a new life but the pressures of poverty and rejection make then choose commercial sex as an economic refuge of sorts. “Some have offered reasons like poverty which others also question. Because sometimes we have a situation where those who are very poor are not involved in these activities and those who are affluent or the middle class or the middle income people are involved in such activities. However, it’s likely if people are poor and they’re pushed they’re likely to turn in and succumb to that sexual orientation. And sometimes emotional problems. If their emotional needs are not properly channeled. And sometimes peer pressure,” says sociologist at the University of Cape Coast Egart Akonor. Can they change? Psychologist Nortey Dua says a big yes! “If something is acquired, if it’s not genetic, you were not born with it. If you learned it then you can unlearn it. So reform is possible. It may be difficult, it may be complicated but it is not impossible. Firstly the person must want to change. It’s very easy to announce that you’re willing to change because that’s what it seems everybody would want to hear but the reality and the factors that keep you in that position or in that trade need to be looked at. “If we keep on treating the person’s condition and leaving the person’s position the change will not come about,” he said. Young Anita still roams on the streets of Takoradi and still believes there could be change some day. Until then she’ll continue to trade her body for cash.