Trading the stool for a stall: Migrant female sex workers in Majengo, Kenya

Today, I ventured out to Majengo, a heavily populated settlement zone on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. I met with two migrant female sex workers who have been part of a peer education programme for the past two years. They talk about the impact the programme has had on their lives.

*Rosemary Maliwa sells fruits for a living. One year ago, she worked as a female sex worker, earning less than one dollar a day. She shares her story with us…

At the break of dawn, *Rosemary Maliwa walks out of her house. She pushes the door gently, to keep from waking her three grandchildren who are coiled up on the floor of her one-bedroom tin house. With fruits tightly packed into a small bucket, she wades through burst sewage pipes, to a makeshift wooden structure by the side of a road.

25 years as a sex worker

This is Majengo. A densely populated neighborhood on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. Tanzanians, Rwandese, Ugandans and Congolese weave through the crowd of Kenyans, dodging speeding cars that fill the air with clouds of dust.

“If you came door-to-door for one week, you would not have met all the female sex workers in Majengo,” Rosemary, a migrant from Tanzania, explains.

She came to Majengo 26 years ago.

“A friend who cared for me brought me here; she worked here too.”

Rosemary was a housewife, and she relied on her husband for upkeep. When he became abusive and started spending more nights away from home, she decided to leave with their three children.

How much money I made depended on how much risk I was willing to take

On a good day, Rosemary was able to see ten clients. But there were days when no clients came to her house.

“The calculation was simple: ‘Should I let my children go hungry, or should I take the risk of having unprotected sex?’ It was not a difficult decision – I had unprotected sex many times.”

Along the way, Rosemary contracted the HIV virus.

Trading the stool for the stall

In Majengo, a female sex worker sits on a small, wooden stool outside her house to symobolize that she is at work. When a client approaches her, she follows him into her house with the stool in hand.

“One day, I learned about a peer education programme that NOPE and IOM were running. I was told that they could help me start up a business. I had always wanted to quit sex work, but I was unable to get start-up income for a business from any bank - it is hard when your papers are not okay. I grabbed the opportunity when it came my way.”

One year ago, Rosemary traded the stool for a stall. She now trades in fruits. She supplements her income with money she makes off fabrics she sells.

"When our clients see us on these stools, they know we are at work." Photo/Mary-Sanyu Osire


*Victoria Kalume is a female sex worker. One year ago, she did not know that undocumented migrants also have rights. Today, she insists that everyone deserves to be respected. Find out why…

Illegally connected electricity lines hang dangerously low over *Victoria Kalume’s house.

“Come in, have a seat,” she motions with her hand.

She grabs a wrinkled handkerchief to wipe sweat off her forehead. A small radio in the corner is blaring. She breathes heavily.

Victoria just saw a client.

She is a migrant female sex worker, one of hundreds of Congolese who make a living in Majengo, a heavy populated settlement zone in Nairobi.

Treated like dogs

“Kenya has had three presidents since independence; and we were here before the first president, yet law enforcement officers used to treat us like dogs.”

Sex work is illegal in Kenya. Victoria’s situation is exacerbated by the fact that she is an undocumented migrant.

Change

IOM and NOPE have been running human rights sensitization classes for sex workers and law enforcement officers, in an effort to raise public awareness about the rights of vulnerable migrants, and to empower migrants to speak up for their rights.

“Things have slowly started to change. These days, if one of our clients refuses to pay, we are confident enough to report the case to police. This was unthinkable a few years ago,” Victoria says.

She digs into her handbag and retrieves scrap paper with a number scribbled on it.

“If I got arrested today, I would call these people. They would help me. One year ago, I did not know what services were available. Today, I know who to go to for what kind of assistance.”


* not real name



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Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Female sex work

The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].