SEX WORKERS REAL STRUGGLE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC

BY BHESP TEAM – 2^nd JUNE 2021…….

International Sex Workers' Day takes place annually on June 2^nd. The day is celebratory, which remembers the discrimination of sex workers and their often exploitative living and working conditions. The starting point of the International Sex Workers’ Day as a memorial was June 2^nd, 1975 in which more than 100 sex workers occupied the Church Saint-Nizier in Lyon in order to get attention to their situation.

 In many places in Africa, sex for money is readily available, cheap, risky, and often illegal. For many sex workers, work is often dangerous.

The Kenyan coastal strip is normally a beehive of tourism activities. Local and international holidaymakers find their way to Mombasa, Malindi plus other towns in the area that shores the Indian ocean, popular for sandy beaches. Bars and nightclubs line up here; many European and American tourists stroll through the coastal metropolis in regular times. Sex workers also earn their money here.

One of them is Hawa (name changed). Like many other young women, she has been working as a sex worker for several years. "If I don't engage in sex work, I will have no money to pay my bills, buy clothes and lead a good life," Hawa told BHESP.

Saturday, March 27th, 2021 will forever remain a dark day for Marion Wamboi, a single mother of three and until then a proud homeowner of a three-bedroomed house in the Njiru area in the Kasarani area of Nairobi. She was left with nowhere to call home after bulldozers from Nairobi Metropolitan Services supervised by close to 200 uniformed police officers descended on the estate and within hours, the entire estate was nothing but debris.
Marion had in August of last year bought a piece of land in the area by depositing Ksh 500,000 to Njiru Neema Self Help group in which she and others were members, upon fulfilling other requirements that the Sacco had requested in order to purchase the property. She then went ahead and used close to KSh 1.5 Million to put up the structure before moving in with her children.