Being the first born in a family of six children meant I had to take care of all the responsibilities. When I was only 15 years old, I travelled from Western Kenya to Nairobi, in order to secure a job. Back then, we all believed that Nairobi was full of money and opportunities. I had to go, since in our village it is believed that once you reach adolescent, you are ready to get married.
Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHESP) Sunday joined hundreds of women in Nairobi to participate in the Women’s Run 2018 as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign with calls for protection against victims of gender-based violence and shifting the blame from the survivors to the perpetrators.
From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world.
American Jewish World Service (AJWS) donors visited Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHESP) and commended the organization for working tirelessly towards ensuring sex workers have access to health care and are protected from violence, sexual abuse, and discrimination.
Led by AJWS Vice President for Development Margo Bloom, the 16-member team, said they were happy to learn how their commitment is making an impact in the lives of female sex workers in Kenya.
Bloom said that the visit has provided the team with an opportunity to learn about the challenges and successes BHESP is experiencing.
Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme {BHESP} Friday joined hundreds of women in Nairobi to protest the brutal murder of Rongo University student Sharon Otieno.
Ms. Otieno, a second-year student, was killed and her body dumped in a thicket in Oyugis, Homa Bay County.
Led by BHESP’s Paralegal Mary Mugure, the protesters donned white and red t-shirts crisscrossed Nairobi streets with placards criticizing the inhuman killing of Sharon and her unborn baby demanding for speedy conclusions of the investigation into the brutal murder.
The University of Leicester in its 2018 round of International Development Research Fund resources funded a pilot project facilitated by Professor Teela Sanders (Department of Criminology) with the NGO Bar Hostesses Empowerment and Support project (BHESP). The project is pre-work for a much larger research programme which has been sent to the GCRF for consideration which will create a skills programme for young women working in the sex industry.
The pilot project has taken just 5 months from inception to analysis and presentation, assisted by an excellent project manager in Nairobi, Raham Hassan and a team of five co-researchers from the sex work community. These women were hired and trained as researchers in May to conduct a face to face survey with sex workers.
(+254) 020-260-8944
Email: info@ bhesp.org
Kasarani Near Do's office
