Sex workers targeting truck drivers for income

As you travel along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, fuel tankers are a common sight at Pipeline area of Nakuru just next to the Kenya Pipeline Company depot.

The area is characterized by numerous lodgings and bars, which become convenient for visitors who want to spend nights in this upcoming commercial centre in the outskirts of Nakuru town.

But besides the fuel business commercial sex thrives in this centre.

When Janet*, Ann* and Mary* (not their real names) discovered that they had a similar problem, they sought for a common solution.

The trio lived in rental houses within Pipeline estate. They had all been divorced by their husbands. They had children and were affected by the 2007/2008 post-election violence.

“One day in 2009, as we rested outside, we asked ourselves what we would do to provide for our children,” says Janet.

DISPLACED

She had been displaced from Kericho where she had been a sex worker for about a year.

Janet suggested that they should try sex work targeting fuel tanker drivers at Pipeline.

“I had noticed that the drivers parked and stayed around for some days and thought it would be a great place to do commercial sex,” says Janet.

Since then, the three have been among an estimated 200 sex workers who operate at Pipeline in Nakuru with their main targets being fuel truck drivers.

However, they say, married men in the neighbourhood, businessmen and local police officers also form part of their frequent clients.

A recent report indicates that close to 50 per cent of sex workers in the country are living with HIV.

“46.2 per cent of female sex workers are infected with HIV compared to 7.7 per cent of the general population,” says the report.

NAIROBI LEADING

It rates Nairobi region as having the highest number of sex workers at 27,620 followed by Rift Valley region which has an estimated 23,700.

A total of 51 towns were surveyed. The findings indicated that there are about 103,300 sex workers in the country.

Salgaa trading centre is another hotspot for sex workers.

In a bid to dig deeper on operations of the world’s oldest trade in Salgaa, I sat with six women at the Family Health International offices in Salgaa.

This is where the sex workers go for free condoms and health-related services including HIV counselling and testing.

“I started off as a bar maid after my husband sent me away from our home in Kisumu,” says Judith Achieng’, who doubles up as a peer educator among the sex workers.

While working at the bar, Achieng’ discovered that many men were interested in having sex with her at a fee.

ENCOURAGED BY FRIENDS

Initially, she was shy until she consulted a friend who encouraged her to venture into the trade.

“I discovered that there was more money in sex work than at the bar,” says Achieng’ adding, “After all, sex work is self- employment just like business unlike in the bar where I was employed.”

Though a small town, Salgaa has more than 15 spots where sex workers wait for their clients.

In some instances, the sex workers rent small rooms in lodgings for Sh200 per day where they serve clients as they come.

Truck drivers form the bulk of sex clients with men from local flower farms and businesses occasionally buying the services too.

Salgaa has more than 500 sex workers. But the number often swells due to ‘intruders’ from neighbouring towns including Nakuru, Gilgil and Molo.

Titled ‘Estimating the size of the Female Sex Worker Population in Kenya to inform HIV Prevention Programming’, the report identified a total of 10,670 Female Sex Workers’ hotspots in the country. Nairobi had the highest number of hotspots accounting for 24 per cent of the overall number.

A total of 51 towns were surveyed. The findings were that there are about 103,300 sex workers in the country.

The research was carried out with the aim of understanding locations and size estimates of female sex workers and other high at risk populations in the country with the aim of informing them on HIV prevention and programming.

Others who are at high risk according to HIV experts include men who have sex with men and people who inject themselves with drugs.

This was the first National-Level mapping of Female Sex Workers to be conducted in the country.

REGISTER SEX WORKERS

It aims at triggering registration of sex workers and identification and allocation of peer educators in identified sites.

According to Dr George Githuka, a programs officer at the National Aids and STI Program (NASCOP) more wellness centers are set to be established at sex workers’ hotspots in a bid to educate sex workers and their clients.

“We are working on empowering sex workers on negotiation skills with clients to convince them (clients) to always use condoms,” said Dr Githuka

Some sex workers opt to have sex without condoms so that they are paid more unlike when they use protection.

For this reason, Dr Githuka said, Nascop is working on offering them an alternative source of income, not necessarily to pull then from sex work, but to discourage them against not using condoms to increase income.

While using a condom a sex worker fetches between Sh200-Sh500 per client while the same goes for up to between Sh1,000-Sh2,000 without protection.