Woes of prostitutes at crossroads town

She left her two children sleeping and, as was the norm, locked the door behind her and headed to the local pubs.

Ms Mary Chemutai had expected to return to her house late in the night or even the following morning, all in the name of fending for her children.

But this was not to be; it would be the last time she was seeing her children alive. Sandra Chepkirui aged five and her brother Clinton Kipkirui aged three were burnt beyond recognition when a fierce fire gutted their single room wooden house.

The 24-year-old mother was earning her living at a local bar, only to be interrupted by loud screams.

According to Mr Denis Sigei, who was among those who answered the distress call from neighbours, they did not know there were children in one of the burning houses.

On the other hand, Ms Chemutai was too drunk to comprehend the magnitude of that night’s event.

“But reality hit her hard as mourners flocked to the home where she had sought refuge for the night,” said Mr Sigei.

But at Murkan Junction in Narok, Ms Chemutai’s case is not peculiar.

“Many women lock their children in the house at night, as they go to look for money to raise the children,” says an elder from the region, Mr Joseph Soi arap Simba.

Poverty is high here and women do anything just to earn a living. Anything for their daily bread.

“Prostitution is the main source of income for women here,” Mr Simba says.

Hundreds of single roomed wooden houses behind shops, bars and other businesses where these mothers live with their children define Murkan Junction in Trans Mara in Narok County.

Mr Simba explains that most of the houses are rented by women who spend most of their time in the local pubs hunting for men who can buy their bodies.

It is hard to see these women during the day as they are usually asleep. “They sell their bodies in return for money. That’s the way of life for most women here” he says.

Ms Gladys Cherono says life at Murkan Junction is tough. The second-hand clothes dealer says most of her friends are prostitutes.

“I came here an year ago, life has been very difficult. Poverty is very high,” she says, adding that many of her friends find hustling for manual jobs tedious.

“My friends leave their houses at around 6pm to go for ‘work’. For those who cannot afford to pay lodging fees, their houses are turned into lodgings as their children sleep in one of the corners of their houses,” she says.

INCREASES HOPELESSNESS

She says many children in the area do not attend school, which increases the hopelessness. Ms Janet Kirui is a single mother of five. She has been living at Murkan Junction for the past one year.

Her children aged between 12 and four are with their grandmother at Chemamit village, some kilometers away.

Ms Kirui says she has no job and manual jobs are hard to get. “But life must go on. I have to struggle to send some money home for my children,” she says.

Ms Dorcas Chepngetich is also jobless. She has three children, the eldest is in Standard one, the other is in pre-unit while the last born is less than a year old.

The 26-year-old left her home at Sosiana in 2014 and lived at Soit trading centre near Murkan Junction for one year. “I later moved here to try my luck,” she tells Sunday Nation.

According to a local youth Mr Geoffrey Kechwo, Murkan Juction is about 11 years old. Mr Kechwo says women from neighbouring counties flock the area in search of work in nearby tea farms.

Many do not return to their homes even when they don’t find work and end up in prostitution.