Lobby gives sex workers voice, champions their rights

While in Form 2, Janice (not her real) moonlighted as a bar attendant and dancer in a busy joint in Nairobi over the weekends.

Over time, her job went beyond selling alcohol as revellers noticed her. Bar patrons started seeking her entertainment services in rooms, making her fortunes even better.

In 2006, Janice dropped out of school to become full-time bar bar attendant and sex worker, a job she does to date.

She told the Star it is a tough job, as sex work is still a crime under the law and harassment by law enforcers is common.

Though she has managed to take her two kids to school, Janice is not proud of her trade. There is too much stigma and risk of diseases.

“I’m not proud of this work but it has paid my bills. However, the risks involved are a matter of life and death especially when you think about the diseases,” she said.

From scarcity of sex protection products to essential pills, it is a dog's life for the sex workers, she says, explaining that failure by the state to recognise them is the aggravating factor.

“Most of us in this job are not doing it because we like it so much. It is circumstances that forced us into it. But if we are regularised into the economy and accorded the rights and protection we need, we can produce more revenue to the government and build the nation better,” she said.

Janice, however, has a tinge of regret in her voice.

“May be if I had remained in school and not gone to bars I would not be HIV positive now, would not have spent many days in police cells after arrest in bar raids and would not be beggin men to have sex with me to put food on my table at this age,” she said.

Greg’s story bears some semblance to Janice’s.

He is gay and a covert sex work who is largely based in Kilimani, Nairobi. He has a network of customers who call him on need basis.

The 37-year-old university graduate says he discovered his sexual orientation while on campus and that the money he gets from sex work has kept him in the business.

“If I’m doing sex work and I live the life of my dreams here in Kilimani yet I’m doing it covertly, how much more would I do if it was legalised in their country?” he posed during the interview.

According to Peninah Mwangi, the founder of Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support programme (Bhesp), Janice and other sex workers are lucky to be doing their trade without having to literally fear for their lives or worse.

In the 1990s when she founded the outfit, countless bar girls lost their lives to Aids as information about the disease was largely mythical and it was discussed in hushed tones.

No one cared for the welfare of the bar hostesses, making them vulnerable to harassment by law enforcement and to easy death from infections.

“We used to see hostesses just disappear and stop coming to work, and when you ask, ‘So and so is no longer there, where is she?’ Then you are told she has been sickly and, shortly, dead,” she said.

This story line became frequent, she said.

Mwangi was also alarmed by the frequency of police raids to strategic and busy social joints where sex workers frequented, figuring that the hostesses became a source of quick money and cheap sex to police officers.

“Some of the police officers demanded sex from the workers in return for freeing them from remand.”

Mwangi acted on the alarm, forming the organisation to not only advocate for welfare of sex workers, but also women who have sex with women and those who engaged in drug use.

The association describes itself as “an organisation for and by sex workers, women having sex with women (WSW), women using drugs and bar hostesses in Kenya.”

BHESP was founded in 1998 by a group of these vulnerable women as a ‘loose’ association to advocate for their rights and recognition.

Its mission is to influence policy and facilitate provision of quality health services, human rights awareness, legal services and economic empowerment for sex workers, WSW, women using drugs and bar hostesses in the country.

Through this outfit, Mwangi says, they have been engaging the target women in HIV/Aids prevention, care and support, gender and human rights awareness, advocacy and economic empowerment.

“The organisation serves as a common voice for these vulnerable populations in efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination, while engaging various stakeholders in advocacy and policy dialogue,” the organisation says in its website.

The aim of the entity is to serve as a focal point of and voice for sex workers, women having sex with women, as well as those using drugs and bar hostesses.

It also does provide the target women with information and linkages to services on key issues affecting them.

But it is not just encouraging the lifestyle choices of the women. BHESP also helps them in behaviour change.

It strives for justice and welfare of sex workers whenever their rights have been violated.

BHESP serves as the hub for pills for the women to help them ward off infections that not just threaten their lives but also their livelihood.

The entity says it “is generating messages that communicate the most information in the least time but speak to their wants, needs, and aspirations.”

 “In order to increase PrEP coverage and adherence, an interactive website with blogs has been launched that sends SMS reminders to new consumers to help them adhere to their medication and link them to professionals and peers within an online social network to answer their questions.”