K E N Y A

Real Restoration entered into Kenya in early 2018.
While Kenya is known for the Serengetti, Kilimanjaro, Kenyan distance runners, it also is growing in sexual exploitation.
Across the country, more than 200,000 sex workers. Nairobi alone, has more than 40,000 sex workers. Sex work is a viable option to pull ahead your life and your family.
Child sex tourism is rampant in the coastal city of Mombassa.
European travelers especially have continued to fuel the trade. Many come to the city in search of girls aged between 12 and 18. The industry has made Kenya one of the world's hubs for child sex tourism, researchers say. UNICEF released numbers on child trafficking in Kenya that revealed that almost a third of girls age 12 and younger in the Mombasa region were involved in prostitution. European men comprise half of the clients, the report said.
“We always believe that white men have money, so when they come here we hope that they will get us out of poverty,” said Sabina. “They give us a lot of money and sleep with us. We use the money to pay rent for our parents and buy food.”
Emily, a 16-year-old orphan, said she was forced into the business due to poverty and peer pressure. Her aunt encouraged her to engage in sex with white men to help pay family expenses. Emily is now infected with HIV.
“I have slept with different men, especially whites from Germany, Italy and the USA,” she said. “I regret it but I had no option [at] that time. I started the business at age 10, when a friend connected me to an Italian tourist who had visited the country for three months. I had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.”
According to the latest data available, one in three girls aged between 12 and 18 in Kenya’s coastal area is engaged in casual sex work, a 2006 report by the U.N. children’s agency Unicef and the Kenyan government states.
“It’s getting worse. In about 90 percent of families in a village, you will find at least one girl out of three who is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation".
Eighteen-year-old Saumu, who began selling sex at 15, holds out little hope of a better future: she has a 3-year-old son from one client, and is eight months pregnant by another.
“I had wanted to become a doctor, but my mother couldn’t pay the school fees so I dropped out and started going with men for money,” she said, sitting in a community centre in Kombani town, 12 km (7 miles) from Diani. “It’s not where I wanted my life to be. But when there is no option, you do it and slowly it becomes a habit.”
Commercial sex work, although illegal, is a rampant daily occurrence in Nairobi. “Approximately 7,000 sex workers operate in Nairobi per night, with each having an average of 3-4 clients, which translates to between 21,000 and 28,000 sexual activities a night,” a report said. City authorities ruled out legalization of prostitution despite demands by sex workers that they be recognized. Some of the registered licensed massage parlour are actually operating as sex dens and brothels with both owners and patrons aware of the same, hence increasing the popularity of sex work in Kenya.
Real Restoration now has a presence in a slum area of Nairobi. Already we are seeing an impact on women’s lives that are longing to get out of the sex trade.
While Kenya is known for the Serengetti, Kilimanjaro, Kenyan distance runners, it also is growing in sexual exploitation.
Across the country, more than 200,000 sex workers. Nairobi alone, has more than 40,000 sex workers. Sex work is a viable option to pull ahead your life and your family.
Child sex tourism is rampant in the coastal city of Mombassa.
European travelers especially have continued to fuel the trade. Many come to the city in search of girls aged between 12 and 18. The industry has made Kenya one of the world's hubs for child sex tourism, researchers say. UNICEF released numbers on child trafficking in Kenya that revealed that almost a third of girls age 12 and younger in the Mombasa region were involved in prostitution. European men comprise half of the clients, the report said.
“We always believe that white men have money, so when they come here we hope that they will get us out of poverty,” said Sabina. “They give us a lot of money and sleep with us. We use the money to pay rent for our parents and buy food.”
Emily, a 16-year-old orphan, said she was forced into the business due to poverty and peer pressure. Her aunt encouraged her to engage in sex with white men to help pay family expenses. Emily is now infected with HIV.
“I have slept with different men, especially whites from Germany, Italy and the USA,” she said. “I regret it but I had no option [at] that time. I started the business at age 10, when a friend connected me to an Italian tourist who had visited the country for three months. I had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.”
According to the latest data available, one in three girls aged between 12 and 18 in Kenya’s coastal area is engaged in casual sex work, a 2006 report by the U.N. children’s agency Unicef and the Kenyan government states.
“It’s getting worse. In about 90 percent of families in a village, you will find at least one girl out of three who is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation".
Eighteen-year-old Saumu, who began selling sex at 15, holds out little hope of a better future: she has a 3-year-old son from one client, and is eight months pregnant by another.
“I had wanted to become a doctor, but my mother couldn’t pay the school fees so I dropped out and started going with men for money,” she said, sitting in a community centre in Kombani town, 12 km (7 miles) from Diani. “It’s not where I wanted my life to be. But when there is no option, you do it and slowly it becomes a habit.”
Commercial sex work, although illegal, is a rampant daily occurrence in Nairobi. “Approximately 7,000 sex workers operate in Nairobi per night, with each having an average of 3-4 clients, which translates to between 21,000 and 28,000 sexual activities a night,” a report said. City authorities ruled out legalization of prostitution despite demands by sex workers that they be recognized. Some of the registered licensed massage parlour are actually operating as sex dens and brothels with both owners and patrons aware of the same, hence increasing the popularity of sex work in Kenya.
Real Restoration now has a presence in a slum area of Nairobi. Already we are seeing an impact on women’s lives that are longing to get out of the sex trade.