Real Restoration in Kenya
Overview of Kenya (2024)
Population: 56.2 million (USA 342 million)
Square miles: 224,000 (USA 3.16 million, excluding Alaska)
Density: 251 people/sq mile (USA 108 people/sq mile)
Predominant Religion(s): Christian 84% and Islam 10%
GDP per capita: $1,865 (USA $83,060)
Population: 56.2 million (USA 342 million)
Square miles: 224,000 (USA 3.16 million, excluding Alaska)
Density: 251 people/sq mile (USA 108 people/sq mile)
Predominant Religion(s): Christian 84% and Islam 10%
GDP per capita: $1,865 (USA $83,060)
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“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.”
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.”
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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 parlours 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.
“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 parlours 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.
