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Plight of Malaba sex workers as lack of condoms continues to bite
When Eunice Wanyama lost her husband in 2015, life went from bad to worse. Overnight, she became the sole breadwinner of her family of seven.
Savings by the family quickly dried up, leaving her with few options to make ends meet. Humbled, she found a job as a bar attendant but in most cases, her employer would not pay her wages. At times, she would miss her pay altogether.
Her struggles mounted. She was unable to fend for her family, and pay school fees for them as well as the house rent on time.
“I made the bold decision of becoming a sex worker so that I can take care of my family,” said Wanyama.
Despite the trade having its dangers, she braved on but when COVID-19 hit the country, Wanyama says getting condoms to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases became a problem. Sometimes, they would use one condom twice.
“I received a regular client who normally pays me well but on this day, he didn’t have a condom. Condoms were out of stock at the Malaba border, even those that are sold in local shops were unavailable,” said Wanyama
She added, “I asked my friend for a condom and she didn’t have one. I took the dustbin and went out of the room up to the tap and washed a used condom with running water. I was doing this just to protect myself,”
According to Wanyama, she went back to the room and gave it to the client who put it on but it would later burst after a few sessions in the act, saying they continued with their business and the following day, she went to a health facility to take PrEP so as to prevent herself from contracting HIV.
Wanyama, the mother of seven children, said that after three months she became sick and got treated for malaria but she didn’t recover.
She said the nurse at the health facility upon learning that she was a sex worker, asked her to take further tests, and was diagnosed with syphilis.
“Condoms have helped me up to now but when I got syphilis, I really suffered. I told my client that he infected me with it but denied it until I convinced him to go and get tested. It was discovered that he had lived with it for 16 years but for him, it was dormant in the body,” said Wanyama.
She added, “The government should give us condoms as the ones available are being sold between KES 100 – KES 400 and the condoms are from Uganda. They are selling them to us yet they are to be given for free.”
She lamented that they get paid between KES 200 – KES 500 every time they have a sexual encounter with a client, saying their customers don’t want to be seen buying condoms as they are married people and that it’s the responsibility of a sex worker to buy them.
“If a customer gives you KES 200 but you buy the condoms at KES 100, it’s like you sold your body at KES 100. Will you look for money to pay rent, buy food for your children or buy condoms? Female condoms are also unavailable.”
Wanyama said they have also embraced family planning and for her, she uses implants in order to avoid getting pregnant, given that she gave birth to a child as a result of working as a sex worker, adding that a condom is an ideal family planning method as it protects them from getting STI infections but it also prevents them from getting pregnant.
Pauline Buluma, also a widow, gave birth to her seventh child in September 2020, against her wishes to get more children.
Buluma says she got pregnant after having sex with one of her longtime customers without using a condom since it was unavailable.
“The father of the child is the same who impregnated me in 2018 after a condom burst and didn’t imagine I can get pregnant. I delayed taking emergency pills and when I missed my periods, I bought a pregnancy testing kit and discovered am pregnant. This was the sixth child,” said Buluma.
She added, “I went for a five-year plan (implant) to help myself and I have been using it for the last year. At the end of the day, a condom is ideal as we have multiple sexual partners. Contraceptives can only help to prevent getting pregnant but not HIV. We must protect ourselves and our clients.”
Phanice Nzomo, also a sex worker at the Malaba border said that she has been forced to wash a used condom so as to protect herself, saying it’s not always helpful as it can burst.
“Let the Kenyan government give us condoms,” said Nzomo.”Condoms are our main birth control contraceptive and without them we are dead.”
Nzomo lamented that they have visited various health facilities in Busia county but condom dispensers are in most cases empty. She is now four months pregnant after having unprotected sex with a client who she says normally gives her good money.
“I used to walk with condoms and lubricants when going to meet my clients and could not allow any penetration without them putting on a condom. Four months ago I met my client and I didn’t have condoms. He also didn’t have them and I could not allow him to go get sexual satisfaction elsewhere, thanks to the money he normally gives me,” said Nzomo.
“After a month, I fell sick and when I went to the hospital, I had a three weeks old pregnancy.”
Nzomo says she prefers condoms to other methods of family planning since she cannot get diseases and can also prevent herself from pregnancy by using one item.
Sylvia Epalat, a nurse for sexual workers from Busia Survivors Organization said that the county has at least 4,000 sex workers and three-quarters of them are on modern family planning methods like implants, among others, with condoms the most preferred.
She said since the advent of COVID-19, the county has experienced stockouts of condoms which has been a big blow to the organization.
“We have dispensers in the whole county without condoms,” said Epalat.
Busia County Director of Health, Janerose Amoit Ambuchi confirms that the county is experiencing commodity stockouts.
“We now need to have budgets to buy condoms. For commercial sex workers, routine condom use is their priority and some go to Uganda to get them in order to satisfy their needs,” said Amoit.
She added, “Poverty index in Busia is at 83 per cent and this makes the key populations unable to buy the commodities. Commercial sex workers need to be kept safe from new HIV infections. Family planning uptake in Busia is also very low.”
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