64-year-old Rosemary John, who is born and partly raised in
Tanzania, is still counting the number of men she has slept with to make
ends meet and raise her children and grand children.
In 1984, a friend told her how well-paying social working was and
since then, she has never looked back as she stormed the notorious ‘Hooker Avenue’
for the better part of two decades in the famous Gikomba in Nairobi -
an area synonymous with the oldest profession, prostitution.
In an exclusive interview with The Nairobian, Rosemary in fluent Swahili delivered in a husky voice as she takes us into her cubicle, partly made of stones and mud.
“I got married at 16, but after some time in marriage, my
husband started neglecting us after I gave birth to five children. I
could have had 10 children were it not for two miscarriages. I joined
some women along Digo Road where we would wait for clients day and night
and charged Sh5 for our services.
“The price remained the same for more than five years until it
rose to Sh50 and finally over Sh100 in early 2000s, depending on the
location,” explains Rosemary who estimates that she could handle up to 40 men “on a good day” and “between five and 10 men on a bad day.”
Rosemary says she operated for a year on the top floor of a
building along Nairobi’s Luthuli Avenue “waiting for clients,” while at
Gikomba, most women owned cubicles where clients were restricted to less
than 20 minutes a session.
“Until 2000s, no one paid any attention to us whenever we
reported assault cases. Even the police would arrest us at the city
centre without any reason,” says Rosemary, recalling how the arrival of condoms was a nightmare since most of men preferred “leather-to-leather and forcing a man to use protection was akin to giving him up for another s*x worker.”
Many things have changed in the last 30 years as “nowadays I
see young girls joining us here and within days, they would be driving
their own vehicles or running businesses. Unfortunately, some of them
steal from customers. They make quick money and invest well, but
compared to years back, they are now too extreme even in their dressing.
We used to dress nicely without exposing our breasts or butts to
attract men.”
Rosemary, a staunch baptised Christian who never misses church on Sunday, is considering retirement because “nowadays
we depend on long-term customers. In fact, I had started small leso
business after getting Sh70,000 loan from a local bank, but fire razed
down my house and shop in March. Even my baptismal card and other
documents were burnt. That and other problems pushed me back to the
business.”
The arrival of condoms according to Rosemary, was a nightmare to
her and her colleagues in the business because forcing a man to use it
was akin to sending him to another hooker.
“That saw a rise in s*xually transmitted diseases. But we had
Casino Dispensary on Rive Road, where such cases were treated. Sleeping
with more than 10 men for Sh50 each was a windfall because making Sh500
in a day was the equivalent of earning about Sh5000 today.
“It has been a long journey and I’ve slept with more than 5,000
men in more than 20 years. I’ve been in the field, even my children
know it, and used to visit but when they grew up and started their
families, they stopped frequenting Nairobi.”
Rosemary has temporarily retired from social work since she lives
with two grandchildren, but she has a similar house elsewhere to keep
the business going. She discloses that her loyal clients are the ones
she started with way back.
“It’s the fire tragedy and raising these children that forced
me to go back to it again. Before the fire, I was buying kangas from
Mombasa and selling them in Nairobi. I had borrowed more than Sh70,000
from a local bank. I hope that things will change one day and God will
intervene along the way”, she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment