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Kakuma's prostitutes
Written by Maria Galang   
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 09:21


Picture this, you live in a foreign land, you have children but no family, no money, nothing to fall back on. What would you do to survive?

 

19-year old jane, not her real name, fled her home in sudan several years ago and ended up in Kakuma refugee camp along with thousand sof other refugees.

 

The only way she could survive was by selling her body for money and thus joined the oldest profession in the world, prostitution.

 

"My mother tried to marry me off to an old man who agreed to pay my school fees but in the end he refused to marry me and I returned to prostitution," she said.

 

In the midst of it all, she got a son, who's helped her change her mind about being a prostitute.

 

It's the same story for Anne and Lucy, (again not their real names) they've been chased away by their families and forced to live together in a one-roomed hut. All of them are prostitutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Prostitution is a way of life for most of these girls. They say they make about 200 shillings a day. "It may not be much, but it's a question of survival," Anne said.

 

Those who don't end up as prostitutes become the sellers of illegal brews.

 

26-year old Regina is one of the illegal chang'aa brewers. She also fled civil war in Sudan more than ten years ago, a decade later, she's quick to admit life has been tougher than she ever imagined.

 

"Two weeks ago, police officers raided my den and confiscated all my equipment. I have no choice but to offer them money in order to get my business back up and running," Regina said.

 

She says if it means she gives up some sexual favours in exchange for her equipment, then she has no choice.

 

This is what's become of the lives of some refugees, survival of the fittest. Or in this case, survival of the sex slaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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