POVERTY DRIVES SOME KENYANS TO RENT OUT THEIR WIVES TO TOURISTS.

Kwale, KENYA:

It's a cloudy Sunday morning in Kenya's Kwale county and Sande Ramadan just woke up to get ready for another weekend of work.

Wearing a green vest and khaki shorts, he washes his face and proceeds to the living room where his wife Janet Wambui serves him breakfast.

"Thanks for waking me up, I hate being late for my client," the dreadlocked father of three tells his wife. "She asked me to be with her until next weekend," he adds as he sips black tea.

Ramadan is a male sex worker.

Wambui, his tall dark-skinned wife, works in the same industry. She came back home two nights ago after spending 10 days with a German tourist in an expensive cottage house, a few kilometres from Maweni village where the couple resides.

Ramadan and Wambui have been married for 20 years now.

But it wasn't always like this. One day in 2006, Ramadan was hawking clothes to tourists along Diani Beach in Kwale town, 30km southwest of Mombasa, when a German tourist approached him. He wanted a lady to spend some time with until his holiday ended.

The 37-year-old, who speaks fluent German and teaches his wife the language, promised the man he would introduce him to his sister.

"My husband came home that evening and asked me if I can act as his sister and take up the offer. After a few days of deliberation, I agreed,"

says Wambui, 38, sitting near Ramadan while tightening her black turban.

Wambui saw how life changed for other women who entered prostitution. She was a housewife who depended on Ramadan's income, which was too little.

"Life was tough for us. My husband's unpredictable income was not enough and when he asked me to accept, I had no choice," she says.

The family can now afford three meals a day and the children's school fees.

Communities living by the coast depend mostly on tourism for their living.
Image: Al Jazeera.

In Kenya's coastal towns, such stories are not new, especially in poor neighbourhoods such as Maweni. Husbands agree to rent their wives to rich tourists, mostly from Europe, without them knowing the women are their spouses.

"Why would I make another woman rich while I have a wife at home?"

Ramadan said.

"This was an opportunity for us to make some cash to pay our bills."

Young men in tourist-dependent coastal towns say they can no longer make ends meet.
Image: Al Jazeera.

The East African country received more than one million tourists in 2016, according to the Kenya Tourism Board, a government corporation. This number translated into $100m earned in taxes, making Kenya one of the top tourism destinations in Africa.

In 2017, TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel website, ranked Kenya's Diani Beach in Kwale, where Ramadan and Wambui live, the seventh-best beach in Africa.

But all these accolades do not translate into success in the villages where locals survive solely on tourism.

Ramadan Juma, 43, has been a beach operator for more than 20 years. It's a sunny Saturday afternoon and Juma is at Diani reflecting on existence with his colleagues.

"Life is becoming difficult by the day," he said, wearing his black sunglasses to fend off the glaring sunlight.

On a good day, he earns about $40 by helping out tourists navigate the blue waters of Indian Ocean. But nowadays, he complains the situation has become desperate.

"We have been neglected. We depend on tourism as a source of living. Since most of us do not have a constant income, my colleagues go to the extreme and give away their wives to have a good living," said Juma, who also chairs the Diani Beach Boys Association.

More than one million tourists visited the East African country in 2016.
Image: Al Jazeera.

Kwale County's chief tourism officer Anthony Mwamunga says the local government is training beach vendors and guides to gain skills to help them earn a decent living. He adds there's not much that can be done about prostitution.

"These cases are from poor men and women who have nothing to do," Mwamunga told Al Jazeera.

"Tourists come here to have a good adventure and having a partner is part of it. This makes it hard for us to stop these cases."

Back at the spectacular white-sand beaches on the Indian Ocean, Tobias Juma, 42, woke up one day to find his wife had packed up and left him.

In 2012, he was working for an Austrian man who asked Tobias to hook him up with a lady.

"That is how I connected my wife to the Austrian man. All I wanted is my family to have a better life. But they fell in love along the way and they agreed to move to Europe," he said.

Before she left, Tobias' wife was providing for him and their daughter.

"She was our family's breadwinner. She would bring an average of $400 every month for my daughter and me after staying with the Austrian tourist. I have been struggling since she left," he said.

Tobias hasn't heard from his wife since, and now takes care of his daughter on his own.

Communities along the Kenyan coast have seen a dramatic increase in HIV cases annually.

The National Aids Control Council estimates that Kenya's coastal counties reported 5,335 new HIV/AIDS cases in 2016, surging from 325 reported in 2014.

Faith Mwende is the Kenya advocacy manager for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a global non-profit creating awareness about HIV prevention.

"The danger is when such women engage with more than one sexual partner, the chances of getting sexually transmitted diseases and infections are very high, especially when she doesn't know the status of the other person,"

Mwende said.

Despite these dangers, Ramadan and Wambui are not about to give up on the sex trade. The rent for their house is about $80 a month, and they have three children to feed and educate.

"I am doing this to have a better life. It sounds immoral, but my husband is aware and supports it. So why not?" Wambui said as she bid Ramadan goodbye.

SOURCE:

Al Jazeera.

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

NAMIBIA VOWS TO GRAB FARMS FROM WHITE FARMERS.

Okahandja, NAMIBIA: Vibrant rows of neatly lined plants grow on a patch once trampled by the cattle of a large commercial farm run by a family of German descent in Namibia. From that 2,400 square-meter rectangle of sand in the northern Otjozondjupa region, Kornelius Hamasab, 69, now produces spinach, onions and tomatoes. Hamasab is among the 16 percent of black Namibians owning arable land in the semi-desert southwest African nation. White Namibians, who are descended from former colonizers Germany and South Africa and make up six percent of the population, own 70 percent of the land. "It doesn't seem right to me," said Hamasab, who acquired his land as compensation five years after the farm downsized into a guesthouse in 2000 and laid off its staff. "The government should do something about it," he added, while his family picked and rinsed collared greens to be sold in the capital Windhoek, 150 kilometers away. Namibia adopted ...

TWIN SISTERS ARE TRYING TO CONCEIVE WITH THE SAME MAN.

Anna and Lucy DeCinque with their boyfriend Ben Byrne. Image: Instagram. Perth, AUSTRALIA: Two sisters self-described as “the world’s most identical twins” aim to get pregnant by their shared boyfriend and, if the law would allow it, marry him. Besides looking alike, the sisters also share everything together, including their bed and even their boyfriend of eight years electrical mechanic Ben Byrne. 'We would like to have babies with Ben,' they said in a video. But before going into details, the siblings questioned whether it was possible for them to fall pregnant at the same time. Anna and Lucy DeCinque, who made their announcement on an Australian morning show, confirmed that their communal boyfriend is "very happy" with the plan. The DeCinque twins, 33, appeared on the show Dec. 3 to discuss their decision to eschew plastic surgery despite embracing such procedures in the past, but they soon doubled down on claims that they were plannin...

THE TRIBE THAT WORSHIPS PRINCE PHILIP AS 'GOD'

Prince Philip corresponded with the villagers over the years, and sent pictures of himself holding a ceremonial club they gave him. Image: REUTERS. Tanna, VANNUATU: As Britons mourn the death of Prince Philip, they are joined by a tribal community on a Pacific island half a world away. For decades, two villages on the Vanuatuan island of Tanna have revered the Duke of Edinburgh as a god-like spiritual figure. A formal period of mourning is now under way. On Monday, 12, April, scores of tribespeople gathered in a ceremony to remember Prince Philip. Image: REUTERS. "The connection between the people on the island of Tanna and the English people is very strong... We are sending condolence messages to the Royal Family and the people of England," said tribal leader Chief Yapa, according to Reuters news agency. For the next few weeks, villagers will periodically meet to conduct rites for the duke, who is seen as a "recycled descendant of a very powerful spirit or god th...

MALARIA VACCINE PROVES HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN BURKINA FASO.

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. Prof ...

"PAINTING COW TO LOOK LIKE ZEBRA REDUCES FLIES BY 50%", JAPANESE RESEARCHERS.

Painting a cow to look something like a zebra has been found to reduce fly bites by 50%. Researchers believe painting stripes on to cattle is a world-first and could become an environmentally friendly alternative to pesticides. The study, published by Japanese scientists in the journal Plos One , found fly attacks were “significantly reduced” by the disguise. The scientists believe the striped pattern confuses the fly’s motion detection and deters the pests. In what was a five-minute process for each animal, researchers painted white, 4cm to 5cm stripes on six pregnant Japanese black cows. The stripes were drawn freehand, using “commercial waterborne white lacquers” that faded easily. The laquered bovines were then observed. Two of the cows were painted with white stripes, two with black stripes and two were left unpainted for a control. The process then repeated so, over nine days, each cow spent three days striped, painted black or unpainted. Only 55 flies ...

NIGERIAN-BORN TO BE FIRST BLACK DEPUTY TREASURY SECRETARY OF U.S

Washington DC, U.S: Speaking at a Washington think tank in the summer of 2016, Adewale Adeyemo, President Barack Obama’s international economics adviser, warned about the perils of protectionism, explained how a growing Chinese economy was good for the world and talked up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal he helped negotiate that Democrats ultimately rejected. Four years later, such talk might sound out of touch with a Democratic Party that has become even more hawkish on China and increasingly wary of sprawling international trade deals. But that was not a concern for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who this week tapped Mr. Adeyemo to be deputy Treasury secretary, solidifying his team with another stalwart veteran of the Obama administration who would bring center-left economic ideas, deep experience and diversity to Mr. Biden’s top ranks. Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo (born 1981) is a Nigerian-born American attorney and political advisor serving as the first presi...

WOMAN WHO HAD 44 CHILDREN BY 36 YEARS-OLD BANNED FROM HAVING MORE BABIES.

Kampala, UGANDA: Mariam Nabatanzi had her first set of twins when she was just 13 and has since had another five sets, three sets of quads and four sets of triplets Mariam Nabatanzi suffers from a rare genetic condition and had given birth to 44 children by the age of 36. Tragically, Mariam has been left to raise her massive family alone after her husband walked out on her almost four years ago. Now 40, doctors have taken action to stop Mariam having more children after it emerged her father had 45 children with several different women. Mariam has three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets and six sets of twins and incredibly manages to care for and feed them all on her own. The fertile mum was just 12 when she was married to her husband, who at 40 was 28 years her senior. Just a year later she gave birth to her first set of twins. Now, she and all of her kids have no choice to live in appallingly cramped conditions in just four ...

A 26-YEARS-OLD WOMAN ADOPTS 14 AFRICAN ORPHANS.

London, ENGLAND: A young British woman has become mum to a staggering 14 Tanzanian children she met after volunteering in an orphanage on her gap year. Letty McMaster, 26, was just 18 years old when a month-long trip volunteering at an orphanage in Africa changed her life forever. She ended up staying for three years to support the children she had met, and when the orphanage shut down, Letty took in nine youngsters who would have been left homeless. Seven years on, she lives with the children after becoming legal guardian to them ALL - as well as five more kids she met on the streets or at a safe house she runs. Letty McMaster. Letty, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said: "These children are my whole life, I raise them all on my own and they keep me going through the long hours of juggling everything. "I'd always had in mind that I wanted to help street children so my family and friends weren't surprised but I never expected to end up doing all this. " I am the pa...

"GO BACK TO YOUR ROOTS IN ETHIOPIA", KHOI KHOI DESCENDANTS URGES MALEMA.

Following the continuing restlessness by EFF Julius Malema and the Black Land First leader, jointly demanding for a return of the land, a new group comprising of Khoi Khoi descendants have issued a lengthy white paper detailing the true situation of the land transition and ownership. According to the group’s spokesperson Hung Sangawe, who vehemently warned Malema to go back to Ethiopia were it is alleged he has biological roots. Hung Sangawe. Sangawe noted with dismay that the group was sick and tired of the perpetual racial tension orchestrated and perpetuated by Malema to further enrich himself, by exploiting the high level of illiteracy and youth unemployment in South Africa. Subsequently, the tenacious group unanimously issued a strongly worded white paper, that he Malema must stop claiming the land he knows nothing about: “White people didn’t steal the land, other black tribes invaded it' The so-called Bantu speaking South Afri...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog