For less than a bag of fish...
on Colm in Kenya (Kenya), 01/Sep/2009 15:20, 34 days ago
I had just finished a meeting with a group of young adults inCheramaiinKilifiTownship where I outlined what SCOPE could offer them in terms of generating income– the usual splurge about training, marketing, advice and access to finance.The self-help group work with a local businessman to sell liquid soap in their community of which they get a generous 50% cut of sales. It generates for them a small 700ksha week. SCOPE are now offering a chance to boost this. Importantly, a white guy ormzungu(me) is offering them this.“Sawa(ok), any questions?”“Can you give us uniforms”“What?? No. But I can help you sell more so you can afford them”“Can you give us mobile phones?”“What? NO! I do not have money”“Can you buy us lunch?”I pour petrol over me and set myself on fire,Buddhistmonk style.If there is one thing that pisses me off here is that everyone thinks themzungucan give them money:A bag of tiny shrimp sized fish calledOmenafromKisumubeside Lake Victoria is a‘Coasterian’ (people who live on the Coast) delicacy. I know, I know - they live beside the ocean but it’s the fish from the lake that they like! Anyway, it gets transported from the west to the coast and sold for 7,000ksha bag which in turn is sold to the consumer market for 9,000kshA bag of fish costs 9,000kshAs part ofZilpa’s income generation strategy – you might rememberZilpawho has the 8 orphaned girls aged between 12-17?– she purchases one bag and uses the profit to buy clothes in her shop which in turn is used to feed, clothe and educate herchildren.Of course one bag with 2,000kshprofit (which comes every two weeks) is not enough to support her shop or to cater for her girls needs. While her situation continues to improve, this fact continues to cause much consternation.Whilst visiting her shop,Zilpaintroduced me to one of her orphaned girls - Elizabeth– who is 15. She shyly shakes hands and says hello, smiles meekly and leaves me andZiplato talk business.  Lately, young Elizabeth has begun to look to make her own money to pay for suchluxuriesas Sanitary Towels amongst other lessnecessaryitems like a nice clothes– items the family cannot afford. On the coast ofKenyain a tourist town likeKilifi, Elizabeth could earn 4,000kshfor sex with a tourist. Enough for clothes and sanitary towels. There are over 15,000 or 30% of girls aged between 12-18 living in resort towns who earn income in the Child-Sex Tourism industry, most of which on a casual basis.15 year old girl for sex 2,000 - 4,000ksh.Walking outsideZilpa’s shop, we meet two sisters age 14 and 16 who don’t live withZilpabut whom she provides with breakfast and dinner. The girls live in a poor family of 14childrenand their father also has another wife with threechildrenso there simply is not enough food for all. The girls need help from where they can get it.Both these girls could make 8,000kshfor sex without a condom– that’s double the price for no condom. Enough money for food for all the family for a week.16 year old girl for sex without a condom 4,000 - 8,000ksh.Frequently when I meetZilpa, the youngest girl who lives with the family– Christine who has lived withZilpasince she was two when her mother died of AIDS– comes to greet us. Christine is 12, barely 4 foot whose shyness is betrayed by laughter whenever we joke. She says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up (she spends a lot of time with Doctors, a legacy from her mothers disease) so when I meet her, I tell I have a cough and have come to see the doctor. She burst intolaughterand her face erupts like a sparklingbonfireof happiness– it’s absolutely captivating and wonderful.Despite this dependency onMzungumoney which I know completely to be wrong, I’veagreed to sponsor more bags of fish forZilpa.‘Sponsor’ as she will give me back 10% of the profit – so it’s an investment not a handout or so I tell myself. This will help sustain her income and thus help continue to support so many girls in her local community.Everything I believed in, I’veread and listened to tells me this is not the answer. But the dark realities are so much more powerful than that and for all our work on self-sufficiency, this is the best I can come up with.Anal sex with a 12 year old girl, like our doctor Christine, costs 5,000ksh.*Information supplied from‘The Extent and Effect of Sex Tourism and Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Kenyan Coast’ byUNICEFand Government of Kenya 2006.