Many communities across Kenya are afflicted with poverty.
The situation worsened with the outbreak of Covid-19. The government had to come up with ways of containing the spread of the virus, including closing down learning institutions and restricting business operating hours through curfew.
Many livelihoods were lost and many families were left grappling with the loss of incomes. In the coastal region, young girls became victims as early pregnancies increased. Some schoolgirls were lured into sex work.
Fifteen-year-old Mary, not her real name, says poverty made her join sex work.
“I am the firstborn in a family of six. Before Covid, my mother used to do a job to provide for us but she had to stay home following the outbreak of the pandemic,” she said.
Mary said being the firstborn, it was hard to sit back and watch her siblings starve.
“Being a girl, I used to meet so many people who would offer me money in exchange for sex, but I declined. But when the situation got worse at home, I had to accept the offers to save the situation,” she said.
Poverty in many families has made parents make decisions for their children. At the end of the day, it leaves some regretting.
Fourteen-year-old Salome, not her real name, says her parents separated after a disagreement when her father lost his job.
“When we left with our mother, she was not able to provide for us, she was forced to take us back to our father who later took advantage of me and impregnated me,” Chao says.
She says her father threatened her not to say a word to anyone but she took the courage of informing the area chief who later informed her mother.
“My mother gave us away to our father who later became a monster. When my mother heard of my pregnancy, she filed a case against my father who was later arrested by the police,” she says.
Parents to blame
Mary revealed that her mother, a single parent, noticed her weird behaviour and questioned her but when she realised it was for the benefit of the family, she only told her to take care of herself.
When schools reopened, Mary did not return. She already had the responsibility of taking care of her mother and siblings.
“Poverty made me drop out of school and engage in activities that I never wished to do, but again I did not have someone to advise me to stop it. My mother supported me as I was providing for her,” she says.
Mary has now appealed to well-wishers to come to her aid and take her back to school. She says it was never her wish to join sex work.
“I have so many friends of my age who are doing sex work, not because they want to do it but because of poverty,” she said.
Salome, who is currently at a rescue centre in Mombasa awaiting justice, also said it is her wish to reunite with her family and go back to school.
Kepha Nyandire, a social worker in a rescue centre, said sex work is common among young girls in the coastal region.
“I have been engaging these young girls most of the time, but the information I get from them is that they do that because of poverty,” he said.
Nyandire said that in Mombasa, many people do not value education, especially women, so accessing job opportunities becomes a challenge as they do not have qualifications, hence are unable to provide for their children.
He said parents support sex work because they benefit when the children go back home with food.
Grace Achieng, executive director at a rescue centre in Mombasa, said girls engage in transactional sex because of poverty, peer pressure, and poor or lack of parenting.
Covid-19 increased cases
Achieng said that when schools were closed, the situation worsened.
“Most of the children got into sex work. Personally, I have handled 10 children since then, but the number out there is higher,” she said.
With the help of counsellors, Achieng's organisation managed to take some of the girls back to school. In a day, they receive at least seven calls from people informing them of children running away to join sex work, she said.
“In Mombasa, more than sex children drop out of school every day to engage in risky behaviours due to peer pressure and poor environment back at home,” she said.
Asha Seif, a social worker at the same rescue centre, said the situation worsened because children were at home and their parents were sending them out to get money.
“The biggest challenge towards the increase in these cases is poverty and coronavirus just worsened the situation, especially in Kilifi and Mombasa counties. Children engage in sex work because of pressure from their parents," she said.
Achieng said some parents need to be sensitised because they are the cause of the problem.
“Lack of education also leads to these cases. They do not see the need for education,” she said.
The centre has been working with the government through the children’s department, police officers and community who have been giving them referrals especially during the pandemic.
Achieng said there is a need to create awareness in the community and teachers should reach out to the girls.
The rescue centre has more than 1,000 children. It works with the government to rescue the girls and they have a lot of successful stories where girls have gone through assessment, treatment, counselling and taken back to school.
She said sometimes some girls flee.
“When a young girl starts getting money, it is hard to tame the behaviour. This is a 15-year-old child but has money and everything of her own so you can't tell her anything. That's why we still have many victims on the streets,” Achieng said.
Many victims also do drugs at a tender age. Achieng said in most cases they are used by criminals to break into homes.
“These girls cannot do the work with clean eyes, they have to use drugs and therefore we need a setup for them because they are not criminals, they found themselves in the situation,” she said.
Nyandire said the county needs to identify and help the children.
“Providing technical skills to these children will help them to keep themselves busy and engage in activities that will help them get money to support their families,” he said.
Achieng said if the organisation can get more funds and more professionals to help, they will tackle the problem and rescue more girls.
“There is an urgent need for the government to act on reducing the issue of commercial sex by coming up with more rescue centres for these girls and supporting the organisations working with the children."
Asha cautioned parents against using their children to make money.
"Parents should let children be and treat them as children because they need their support and morals.
"The government should empower teachers and give them the mandate to train the children when they are still young and help them grow knowing their rights as children,” she said.
