{"id":532,"date":"2014-02-17T11:02:32","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T11:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citi.hatuasolutions.com\/?p=532"},"modified":"2014-02-17T11:02:32","modified_gmt":"2014-02-17T11:02:32","slug":"kenyas-battle-to-end-sex-for-fish-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=532","title":{"rendered":"Kenya’s battle to end ‘sex for fish’ trade"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FISHH\"<\/a>
Sex for fish is very dangerous because every day we realise that people are dying from HIV and Aids\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya bustle with business – wooden fishing boats competing for space, carrying in the morning catch of tilapia, perch or catfish.<\/p>\n

Under the scorching sun, the fishermen bargain with those queuing up to buy: mainly women, who hope to make a small profit at the local market.<\/p>\n

But in this deeply poor part of Kenya, the transaction between fisherman and female market seller is rarely a financial one.<\/p>\n

The currency is sex, not money: women selling their bodies in the hope of taking back a prize catch.<\/p>\n

The practice is known colloquially as “sex for fish” – or, in the Luo language of the area, “jaboya”.<\/p>\n

Lucy Odhiambo, 35, prepares her latest purchase for the market, descaling the fish and slitting them open to remove their innards. A widow and mother of five, she says women here are in a bind.<\/p>\n

“I’m forced to pay for the fish with sex because I have no other means,” she tells the BBC.<\/p>\n

“Usually I sleep with one or two fishermen a week. I could get diseases but I have no other choice: I have my children to send to school. Jaboya is an evil practice.”<\/p>\n

The “disease” is indeed widespread here – the HIV infection rate in this area is almost 15%, double the national average – and it is largely down to “sex for fish”.<\/p>\n

‘No longer dependent on men’<\/strong><\/p>\n

But, slowly, the tide is turning.<\/p>\n

Agnes Auma takes me out on the lake aboard a boat she now owns.<\/p>\n

It is steered by fishermen she employs and when they catch the fish, she manages the sale.<\/p>\n

Some of the money is paid to her staff, some is used to repay the cost of the boat – and the rest she keeps.<\/p>\n

It is a project run by a local charity called Vired, supported by the US Peace Corps, and it is changing the lives of the women involved.<\/p>\n

We talk as the boat winds its way past reeds and water hyacinth, the fishermen sweating as they navigate the narrow path.<\/p>\n

“I saw I would have died, giving up my body for fish – and I couldn’t continue,” Ms Auma says.<\/p>\n

“This project means I no longer have to depend on men to survive. I can fend for myself. And when I repay the money for the boat, I do it with a clean conscience.”<\/p>\n

As we reach the open lake, the net is unfurled for Ms Auma’s catch.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, it is brought in: kilograms of silver cyprinid – the size of whitebait – glisten in the morning sun.<\/p>\n

And then a large lungfish is brought up, slithering on to the boat as Ms Auma keeps watch.<\/p>\n

“I’m very happy and proud of my fishermen and I’m very happy that I’m a strong fisher lady,” she says with a smile.<\/p>\n

To date, just 19 women are part of the project but Vired hopes it will gradually build.<\/p>\n

“Sex for fish is very dangerous because every day we realise that people are dying from HIV and Aids,” says Dan Abuto from the charity.<\/p>\n

“We need to ignite these women, to empower them so they can take charge of their destiny. We are very proud because it’s having a positive impact.”<\/p>\n

‘I am ashamed’<\/strong><\/p>\n

But this is just one part of a country where “jaboya” is common.<\/p>\n

And even here, there are plenty of fishermen still happy to accept payment in kind.<\/p>\n

I meet one, Felix Ochieng, a 26-year-old who is married but still sleeps with three women a week in return for his fish.<\/p>\n

He tells me sometimes a female customer will pay 500 Kenyan shillings ($6; \u00a33.50) in cash and another 500 shillings with their body.<\/p>\n

“I inherited this practice from my father, who used to do the same,” he says, promising he uses a condom.<\/p>\n

I ask if he is ashamed of what he does.<\/p>\n

“Yes I am ashamed,” he replies, staring out at the lake, “and it’s a bad thing. But there are temptations that come with women.”<\/p>\n

Still some way to go then to eradicate a risky, long-entrenched practice.<\/p>\n

But little by little, the numbers involved are falling and the women of Lake Victoria are understanding the dangers involved.<\/p>\n

To end “sex for fish” for good, though, will require a change of mindset, for gender attitudes to be overturned.<\/p>\n

And that will be far harder: a challenge to bring the purchase of fish here above board for good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source : BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya bustle with business – wooden fishing boats competing for space, carrying in the morning catch of tilapia, perch or catfish. Under the scorching sun, the fishermen bargain with those queuing up to buy: mainly women, who hope to make a small profit at the local market. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}