Drugs, cheap alcohol fueling sex trade

Mar 12, 2013

Students puffing ganja, cheap sex offers, excessive drinking and gambling are some of the vices you would not miss when you are in Kiyembe a slum opposite Kampala International University in Kansanga. Kiyembe is located between the rich neighbourhood of Muyenga, Kabalagala and Kansanga.

By Dan Muhenda

 

Students puffing ganja, cheap sex offers, excessive drinking and gambling are some of the vices you would not miss when you are in Kiyembe a slum opposite Kampala International University in Kansanga. Kiyembe is located between the rich neighbourhood of Muyenga, Kabalagala and Kansanga.

The slum covers over 25 hectares of land, with a population of about 40,000 people, both students and local residents. Most of the houses in this area are in a sorry state.

It is only students’ hostels like the famous Kinaigeria Hostel, George Livingstone, Kafumbi and others that look like real homes.

Inside these rusty buildings, life is lived large. “People here care about money, sex and booze. It is the disillusioned youth who recently added the forth element of ganja,” Kebirungi, a resident of Kiyembe says.

“It is very hard for the Police to catch some of these people because we are mixed up. We have students and locals so it’s kind of hard to know who is who. However, most of the drinking is done at Nam’s bar and that is where you even find prostitutes,” Kebirungi adds.

Just in the heart of the slum is Numugwere’s bar locally known as Nam’s bar. At Nam’s, only local brew including Malwa and Waragi is sold. “Most of my clients are university students. Sometimes they also get frustrated with life and come here to cool off the heat of books,” Mama Nam says.

Look properly (she points in the other room), we also have ebijjujulu  (young girls for sex). If you have some money, I will get you one,” Mama Nam adds.

Just on the right of Nam’s bar, red-eyed boys sit on window ledges as they release puffs of ganja smoke and sniff white powdered stuff.

Mama Nam tells me that they are KIU students enjoying their leisure time. “Most of those boys are very deadly. You should not disturb them with any questions. Most of them are from Kenya and Sudan,” she says.

In the other corner, the other boys are seated gambling as the others play cards. During the puffing, one of the boys orders Mama Nam to bring him a ‘stick’. Minutes later, Mama Nam hands him a rolled marijuana stick and in return, she gets a sh500 coin. 

Sex business in the area

Mama Nam does not let her clients just leave after they have bought booze. “Our girls are well experienced to handle any man,” she explains. “We charge sh5,000 for each girl. Actually, sh1,000 is for the lodge, and sh4,000 for sex not exceeding one hour.”

Who is selling what?

According to Olivia, a reknown lady of the night, business in Kasanga hostels is fast growing. “Banange, sometime back, we used to fight to get clients, but now the students call you themselves. It’s hard to believe, but things have changed rapidly.

I have been here for over three years and I have seen a lot. You see, the good thing about this university is that, most of the students are from other countries and give us some good money unlike Ugandans who want free things,” she says.

“Mama Nam has also just started this business. She just went to the village recently and brought young girls to serve her clients and she is doing well.

The only problem is that these boys sometimes get high on drugs and mistreat girls. Sometimes they even fight among themselves,” she adds.

Olivia says they face competition from some girls who are studying at university. “They also run out of cash and begin to look around for clients. So you find at the end of the day men prefer them to the local girls around,” she says.

What the Police say

By Vision Reporter

According to the officer-in-charge, Kasanga Police station, Baluku, no major incidents of rape or aggravated drug abuse have been reported involving KIU students.

He, however, says: “We arrest young boys from that area every day after catching them smocking weed or stealing laptops. Recently, I arrested 10 of them. You see, they could be telling us lies that they are just residents yet they are students.

That is something we are going to find out,” he says. But these other prostitutes, idlers and ganja smokers, we arrest every day. That is why I am increasing operations in this area every day.

We want to make sure that such people or students are brought to book so that they do not contaminate our society,” he adds. 

Efforts to contact KIU University for a comment about the issue were futile as the personnel in charge were out of office by press time.

If not checked, Kiyembe hostels will remain a notorious den of sex, booze and drugs which will see the young generation living in the area destroyed morally, spiritually and physically.

ARVs give Malaba sex workers hope 

 
By Moses Nampala

As a counsellor, there is nothing more difficult than disclosing to a client that he/she is HIV-positive. At the same time, no amount of counselling can adequately prepare a client to receive the sad news.

But Josephine Nakato, 30, a commercial sex worker, was not surprised when James Byakika, a counsellor at The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) Tororo, disclosed that she was HIV-positive, four years ago.

With the intervention of TASO, her health has improved and she is living positively. That was the turning point for the centre. Since then, they have helped close to 2,000 commercial sex workers, cargo truck drivers and turn-boys from Bugiri, Busia and Tororo districts.

Sensitive area

Tororo and Busia districts have, for long, been a hub for prostitution. “The daily influx of drivers and turn-boys has promoted promiscuity in the area,” says Yosiya Ogwang, an opinion leader in Obore village, Malaba town council.

He says the booming sex trade has also been due to the vibrant cement industry and the congested trailer parking yard along the Malaba-Bugiri highway.

Fabiano Oburu, a counsellor with TASO, Tororo describes commercial sex workers as a very conservative community.

“They do not want TASO counsellors to visit them during day, except in exceptional circumstances, such as when they are bedridden,” he says.

Oburu says most of the sex workers live in an expansive settlement of semi-permanent houses in a maze of filthy drainages. “The cheap rental apartments look pathetic, but the interior is a perfect contrast,” Esther Mutesi (not real name) explains.

“The lavish décor in our apartments is intended to provide comfort to our clients,” she adds. Eight months ago, diarrhoea and multiple boils, among other HIV/AIDS opportunistic infections had rendered Mutesi bedridden.

“If it wasn’t TASO, I would be dead,”confesses Mutesi.  “I have not only gained weight since I started taking ARVs, but I am growing stronger,” Racheal Kauma winces at the memory of how a horrendous skin rash developed on the right side of her face. She had to stay indoors, covering her face when she walked out.

She remembers confiding in Nakato who would smuggle in counsellors from TASO centre to treat her. Another colleague, Alice Kalembe (not real name) also got a rash all over her body and Nakato  introduced her to TASO.

Caught in a dilema

However, while the sex workers living with HIV/AIDS seem grateful because they have since recovered, they continue with their trade.

“A sizeable proportion of our clients desperately want unprotected sex for which they pay a lot of money,” says Mutesi. According to sex workers, unprotected sex costs between sh60,000 to sh90,000 while protected sex fetches a paltry sh6,000-sh15,000.

“You find yourself in a dilemma of whether to take the money at the expense of your life or stick to the medical advice that emphasises protected sex,” explains  Mutesi.

Nakato is, however, quick to point out that clients are violent. “Some clients refuse to use condoms, and force you into unprotected sex,” she says.

A chat with a section of commercial sex workers reveals that many are widows whose relatives chased them away after the death of their husbands. Others are victims of abusive marriages while others were earning a living from illegal smuggling until URA closed in on them.

Candle in the dark

According to Byakika, in the efforts to popularise TASO services, the centre established structures among the sex workers.

“Some sex workers have been trained in HIV/AIDS service delivery services to extend them to their counterparts. This has yielded results,” he explains.

He adds that commercial sex workers are more prompt when it comes to collecting drugs than other clients. The greatest challenge is that scores of the trained peer counsellors keep seeking for greener pastures, hence the need to train more.

HIV/AIDS high among sex workers

Statistics show that the HIV prevalence rate shot up from 6.4% to 7.3% last year, according to the AIDS Indicator survey of the Ministry of Health. Current estimates indicate that about 1.2 million people in the country are living with HIV, 57% of them female.

It is estimated that among the commercial sex workers, an average of four sex workers in ten will have HIV. This rate is about five times more than other women of reproductive age, who have 7.7% prevalence, according to the recent AIDS indicator survey.

Although statistics on the number of prostitutes in Uganda are scanty, the latest research published in The Lancet, an international medical journal, revealed that commercial sex workers in Uganda have one of the highest rates of HIV infections in the world. About 37% of prostitutes are estimated to be HIV positive.

Some 99,878 female sex workers in 50 countries, including Uganda were subjects in the study conducted between January 1, 2007 and June 25, 2011.

The study, which assessed the burden of HIV/AIDS among women of reproductive age, found that the burden among commercial sex workers is much higher and concluded that there is an urgent need to scale up access to quality HIV prevention programmes for sex workers.

The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), Prof Vinand Nantulya says commercial sex involves soliciting for money in exchange for sex. In Uganda, sex work is common in urban areas, trading centres, fish landing sites, highway truck stops and border crossings.


 Many prostitues are forced by their clients to have live sex

“Most sex workers find their clients on streets and night clubs,” he explains, adding that there might also be instances of trafficking, where some people are illegally taken out of the country for purposes of prostitution and exploitation. 

Some sex workers engage in sex work only part-time, because they want money then leave. There are also others who engage in commercial sex but have marital partners.

“The Ugandan law prohibits prostitution. As a result, sex workers often face stigma and discrimination. In most cases, one cannot even negotiate for safe sex. So the virus is easily transmitted,” says Nantulya.

Dr. Stephen Watiti, an HIV/AIDS activist and expert, agrees that sex workers are not able to negotiate for safe sex with their multiple partners. “If they were empowered to use condoms consistently, infections would have dropped,” he argues.

Watiti says sex workers may be a minority group, but the cycle gets repeated because they have sex with people who are in relationships as well.

Way forward

In a bid to curb the rising rates, the UAC has launched a deliberate strategic plan to reduce the risk of infection among sex workers.

This comprises counselling them and urging them to leave the vice, giving them condoms and offering them screening and treatment services of both HIV and other sexually transmitted  infections.

The commission also plans to put in place support programmes, such as skill/income generating projects for women who quit sex.

“We also need to partner with stakeholders and address the issue of poverty at the grassroots which leads many people into sex for money,” says Nantulya.

UAC also wants to the Government to enhance legal support for anyone who is forced into  prostitution.

  

 

 

 

 

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