By Wahinya Henry
Kakamega County, Kenya: In the expansive sugar cane belt of Mumias, desperate women with fistula often turned to have cheap sex with sugar cane cutters for as little as KSh.5 due to poverty.
These expansive rolling green plantations in cane growing zones of Mumias turned into ready fodder for cheap sex.
Talkafrica has found out that Partners would sneak into sugar cane plantations from one direction and sneak out from another wearing innocent faces away from a suspecting public in a ‘sweet encounter’ social workers blame for fuelling the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
The attractive rolling sugar plantations of Mumias have become an attractive den where sex parties continently engage in casual sex away from public glare inside what locals describe as Green Lodgings.
The Green Lodgings became attractive to men because they are affordable – with lowly paid partners parting with as little as Ksh 5 for entertainment.
The cost of hiring a room in an established facility or brothel is out of bounds for pleasure seekers.
Males who engage in sex inside the plantations in this part of Western Kenya belong to the lower ranks of the social ladder, hardly with sufficient incomes to hire a room and pay a partner.
Married women head for the Green Lodges either driven by infidelity or because husbands as breadwinners fail to provide in accordance with the expected roles of the dedicates of society.
We have established that plantations are safe havens for married couples. They avoid public facilities in order to hide their identities away from the glare of the public.
Nuru Anyango, 33, confesses to having been a client of the Green Lodgings but gave up the practice after she underwent repair of her fistula condition.
“I turned to the abundant sugar cane plantations to earn a living after the father of my only child eloped because of my medical condition,” explained Nuru, saying:“kama ni ngekataa shilling tano, ningekula nini– if I refused the 5 ksh what would I have fed on.”
“Fistula-affected women are many here and live lonely lives as they are ostracized by family members, friends, and the society disgusted with urine smell. We are not invited to social gatherings and husbands divorce the women over the condition,” confessed Nuru, adding:
“One is crippled by the condition. No one is interested in offering gainful employment to the women, making them desperate for survival,” says Nuru whose group assists ex-victims to become integrated into society.
The woman is surprised men who paid the cash for the service would not mind and would swim in the urine for quick sex as they are poor themselves and cannot afford other facilities.
Obstetric fistula – or vaginal fistula – is a medical condition in which a fistula or hole develops between either the rectum and vagina or between the bladder and vagina after severe or failed childbirth when adequate medical care is not available.
It is considered a disease of poverty because of its tendency to occur in women in poor countries who do not have health resources comparable to developed nations.
