By Harold Ayodo

They come in all shapes, sizes and age groups. A classy one will set you back Sh200, but in some places like Kondele, you can cough Sh50 walk away with a bamba 50 — especially at dawn.

Men who do not want to use protection pay double, never mind that at 15 per cent, the HIV and Aids prevalence in Kisumu doubles the national average, which, according to a 2009 survey by Unhabitat, is 6.3 per cent.

Kutuma salamu (a euphemism for giving head) costs only Sh20 in Kondele and Sh100 in higher-end red light spots. Most of the bamba 50s come wearing bathroom slippers, but they are adored because they are pocket friendly.

There are a few who do not accept cash, but appreciate?stewed fish by the lakeside before few rounds of affordable drinks at pubs that offer live bands playing Ohangla, Rumba or Benga music.

Some even offer credit services and ‘invoice’ their clients at the end of the month, unlike their peers on Koinange Street, Nairobi, who insist on payment before service. Other men even pay after mutually agreed periods, either via cash or mobile phone money transfer.

Others are nearly ‘married’ to clients as they even cook, wash and iron for their regular male clients who pay handsomely — say Sh300 a night.

 Affordable

It could be coincidence that men in Kisumu generally marry later than those in other towns, as recently revealed by the Kenya Urban Reproductive Health Baseline Survey. But the possibility that this trend arises because sex workers are affordable and offer ‘extras’ cannot be ignored.

A tour of some of the popular red areas along Oginga Odinga Street, Ogada Street, Kisumu beer belt (near the bus park), Wayside and Kondele tells the story of a town a awash with sex workers. In fact, the opening of new clubs within the Central Business District has also boosted an already flooded market.

On a dry day at the beer belt, Anyango, for instance, is ready to spend the night with a male client who can buy her bottle of beer and give her Sh50 as boda boda ‘fare’ at dawn citing a bad economy and too much supply.?

“Kiwanja siku hizi imejaa, kupata wanaume wanatoa mia ni balaa (the market is nowadays so flooded that men who can pay Sh100 are rare,” Anyango says.

?However, chief executive officers, corporate managers and other professionals who prefer secrecy are called mbuta (big fish) as they hire expensive hotel rooms and guesthouses.

“Mbuta are good because they can even leave you with Sh1,000 as long as you keep your mouth shut. They prefer afternoon week day services,” Anyango reveals.

According to Anyango, they have now been forced to offer extra services to bachelors and widowers to remain relevant in the market. Other hot cakes are married men and those who work in Kisumu but whose families reside in other towns or rural areas. For Sh100, says, the services must go beyond the sheets arguing that cooking, house cleaning makes men take us for even five days a week because they are assured of good food and a sparkling house.

And like impeccable businesses whose advertising is by word of mouth, she says that word spreads like bushfire among drinking partners on how some of them are good even in the kitchen drawing many repeat clients.

Stomach

For Nafula, the understanding that the way to a man’s heart is through the stomach is paramount.

“I pass by either Kibuye or Oile Market to buy fish and vegetables to cook for the client before my main duty,” Nafula says.

But Nafula says business is so bad at times that some men — especially from Nairobi and Mombasa — take three women at Sh300 a night.

“Men from Nairobi and Mombasa claim we are cheaper compared to their towns where our peers charge Sh1,000 for 25 minutes,” Nafula opines.

She says that some of her colleagues, who hate parking on red light streets at night, masquerade as mama nguo (laundry women) during the day.

“We know all our clients well. Some want us in their houses during the day to wash and hang their clothes to fool the neighbours,” Nafula says.

Nafula explains that their peers who perform domestic chores as some form of ‘after sale service’ have been christened ‘wives’. Being a ‘wife’ or door-to-door flesh trader, she says, is better as you are also assured of preparing and sharing good meals with clients.

“Some men are good to the extent that they send money by phone on Friday afternoon to cater for food and services over the weekend,” she says.

Stress

To underscore the fact that they are professionals at the top of their game, Nafula says, “We understand the meals they like and prepare them to perfection. We also try not to be nosy and ask many questions so as not to stress clients the way their girlfriends and wives do.”

Anyango and Nafula concur that married men who are teetotalers are also hot cakes, as they do not spend a lot of money drinking till dawn.

“Married men have to finish with us chap chap (fast) as they must go back home early. And they never shower with the small lodging soaps in fear that their wives will catch the odd scent. They only rinse themselves in water and dash out. They are also good day clients before we spend evenings with troublesome drunkards,” Nafula says, laughing.

For the men, the emerging crop of sex workers is a godsend.

“For only Sh300, I can sort myself at home, have my food cooked, house cleaned and clothes washed and ironed without stress,” says Tony, a bachelor.

According to Tony, being in relationships is expensive yet the woman you are going out with may still cheat on you anyway.

“The budget of treating a girlfriend from Friday to Sunday can hit Sh15,000 as you will be drinking and eating all meals out yet the costly girlfriend will not even touch your clothes for fear of messing up her manicured nails.I would, therefore, rather spend Sh5,000 on drinks with the boys from Friday to Sunday and summon a hook up to sort me out, cook, clean, wash and iron at Sh300,” Tony argues.

According to the bachelor, most of the service providers in the lakeside city are ‘disciplined’, unlike their counterparts in other major towns.

“The ones in Kisumu can be left in the house and the worst they will do is cook, clean and listen to loud music,” he says.

For Apollo, who is also single, the service providers are a treat because they are not jealous and understand when you alternate them from Friday to Sunday.

“At times, I pick two at a go because one knows how to cook good food and the other does the laundry well,” Apollo says.

But as the flesh trade evolves into a more customer-centred enterprise to lure clientele, authorities have also stepped up their crackdown on commercial sex workers.

Recently, over 20 of them were arrested on a Sunday night in a joint raid between police officers and Municipal Council askaris.

The arrests came weeks after the council askaris nabbed more than 70 women in a similar operation in streets and brothels in the town and arraigned in the Kisumu Municipal Court where each was fined Sh1,000 for loitering.