A mother of eight, Nairobi’s oldest prostitute slept with 5,000 men in two decades

Rosemary Johns

• She was born in Tanzania but came to Nairobi where life forced her to get into prostitution
• She was introduced by a friend who convinced her that selling her body was lucrative
• The mother of eight recalls that she got married at age 16 but left her husband in Tanzania after he started neglecting his family and she to come to Nairobi and make ends meet for her family

In old age, most women play with their grandchildren in the evening. But at 64, Rosemary Johns is still counting the number of men she has slept with to make ends meet and raise her children.

Born and partly raised in Tanzania, Rosemary came to Nairobi where the city’s unforgiving life saw her trekking up ‘Hooker Avenue’ for the better part of two decades in the famous Gikomba, an area synonymous with the oldest profession: prostitution.