Ex-sex worker Mary Mugure determined to sit in the Nairobi County Assembly

Determined to be an MCA, Mary Mugure.

Ex-sex worker Mary Mugure is determined to change lives in Nairobi’s Mathare Kiamiako slum.
“If you solve the problems of a woman, the society automatically becomes better because women think of others first.
 I am a single mother. I know what a woman is capable of doing to provide for those she loves,” she says
Nairobi’s informal settlements can be unforgiving, but Mugure, who was born and bred in the slum, knows no other life. 
“You are always on survival mode, but I am proud of my roots. I am turning 40 this year and having an appreciation of my upbringing has helped me have a positive outlook on life,” says Mugure, a former sex worker.
But that was then.
Now she is determined to take over from the current MCA, a man she campaigned for in the last election.
“He is not a bad man. But he hasn’t delivered for women. I think many men are just not able to understand the challenges women face.
 “I am a community mobiliser. In Kiamaiko I go by the nickname ‘Mama Yao’ because I have a huge youthful following. 
I have campaigned for others before. Now I am campaigning for myself because I have ideas that will impact people,” she says.
Mugure is seeking the UDA ticket and will be battling others at nominations for the party’s ticket.

We met her at an event by Voice for Women and Girls Rights (VWGR) to mark International Women’s Day. The focus of the day was women participation in politics.
“We face lots of challenges that not many recognise. We are young mothers. We are single mothers. We are women who have been abused. For a long time, we have been shoved aside.
“Even so, every woman has a right to achieve their dreams,” she says.
Mugure’s dream is to be Kiamaiko Ward MCA because, she says, she knows how it feels to grow up in that hood.
Mugure got into the sex trade after she lost her mother — the only family breadwinner — in 2000.
“My siblings and I could not afford rent. We could not afford food. The situation got really bad: we had to be hosted by a church for some time.
“I was doing menial jobs; doing laundry for people. Some men I worked for wanted ‘extras’.
“I bumped into a friend from primary school and she told me that she could introduce me to a joint where I would be paid to dance.
“What she meant was pole dancing at a strip club in the city. I was taught pole dancing and ballet. I performed for guests,” she says.
Striping and prostitution, Mugure says, go hand in hand. “After performing, I would get men approaching me for sex.”
And so, she went with the flow; selling sex to men. Her stage name was ‘Shawty’ — a play on the word ‘short’:
“My boss gave me that label because I was the shortest of the girls working for her. I don’t need pity. 
“I did what I had to do. Through sex work, I have been able to take my children to school and put food on the table. It also gave me capital to start an online shoe business,” she says.
Mugure, a mother of 14 (some her own and others adopted) says that she wouldn’t wish for any of her children to go into sex work.
“I love all my kids. They are all committed to the Christian life. It is not my wish that they become sex workers. But if they did, I would be at hand to advise them accordingly so that they make informed choices.
“I did it for survival. Unlike me, my daughters are educated. One has a degree in civil engineering. Another is at university; also pursuing engineering. The others are following suit.”
She however believes that sex work should be treated like any other job.
“A sex worker is a person who primarily sells sex for a living. It is a job like any other. Sex workers should be treated with dignity and afforded their human rights. I will never feel ashamed of my past.
“No one should criminalise me for doing sex work. They haven’t walked in my shoes,” she says.
Mugure believes sex work has been misunderstood.
“We don’t just sell sex,” she says. “There are many services that we provide that not many people know about.”
Some clients, she says, just want a listening ear for them to share life’s troubles. Sex work, she adds, has exposed her to the reality of mental health.
“Men out here just want someone to talk to: a place they can be heard and ease stress away. It is because of these experiences that I took an opportunity to study counselling.
“I no longer sell sex. I, however, still meet male clients who just want to talk out an issue. Those who want counselling.”