growing up just outside of Mombasa, Kenya’s second

largest city on the Southeast coast, Judy* fell victim to the poverty of her region. Her family, unable to make ends meet, pushed her into the sex trade, forcing her to move into the city away from home. Life in Mombasa was a whirlwind. Life in the sex trade included glamorous nights at sensational beach resorts with European men on vacation—a lifestyle she could have never dreamed of. But more often than not, it included abusive relationships, unprotected or violent sex, and emotionally draining situations of exploitation.

Exhausted from this lifestyle, Judy found a way to escape. After a whirlwind romance with a German traveler, he promised her a happy marriage and stable life away from the prostitution in Germany. Upon landing in Germany, this man and an accomplice locked Judy in an apartment for several months, raping her continuously between the two of them. When she finally negotiated for a telephone to contact the men when they’d abandon her at the apartment, she called a European contact, who worked with an international NGO to literally implement a sting operation to save Judy from these sex traffickers.

This NGO, Solwodi, Solidarity with Women in Distress, provides support to commercial sex workers and at-risk Kenyan women and girls in coastal towns in the area of Mombasa. Keusch, an active advocate for women’s sexual health, discovered the NGO and requested internship- placement at Solwodi in order to help women like Judy.

Upon her return to Kenya, Judy struggled to cope with this disturbing past, but found support through the programs of Solwodi. A testament to her strength, Judy then wrote a press release about her abuse and the role Kenyan society had played in encouraging these dangerous situations for women. When her family heard of this publicity, they disowned her, leaving her to deal alone with her worsening health conditions as a result of the kidnapping.

When her conditions deteriorated so much that she ended up in the hospital, Keusch and the women at Solwodi contacted and financed Judy’s mother to come to the Mombasa hospital for a shot at reconciliation. “Judy’s* story is one of the most painful and striking cases with which I got closely emotionally involved,” explained Keusch. When Judy’s mother arrived, Keusch served as a mediator as they argued over blame and shame on Judy’s hospital bed. “Ultimately, Judy’s mother realized how very destitute Judy’s situation had become and decided to support her now. It was such an emotional and complicated experience to witness or even imagine.”

The beautiful coastal city of Mombasa is a majority Muslim area of Kenya, right on the Indian Ocean. Some young women sell their bodies for sex to tourists; others sell their bodies to men in order to live in their home or in turn for school fees for themselves or their younger siblings. Many of the men travelling to Mombasa and other areas of Sub-Saharan Africa are older European men with HIV/AIDS, who openly require unprotected sex, assuming all the women also have the disease.

The Solwodi program is a rehabilitation site for former sex workers, a place where they can find the education and funding to develop skills to support themselves. The program supports microfinance loans for small trades like vegetable stands or shoe-making, but it also includes group activities, like sports and dance, to keep women busy and involved in positive sides of their communities.

“Mental health isn’t a focus in this part of the world, so group activities are very important to provide women with a network of psychological support from women who have undergone the same kinds of trauma,” Keusch explained. “It also becomes a family for those women whose families forced them into those dangerous situations in the first place.”

Sarah*, for example, was a young woman who needed money for school, and thus, her parents pushed her into the sex trade. After struggling with these unhealthy relationships and the depression that surrounds them, Sarah got involved with Solwodi through their soccer team. Sarah and two other women became the stars of the team and were even recruited by the professional Kenyan soccer team!

“What’s more important in Sarah’s case,” Keusch explained, “is the network Solwodi provides to women. Sarah had to alienate herself from her family because they were the ones pushing her into the sex trade in the first place.” Solwodi and the soccer team filled that emotional void and supported Sarah in her healthy decision to leave the sex industry.

On a daily basis, Keusch worked with the caseworker to follow up with recipients of microfinance loans, to organize activities for the women, and to conduct outreach to sex workers. Keusch and the caseworker, a woman who had formerly been a prostitute, would go to resort beaches and nightclubs to get to know the sex workers. The majority of these women were orphans or had irresponsible family situations, like those of Judy* and Sarah*. After Keusch and the caseworker had built some level of trust and familiarity, then they would discuss the services of Solwodi and encourage the women to seek out this support.

The rich experience at her work made living in a conservative Muslim part of Kenya well worth it. “I was willing to spend time and get to know these people,” reflected Keusch. “It was less about what I did, and more about how I did it. My personal relationships served as a link between upper middle-class America and their lives in Mombasa. This connection gave them a lot of hope, and they ended up helping me discover myself as much as I helped them.”

To learn more about Keusch’s experiences working with the African sex trade, email her at alana.keusch@gmail.com.

BY SARAH FREEDMAN