Like in any other Kenyan town, prostitution is a common phenomenon in Nakuru. However, there is a bunch of hookers in Nakuru who have taken the game, sorry business, to a whole new level. They are so organised that they can put to shame your average women’s chama!
Look, these women of the night have a ‘merry-go round’ which has been in existence for a couple of decades now. Here, older members retire and new ones get recruited. They meet weekly and each member contributes Sh1,000, which is given to one of them for personal development.
And as if that is not enough, they have taken the game a notch higher and now boast of a Sacco (complete with a ‘board’ which in turn chooses among themselves members who are then placed in charge of day-to-day activities of the ‘co-operative’) where they save their money and give loans to members, of course at reasonable interest rates.
When this whacky and strange news got to us, courtesy of a Nakuru-based tipster, this writer visited the town to get a first-hand account.
Devastatingly beautiful
At one popular night club, where majority of the said hookers ply their trade, this writer stumbles upon a devastatingly beautiful call girl hawking herself around. The woman is so curvy and attractive that she can cause a muscle in a man’s salivary gland to tear. She only introduces herself as Emily, and immediately gets down to selling her ‘goods’ and services to this writer.
This writer tells her he is new in the town and requests to buy her a drink before they could talk ‘business’. In the process, they break ice and she opens up.
Emily reveals she has been in the business for close to four years now. “This is my fourth year in the trade. There are several groups of ‘merry-go-rounds’ (for prostitutes) in this town. Each group has active members who meet regularly to strategise, discuss challenges facing them, and issues such as investment. In ours, each one of us contributes a thousand bob which is given to one member,” she says.
Most of these women, Emily says, are single mothers with children who need basic needs such as food, school fees and so on. Thus, she adds, at each end month, they also contribute to a fund where members are allowed to take loans and pay at a small interest.
Emily says one founding member in the ‘merry-go-round’ she belongs to has taken two of her kids through secondary school.
“These groups are very helpful. In ours, there are many colleagues now living large. I know so many of my older colleagues who have bought plots, and built houses. In fact, a friend who recruited me has two children who have just completed college,” she says.
She quickly adds that her colleague, the one who recruited her, is now relatively old and sort of ‘retired’.
“But she is a bit old and hardly does this work... although she comes once in a while,” chuckles Emily.
meet, discuss and strategise
According to Emily, members meet every Friday to plan, discuss and, among other things, strategise for the weekend and week ahead.
“A lot of partying starts on Friday. Among the issues we discuss is the minimum amount each individual should charge her clients. The amount is arrived at according to the time of the month. If it is end-month, members know clients have money and we all agree to charge an arm and a leg, per night,” she disclosed.
Underhand tactics to win clients
These service rates, she says, do not remain constant. They range between Sh5,000 and Sh10,000 per night, especially at end-month. She adds that underhand tactics to win more clients such as lowering prices are frowned upon.
Hookers make a killing
This writer’s chat with Emily was interrupted by the arrival of a client. The two smile at each other knowingly and she excuses herself, leaving this writer at the balcony alone.
A male reveller then joins this writer, and they begin talking. He tells this writer that prostitution seems to be very lucrative in Nakuru because the town gets many visitors both local and foreign, coming for tourism, meetings, seminars, workshops, retreats and many other functions.
This being the case, he says, there will always be many new revellers who throng the main night joints, and that is why women of the night make a killing.
“This women make a killing, especially from foreigners. Early in the night locals can hardly afford them. Local residents only stand a chance much later in the night, when they are a bit desperate,” the patron explains.
The hookers are very choosy. That is, if what Erick, a visitor to the town who this writer met at the club and happens to have had prior experience with some of them, says is anything to go by.
“My first time here was very interesting. I had attended a seminar on Horticulture in this town. After days of hard work, I resolved to unwind in this nightclub. As I floored my third beer, I got attracted to one of these beauties (indicating the hookers with his mouth). I beckoned one of them, she smiled and came and sat next to me,” he narrates.
He introduced himself and they began chatting. He ordered a beer for her. After a few bottles, at around 10pm, Erick asked her to go to his hotel room, where he’d been booked during the seminar, for a steamy session.
She requested him that they first agree on the payment. She told him her charges depend on the time they spend together. The price for a night shocked Erick. He tried to bargain for a few hours’ session, but still the charges were too high for him.
A difficult client
“I thought she would ask for, say, Sh300. But shock on me. She wanted to collect Sh5,000 for a few hours’ session. I persuaded her to accept Sh500 without success, and she stuck to her initial fee,” he says.
That he had bought her five bottles of beer did not matter. She left him after discovering he was a ‘difficult’ client. Disappointed, Erick had no option but to drown his sorrows in more beer.
Later that night, at around 3am, the woman returned and informed him that they could discuss. She reduced the price and they eventually struck a deal.]Almost an hour later this writer spots Emily, again. He teases her by asking, “How was it?” to which she giggles and answers, “It was nice.”
Much later as they talked, she revealed to him that most of their clients are married men.
Most customers are married men
“Most of our customers are married men who come all the way from Nairobi and other towns,” she says.
She then sought to tickle this writer with a tale of how one day a client travelled all the way from Nairobi and lied to his wife he had gone to watch a Kenyan Premier League football match where he got stranded, yet he was busy entertaining himself all night long.
“We spent a night with him and at some point I even saw him read about the game on the Internet and when his wife called him late that night, he lied to her how enjoyable the game was. He even gave her details about a referee who was attacked and chased around the field by irate AFC Leopards fans after he made an unfavourable decision against their team,” she chuckles.
“Most married men who come to us say, with us, unlike with their wives, and regardless of how bad their day or ours was, satisfaction is always guaranteed. Again, we are always ready for it, unlike their wives who always have ‘fake headaches’ and are never in the mood at times. We also don’t criticise our clients, however bad they are between the sheets,” she says.
She also adds that unlike their wives, they always look attractive; don’t sleep with baggy and promotional T-shirts like some wives do, and are open to ideas, too...
Fines for those who breach rules
She says those who subscribe to the ‘merry-go round’ are very disciplined and when one goes against the laid-down rules and regulations, heavy fines are imposed as punishment.
These women are well known by staff at the joints they operate from. The bouncer offers security.
“If you want to know we are well guarded, just fail to pay us. We have their contacts and call them from anywhere we are with our clients,” says Emily, adding that it is the reason members brief others where they are going with their clients.
Jealously guard their territory
You can’t operate in some of their ‘strongholds’ if you are not one of them. And it is even scandalous if you happen to be very beautiful. They use all means necessary to frustrate your operations.
“If you are new here and want to work without permission and especially if you are cute, thus likely to ‘steal’ some of our regular clients, we gang up and teach you a lesson. And this happens here very often,” she concludes.