'Sex For Fish' resurfaces at national drama festival in Kisumu

 

Students of Nyakach Girls' High School and Migosi Primary School perform during the annual Kenya Schools, Colleges and Universities Festival at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu on Saturday. [Photo: Denish Ochieng and George Orido, Standard]

The challenges facing the Lake Victoria fishing industry during the schools and colleges’ drama festival in Kisumu on Sunday.

A thrilling performance by Nyakach Girls’ High School became the highlight of the day as it reminded the country of the famous ‘sex-for-fish’ practice in the local  industry.

Through their dramatised dance, ‘Jaboya’, on the second day of the festival, the students portrayed the worrying state of  fishing around Lake Victoria, which is marred by prostitution, poor fishing methods, poverty, and lack of government support.

In the performance that left the audience at the annual Kenya Schools, Colleges and Universities Drama Festival in stitches, Oloo, the main character, who uses traditional fishing methods, is not doing well because of modern technologies.

Oloo, who has a wife and six children, cannot afford modern fishing equipment and his dwindling catch spells doom for his family.

A commercial fisherman introduces Oloo to modern fishing methods. He takes advantage of Oloo’s situation by making him work on his boat. The trader fails to keep his promise to share the catch with Oloo. The situation gets desperate as Oloo can no longer provide for his family.

Oloo’s wife is lured into an illicit love affair with the businessman, referred to as Jaboya, in exchange for fish. This enables her to provide for her family.

The play, directed by Abubakar Ramadhan and Tariq Haziz, portrays a realistic image of the poverty that plagues the fish mongers at the lake and gives life to the now common sex-for-fish business.

Oloo has a fierce fight with his boss when the affairs becomes public knowledge. The elders intervene by punishing Jaboya and chasing him away. Oloo is reconciled with his wife.

“As people who live along the shores of the lake, this is a practice we have witnessed. Every part of the region has been affected in a way because fishing is one of the main economic activities in the area,” said Nyakach Girls’ High School Deputy Principal Monica Akach.

And with the lake currently affected by the water hyacinth, which has covered most of its shores, disabling fishing and other businesses, the play seems to have come at the right time to rally stakeholders to take action and save fish mongers from the dreaded sex-for-fish business.

The play echoed harrowing tales of prostitution along the shores of Lake Victoria reported about a decade ago, where women traded sex for fish.

The government and some NGOs have set up a campaign to empower women by helping them acquire their own fishing boats and other equipment.

Migosi Primary School had a moving dance, ‘Peninah’, that depicts the tribulations of female boda boda riders. The play is produced by Roselyn Gwada.