20/06/2023
My struggles with alcohol and nightlife
“I am happy that I stopped excessive drinking in 2019 after being rescued from the jaws of death in a local chang’aa den where I used to frequent.’’
Meet Mrembo Anyango, 42, (name withheld) a female s*x worker (FSW) who operates in the red light district of Kondele in Kisumu City since 2003.
“My woes began in 2002 when I dropped out of high school in Form 3 due to school fees challenges combined with my high curiosity to explore the world and even have fun. This made my dreams of becoming a nurse disappear into thin air,’’ Mrembo sadly recalls during an exclusive interview with a Keeping Alive Societies’ Hope (KASH) writer at their Drop-In-Centre (DICE).
On this day as routine, she had come for her clinical services and peer counselling sessions. She adds that she has masterfully established herself as one of the most sought-after night nurses
in Kondele and beyond.
“I have a wide clientele base both the low and mighty, but nowadays I am a passive player in the game serving a selected few,’’ recounts Mrembo who is also living with HIV and fully
compliant with the national requirement for HIV treatment regimens.
Doubling up as a female es**rt, Mrembo revealed that she has faced numerous trials and tribulations in her line of duty just like many of her peers.
“We constantly face physical assault, harassment and non-payment of service delivered from some rogue clients,’’ Mrembo, a mother of one daughter who is a Form Four Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidate reveals.
On her marriage, she divulges that she was once married to John Otieno (name withheld) and later had an on-and-off affair with the same husband - who is also living with HIV and works as a local security guard.
What was her game changer?
Mrembo further reveals that she was concerned with her daughter’s low performance in school while she was in class eight in 2019.
“My daughter didn’t open up to me, but she confided to her class teacher about my night raves and wanting alcoholic habits,’’ the 5’8 tall, brown skin adorning a black dress worryingly tells the writer.
Her tone lowers, clearly and deeply affected by this matter… her daughter’s schooling definitely means a lot to her life.
These revelations, she observes made her do self-introspection for her good health and she promised herself to change for the sake of her daughter’s future which currently looked bleak.
She decided to share her alcoholism challenges with a KASH Mental Health Counsellor, Lilian for further guidance.
Mrembo is one of the FSWs who have tremendously benefitted from KASH-integrated health services and championing the upholding of human rights among the key populations (KPs).
“I started engaging with KASH in 2008/09 and I am greatful that they have been giving me adequate counselling and integrated health counselling,’’ she explained.
Martha, KASH Program Manager reiterates that the organization will continue to provide and strengthen delivery mechanisms of integrated HIV prevention, care and treatment to the KPs.
“During our health sessions, most KPs benefit from tangible knowledge of PEP, PrEP, HST and our peer educators normally distribute condoms in various hotspots within our 22 counties,’’
Martha elaborated.
In this way, Martha stresses that this will boast the clinical service uptake among the KPs.Currently, Martha observes that KASH has been able to reach out to over 5,000 FSWs and is continuing to address multiple alcohol-related cases.
Affirming this position, World Health Organization (WHO) avers that alcohol contributes to 3 million deaths each year globally as well as to the disabilities and poor health of millions overall.
The global health body further notes that the harmful use of alcohol is accountable for 7.1% and 2.2% of the worldwide burden of disease for males and females respectively.
WHO points out that alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those aged between 15 to 49 years which accounts for 10% of all deaths in this age group.
It warns that disadvantaged and especially vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalizations.
Eugenie, KASH DICE Coordinator and Clinical officer said that they have been at the forefront of offering quality clinical services to the key population.
“At our facility, we offer HIV Services, STI screening and treatment, family planning methods, PREP initiations, and Cervical Cancer Screening,’’ she said during an interview at her DICE office.
Through concerted efforts at KASH, Eugenie reports that there has been a positive upward trajectory in the uptake of clinical services among the KPs in recent years.
“The major challenges that we continue facing while dealing with the KP Community is that they are prone to missing appointments and they are constantly moving from one place to another sometimes tracing them can become challenging,'' she reveals.
She however confirms that the program has incorporated ‘treatment buddies’ who are s*x worker peers attached to those
on care and are assigned to support their peers on care to ensure good adherence and hence offer better ways of tracing one another in such situations.
Mrembo with nostalgia says that Biology and Chemistry were her favourite subjects while in school and some of her schoolmates still call her daktari (doctor). She has severally tried to apply to become a Community Health Worker (CHV) but has always been unsuccessful due to her alcoholic habits.
She now doubles up by doing menial jobs like house cleaning, washing clothes, and cooking for people for her daily upkeep. Her food kiosk business that she used to operate in the Kibuye market flopped due to her alcohol-generated inconsistencies a while back.
“If I am economically empowered, I will stop selling s*x and start a thriving business like selling mitumba(second-hand clothes) or opening a food kiosk,’’ Mrembo requests.
She encourages her fellow FSWs to be prayerful to God, positively focuses on themselves and strive to become the person they desired to be while growing up.
“Ensure that you maintain good relationships, change your habits and stop going to chang’aa
dens.” she emphasized.
