Thursday, May 5, 2011

Episode 27: No Dim Candle Lit Room

Many men are attracted to picking girls from the streets because of the freedom to choose where to have sex with them. For unlike girls in downtown bars and brothels who insist on having sex in-house; in stuffy rooms and tattered mattress, the girls on the streets are more risk inclined as to go where a man wishes. Not that we have much choice. When I get inside a car I usually have no idea where a man will take me. It may sound stupid, but it’s a foolishness I charge a premium price for. A man may consider such factors as cost, privacy and convenience in determining the destination.

Men don’t say where they are taking me until I ask. Their assumption maybe that a girl on the street is ready to go anywhere. Perhaps they also fear a girl may change here mind if told of the destination. True there are places a girl would be uncomfortable going to. For instance near a neighborhood where she stole from a client. Also in a hotel where she was short changed, created a scene and embarrassed the hotel. There are also men who love going to a prostitute’s house. This perhaps is driven by the image of prostitutes in movies; husky voiced, cigarette smoking women, living in dim candle lit rooms, with some erotica hanging on the wall next to the bed. The truth is girls here don't live that way.

Most of the girls downtown live in congested neighborhoods which are slightly above the state of slums. If you asked a girl at the Sabina Joy where she comes from the answer would be Kayole, Githurai, Huruma, Mwiki, Mathare North or Mlango Kubwa. If not that it would be a place like Gachie or Wangige. Few girls if any admit coming from the slums. To some extent it’s an ego thing, and to another it’s about what such a discovery may do to business; what with the stereotype of prostitutes and slum residents as thieves. A prostitute from the slums will not only be assumed to be dirty but also exhibiting the worst of prostitutes’ treachery.

Here on the street the opposite happens. Few girls admit to living in the estates where the downtown brothels girls live. Doing so would snatch the slight decency expected of girls on the streets. However in actual sense there are  some of my colleagues here  who live in such estates, even in slums. Though such low income places may offer convenience in terms of cost, they are a big inconvenience when it comes to the logistics of business. Life in such areas is characterized by arbitrarily police round ups, what is called msako. Woe unto you if you are caught in the msako when leaving for work. Besides the msako there is always a  high possibility of bumping into policemen on patrol. Police in such areas have a superiority complex which tries to exploit on the perceived inferiority of the residents. They are certain to arrest or harass you for no good reason. Thus if you live there you might be forced to leave home before dark for work. And if you work here on  the street where business doesn’t pick up till after eleven, there is just too much time to kill, time which could have better been spent sleeping.

A brighter move, and which many of us have adapted is to live, as we put it, near the money. Thus we pick relatively decent places, slightly expensive but with some comfort and peace of mind. After all, if you have to spend the night in cold, chasing cars and shouting honey then you need to enjoy the fruits of your labor in calm. So you will find a number of girls living in Pangani, Westlands, Buru Buru, Kariobangi South and Kiambu town. At times two or three girls will come together and rent a two or one bedroom house in an up market place.

I live in a bed-sitter in Pangani. It takes about twenty minutes or so to get to town, and I can leave or get in the house at anytime. I guess none of my eleven neighbors knows what I do for a living. Although the watchman may have a clue because of my odd hours ,he doesn’t ask any questions. I like it that way, having to live without announcing to everyone what I do for a living. I love the beauty of living alone. The joy of those moments when I stagger home towards daylight and crash on the bed, or those times when I am seated on the floor of the toilet vomiting as a result pf a bad hangover. No matter how the night has been, I usually find solace in my house. It is a special place, sacred in its own way. And for that reason I made a rule to preserve it only for myself . But rules get broken.

The duration between 3.45am and 5am in the morning is one of desperation. If a man hasn’t picked you by the time, then some despair sets in. That does not mean a girl cannot be picked within those hours, she can, but the quality of men who visit the street at that hour is not the best. Most have been partying all night long, are drunk, demanding and hard to negotiate with. The sober ones are likely to be with emotional problems and rather unpredictable. If there be a serial killer hour, then that is.

Sometime ago a man picked me in his car a few minutes after four. He was in a suit, good looking and sober. He told me he was from outside Nairobi. He was on a business trip but booked  in a hotel with his family . He said he only had a thousand on him, not enough to book a room and pay me. Could we go to my house and at the end of it give me the whole amount? he posed. I didn’t think of it twice. I was financially cornered. I said yes, reasoning one man would make no difference.

We had a twenty minutes session. Dressed up he said he couldn’t find the money in his pockets, and then pulled one of he oldest tricks in the book. “I left the money in my car" he said. I followed him to the car which was parked outside the gate. I stood a short distance away. I watched him bend over as if looking for the money under his seat. Then all at once the engine started, and he was gone before I knew it. I wanted to shout thief and have him stopped before he accessed the main road. But I held my breath. Even if he was stopped someone would ask:" What has he stolen?"

Never again have I serviced a customer in my house. And never will I..



35 comments:

  1. Too bad.You should have demanded money upfront.I understand that is rule number one in your profession.But hey there are times when you get caught in your game.Call it giving back to the community.

    Anonymous

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  2. Hehehe... that dude.. smart con.

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  3. wooo ok, thats a bad dude, the best thing is that he left you alive and ready to look for more money!

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  4. hy sue..i'm enjoying it,yesterday i sent you a mail requesting for guide on how to download ya podcasts..eagerly waiting for your response...

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  5. We have been making a radio program with girls from the slums together and some of them testified to going to the "streets" as you call it, so yes, some of those girls come from the streets.

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  6. there are some dynamics that a man writing this would not think of. some what convinced that you are a she...just like i take obama's word that Osama is dead.

    nice piece.

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  7. brilliant work........

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  8. Ah, Don't worry. In life you win some and you lose some...

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  9. pole dada.....like above said, in life sometimes you win some and lose some....

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  10. can't get enuff of this . write more!! u getting beta as time goes. the english is supa

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  11. Sue nice piece. pole for the thief of your servicing...just asking do you have a day job? u write like a pro in a media works or your english teacher did a good job on you.

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  12. Hey susan, I also live in Pangani, i work as aprinter, perhaps we can hook up? by the way are you for real or is this blog a way for you to make money, i know lots of people who make money with their blogs. you just dont sound like a hooker, you sound like an writer/blogger.

    if you are for real what i can only say is: you have a choice,there are many opportunities out there..
    1, start a salon( you dont need much,i blow dryer,one hair setter, and make a sink to wash hair.... you can do facials and pedicures

    2) go to sudan and be restaurant manager,PR, name it, i have been there and there are many opportunities!!

    3)be a fitness instructor in the upmarket gyms, there are always looking for : dance instructors,health and diet consultants etc

    4)teach poetry and literature, breaburn and peponi school are looking for teachers, go talk to the headmasters

    5)advertise yourself as a poetry/literature tuition teacher and put an add at sarit,village,yaya,westgate,junction.... you will sure get clients

    6) if your good with interior decor =, advertise your self as one

    7) be an independent poet and recite poems during dinner at jacaranda,mayfair,the tribe,palacina,holiday inn for guests.

    8, go to dubai and be an escort over there

    9, you can continue to live in pangani,get aids and continue been a malaya in nairobi for the rest of your life?

    what options do you prefer,either way your current profession would not last long,age will catch up with you



    you can choose to love yourself and find something better, you need to respect madam Vagina, dont abuse her. She has feelings too, maybe she will quit on you someday.

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  13. Sue i do not know what i can say about your writing because it is really great.my question is "do you plan to leave the streets any time soon?and if so what do you plan to do with your life after the streets?"
    Wish all the best in your life and in the plans you have for the future.
    your writing inspires me alot.

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  14. Many men want to marry you here just for your courage and candid writing, men are dogs

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  15. Can't stop reading...
    U r showing me things I neva thought went on in Nai.
    Keep writing...:-)

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  16. kenyandating.co.ccMay 6, 2011 at 9:55 PM

    So was this early in your career? I hope you have learnt to ask for money first. Some Kenyan men deserve a beating. Something similar happened to me. A guy came to my house, fucked me and then claimed he had no fare home. So I gave him fare because the alternative was for him to continue lounging at my place. So in real sense I paid him to fuck me! And he wasn't even that good.

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  17. Hey Sue, You are a good writer. If you really are a hooker I think you should consider what he/ she who wrote a comment on May 6th at 8.12AM said. Everyone craves/ desires love and attention from the opposite sex (if one is straight). What will you do when you cant offer your man good P coz its all wasted, you can't feel a thing. But do what you got to do to get that paper.I think its stupid to say that you got into prostitution to get money...Kenya is an SME economy with most SME businesses paying excessively little tax (less than 1%) on revenue.With only 20k, and focus you can get really far!

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  18. gettin a gal to screw you at her place free of charge can only make adood go smiling all the way home,a taste of your own medicine here gal.cant count the no. of phones ive lost to your likes.

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  19. why are people insisting for Sue to get something else to do..this is her area of trade..respect it..accept it and move on.....
    She is building a brand as a sex worker/prostitute watever u may call it.....I think some comments here are abit pretentious....

    Sue nice read..keep it up!!

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  20. if you have to spend the night in cold, chasing cars and shouting honey..... looked at from this perspective, DANG! you do have quite a job

    came from a club monday morning at your serial killer hour, saw a gal whom i presumed to be in your trade finding her bearings towards home i guess

    it was a depressing nite for how, how i know this? she had strapped on a khanga probably to be more street friendly coz the clothes of the trade and some parts of town just dont mix.

    keep whoring and keep writing dont listen to the jesus types who trying to convert ya

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  21. I am in love with this Ho, now u suckin my dick motherfucker damnit!!!!
    Some ho's in street dona shit like your all they think is bout money nothin more, bt u i swear u r even mo than the so called married wife -

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  22. gal even the italians do that here.....but instead they fuck u in the hotel room n promise u that they'll get the cash from the bank the next day....u get convinced coz of the mzungu mentality.....next day they lie even more....buy u cheap lunch..... then let u off bila nothing...its crap really....some even to send u cash when they go back to their country n to send u cash to rent a betta house n cash to start bizna....then when they go....thats it.....all men are the same if u ask me...

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  23. Pangani huh? me too. maybe i should come over for service..wink wink

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  24. who the typist tellin u wat todo n givin u options abt wats better... personaly i like wat u do dan wat de typist does so he better shut up..!!

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  25. Never again have I serviced a customer in my
    house. And never will I..
    how much will it take for u to break this rule? Am willing to pay reasonably heavy cash for you to break this....

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  27. maze sue umenimaliza!!!!!! Whhhaaatttt!!!! You are a good writer i tell u. Yyou know how to seamlessly intertwine words to pass ur message across canidly. Lakini huyo jamaa ni ngombe mtu.

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  28. That was an interesting piece. It cracked me up! Keep writing gal!

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