Mum-of-8 Recounts Her Journey Into Prostitution With Shocking Details

Rosemary Johns, a 64-year-old mother of eight from Tanzania, has confessed to sleeping with 5,000 men, Standard Digital reports.

According to the report, the mother, who was born and partly raised in Tanzania, moved to Nairobi, Kenya, in 1984, after her husband left her.

In Nairobi, a friend introduced her to prostitution in order to make ends meet and raise her children, and for two decades, she walked the streets of ‘Hooker Avenue’ in the Gikomba district of the city.

The mother, who claims to be a staunch Christian of the Baptist faith and does not miss church service, recalled, “I got married at 16, but after some time in marriage, my husband started neglecting us after I gave birth to five children.”

Speaking on her experience as a prostitute, she said, “I joined some women along Digo Road where we would wait for clients day and night, and charged Sh5 for our services. The price remained the same for more than five years until it rose to Sh50 and finally over Sh100 in early 2000s, depending on the location.

“On a good day then, I could sleep with up to 40 men but on a bad day, I had between five and 10 men. In all, I think I have slept with more than 5,000 men in my career. Many things have changed in the last 30 years as nowadays, I see young girls joining us here and within days, they would be driving their own vehicles or running businesses.

“Unfortunately, some of them steal from customers. They make quick money and invest well, but compared to years back, they are now too extreme, even in their dressing. We used to dress nicely without exposing our breasts or butts to attract men.”

She further recalled, “Until 2000s, no one paid any attention to us whenever we reported assault cases. Even the police would arrest us at the city centre without any reason.”

The arrival of condoms, according to her, was terrifying to the prostitutes since most of the men they slept with preferred “leather-to-leather “and “forcing a man to use protection was akin to giving him up for another sex worker.”

“That saw a rise in sexually transmitted diseases. But we had Casino Dispensary on Rive Road, where such cases were treated,” she admitted.

“It has been a long journey and I’ve slept with more than 5,000 men in more than 20 years. I’ve been in the field, even my children know it, and used to visit but when they grew up and started their families, they stopped frequenting Nairobi,” she said, adding that since she lives with her two grandchildren, she has momentarily taken a break from prostitution.

Photo credit: Standard Digital