The P/E monthly report submission

The monthly P/E meeting is always held at Busia survivor’s office through the collaboration of survivor and APHIAplus western . The peer educators bring their reports and share the challenges they faced in the field during the month.

The 28 th of October meeting started by a word of prayer from one of the P/E, the minutes were not read because the P/E didn’t have their September monthly meeting because they were having a training ,they went straight to the agendas of the day , we had visitors from NASCOP and OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE OF EAST AFRICA, thus we did not have the normal procedure

The visitor from NASCOP introduced herself and  wanted to know if the P/E report she had left are helping them, some said yes , some said the writing was small and they were promised that it will be enlarged , generally she thanked the ladies for the good work.

OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE OF EAST AFRICA

The visitors introduced themselves and said that they are here to build and help on what we have to make our work easy  . the challenges were put on hold till Thur because of time , the meeting ended with a word of prayer from one P/E.

Sex workers addressing challenges faced

On 30th September, 2014 the sex workers called for a stakeholders meeting with their lawyer to address the challenges they face. Among the invited were;
• Club bouncers
• Health care providers,
• Sex workers
• Security guards
• Boda boda operators
• Bar managers
• Receptionists
• Lawyer
• Police officers
The meeting was to address some of the violations of sex workers rights that had been reported to the office which included, harassment by the bouncers from the club, rape cases by boda bodas, sex workers being sent away from bars with claims they do not want parking ladies, stigma from the community and especially the health care providers and finally police arrests and seeking for bribes.

Experience sharing from specific sex workers drove the message home which in turn touched the hearts of the invited guests who promised to provide support and be nice to sex workers. The touching story was of a particular bar which is a hot spot and he had banned sex workers from waiting for clients there, he agreed to support sex workers and lifted the ban. He even requested we help him locate one sex worker who had stolen from a client at the same bar of which we agreed to do so as long as we get the details of the girl.

Finally the meeting came to an end with a positive impact where every gate keeper promised to give support, the boda boda chairman gave out his contacts plus the ones for the security personnel to be called anytime a sex worker is in danger, the health care provider also gave his contact and agreed to treat the sex workers anytime they are at the health facility, the receptionists also agreed not to be selling the free condoms at the dispensers to the sex workers and finally the sex workers promised to be disciplined and stop stealing from clients!

Condom shortage in Busia town

We sex workers of Busia believe in our slogan of “condom is good all the time and all the time condom is good and that is our nature”! Surprisingly, we are not living to our slogan due to inadequate supply of condoms.

Our main condom supplier who are PS-Kenya together with the ministry of health have not been able to make the necessary deliveries for the past three months, which has made it impossible for sex workers to carry on with their business smoothly. To some extent, a few condom dispensers have been spotted having used sanitary pads and black notes due to being without condoms for long.

We have reached out to our partners who include; Ampath-plus, Busia wellness centre and the public health office but they also sing the same song like us ‘they do not have enough condoms’ they are waiting for new stock!

Kindly we are appealing to other partners and organization out there, who could be having some in store to help us please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

survivors conduct htc outreach in busia town

 

On 27/9/ 2014, survivors’ organization conducted HTC services in Busia town at Holiday Inn, in partnership with APHIA PLUS WESTERN KENYA. The aim of the HTC service was to test both the MSMs and FSWs so that they may know their status.

The activity started at 6pm where by the 8 mobilizes went round giving information on the importance of knowing one’s status. We managed to provide services to 113 (female 34 then male 79). We also managed to distribute 353 condoms. Surprisingly the majority of those who came for the test were MSMs; this means that the MSMs are out to know their status which is very good.
Mobilization team did their best to ensure the right and positive information was well facilitated.

Achievements
.We managed to reach a quite number of people
. Right and clear positive information on correct and consistent condom use was well spread.
Challenges

Having 10 counselors’ our target was 150 clients in which we were unable to reach .

It started raining early thus lead to low turn up of clients.

 

SURVIVORS CONDUCT HTC SERVICES IN NAMBALE SUB – COUNTY

On 26/7/ 2014, survivors’ organization conducted HTC services in Nambale town, in partnership with APHIA PLUS WESTERN KENYA. The HTC service was planned to start at 8.00am but due to communication problems, the activity kicked off at 12noon. We managed to provide services to 125 clients thus lead to one off our achievements. We had a total number of 8 counselors and 15 mobilizes.htc nambale.
By 5:30pm we had already met our target and surpassed the target by 35 clients. We also managed to distribute 871 condoms.
Mobilization team did their best to ensure the right and positive information was well facilitated. Achievements
.We managed to reach a quite number of people
. Our targets were reached and surpassed by 35 clients.
. Right and clear positive information on correct and consistent condom use was well spread.
Challenges
. We intended to conduct cancer screening in which did not take place.
. Improper communication with our partners