No Sex for Fish

Spotlight English

Voice 1

Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I’m Bruce Gulland.

Voice 2

And I’m Megan Nollet. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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Voice 1

Milka Onyango is a single mother of six. She lives near Lake Victoria, in Kenya. It is one of the largest lakes in the world. Like many other women in the area, Oyango sells fish to survive. To get these fish, she must buy them from local fishermen. But often, these fishermen want more than just her money. To get the best fish, she must have sex with the fishermen. This dangerous system is called jaboya, or sex for fish. Every time Onyango agrees to jaboya, she risks getting diseases like HIV. But she feels like she has no other choice. She has no other way to support her family.

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Jaboya is very common in towns around Lake Victoria. Women trapped in poverty feel forced to have sex with men to survive. Because of jaboya, the rate of HIV infection is very high in these areas. Thirty to forty percent of people in these fishing villages have this deadly disease.

Voice 1

This is a very bad situation. But it is not hopeless. One small organization is trying to change things for good. It is called No Sex for Fish.

Today’s Spotlight is on No Sex for Fish.

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Fishing is the way many people make money in towns around Lake Victoria. But the fishing business is divided between men and women. Men own boats and fish. Women buy the fish and bring them to the market. Their culture does not permit women to own boats. Most women will never even sail in one.

Voice 1

The fishing business has been this way for generations. But jaboya is new. For many years, there was enough fish for everyone. But in the 1970’s things began to change. Pollution caused many fish to die off. And people began catching too many fish. Soon, fisherman could not provide enough good fish. They began asking for sex as well as money. Women who would give them sex would get the best fish. Those who did not agree to jaboya might not have fish to sell at all.

Voice 2

Not every fisherman required jaboya. But most women in the fishing trade accepted it. They had no other way to get fish. So, they felt that they had no other choice. Achieng is a woman who lives in Kenya, by Lake Victoria. She works in the fishing trade. She spoke to the New Humanitarian about jaboya.

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“When you are a woman and you want to get into the business of selling fish, you must be ready to lose your pride. You must use your body to get what you need. Being ready to give sex as and when it is demanded by the fisherman… It means that you will survive here. You know you can get HIV. But then you remember you have a family that needs to be provided for. You say, let me die providing for them.”

Voice 1

This situation remained the same for many years. Women in poverty did not have the power to change anything. So, they sacrificed their health for their children.

Voice 2

The men who asked for jaboya also suffered. Fishing on Lake Victoria is a very hard job. The fishermen row around the lake. They must pull up large catches of fish by hand. And, there are dangerous animals in the water. One of these animals is the hippopotamus. A hippopotamus is one of the largest animals in the world. It does not hunt humans. But it often destroysboats. And if it feels afraid, it will kill a person. This, along with HIV, means fishermen do not live long. Many die before they are fifty years old.

Voice 1

In 2010, things began to change. Justine Obura is a woman who lives in a village on Lake Victoria. One day, she and several other women in her village came up with an idea. To get rid of jaboya, women would have to do things differently. What if, instead of buying fish,the women caught their own fish? Or, what if they owned the boats? And they paid the men to fish for them? That way, they would be in charge of the fish. They would not have to have sex to get it. And they would help lower HIV rates in the area for both men and women.

Voice 2

One day, Obura talked to the Victoria Institute for Research on Environment and Development, or VIRED. The group helped her raise money for boats. And together with other women, she formed an organization called No Sex for Fish. No Sex for Fish would provide women with the means to catch their own fish. After several years, women in the area owned over 60 boats!

Voice 1

Women who received these boats gained a new kind of freedom. Many were able to pay for their children’s schooling. Women owning boats helps other people avoid jaboya as well. Instead of buying their fish from men, they can buy it from other women. Most still live in poverty. But they no longer have to have dangerous sex to provide for their children. Agnes is a woman who now owns a No Sex for Fish boat. She spoke to TakePart Live about how her life has changed.

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“Life was bad. My husband died when I was very young. One of my children died of hunger. I did take part in jaboya before, to help us survive. I did it even before my husband died, because he made so little money. Before we got boats, we had sex with men. But now that has ended.”

Voice 2

No Sex for Fish has helped fight jaboya. And it has helped show what it is like for women in Kenya who live in poverty. But the program has had its problems. Sometimes, storms destroy the boats. Or, flooding makes it difficult to fish. Even without these problems, it is a difficult life.

Voice 1

But the women of Lake Victoria would not give up. They would not go back to the way things were before. Patrick Higdon works for the charity World Connect. It is an organization that helped build new boats. He spoke to NPR about their support for No Sex for Fish.

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“No matter what happens, we believe in these women. We believe in the work they are doing to help control HIV. And, they are helping women fish sellers be financially independent. They have an amazing need to solve this difficult problem. It is an uphill climb. And that encourages me. That they feel brave enough to take that on.”

Voice 2

No Sex for Fish will not change jaboya on their own. To end jaboya, men need to be involved. They need to understand the dangers of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Together, they will need to make fishing safer. And they must learn that sex for fish is not a fair exchange. But No Sex for Fish does give hope. It shows how life can be different for future generations.

Voice 1

What are some of the other problems of living in poverty? Are there ways that you know to help? What are they? You can leave a comment on our website. Or email us at [e-mail]. You can also comment on Facebook at facebook.com/spotlightradio.

Voice 2

The writer and producer of this program was Dan Christmann. The voices you heard were from The United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net. This program is called, ‘No Sex for Fish’.

Voice 1

You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.

Question:

What are some of the other problems of living in poverty? Are there ways that you know to help? What are they?

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