Campus girl opens up on the allure of ‘sponsors’ life in Nairobi – VIDEO
An undergraduate student in Nairobi has given a detailed account – in an explosive interview with the BBC – how she sleeps with older men to make ends meet.
The 20-year-old student, who only identifies herself by the name Jane, admitted to having two ‘sponsors’ while saying she sees ‘nothing wrong in having multiple sex partners in exchange for money.
She claims sponsors are just part of the everyday hustle that it takes to survive in Nairobi.
“They help you sometimes, but it’s not always about sex. It’s just like they want company, they want someone to talk to,” Jane spoke of his relationship with two married men.
The student says her parents brought her up with traditional values, but that she has now made her own choices in life.
One of her ambitions, she says, is to be able to support her younger sisters, so they won’t need to rely on men for money.
NAIROBI DIARIES
But she has also been inspired by Kenya’s celebrity ‘socialites’, the women who have transformed sex appeal into wealth, becoming stars of social media.
Among them are the stars of the reality TV show Nairobi Diaries, Kenya’s own version of Keeping up With the Kardashians or The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
The show has launched several socialites out of Nairobi’s slums and onto yachts off the coast of Malibu or Mediterranean.
“Nairobi Diaries is like the Kardashians playing out (on screen) in real time. If I look hot, I look good, there has got be some rich guy who will pay good money to possess me,” says Oyunga Pala, Nairobi columnist and social commentator.
The best known of the Kenyan socialites is probably Vera Sidika, who went from dancing in music videos on to the set of the Nairobi Diaries.
From there, she launched a business career.
“My body is my business – and it is a money maker,” she said back in 2014, when discussing her controversial skin-lightening procedures.
Nowadays, Vera is keen to project herself as an entrepreneur, and runs a successful brand of “detox” herbal infusions called Veetox Tea.