Participants' demographic characteristics
A total of 96 interviews - 72 with women from different occupational backgrounds and 24 with male and female key informants, were conducted across the different sites, with numbers evenly distributed across the sites (see Table 1).
Table 1: Characteristics of interview participants.
Variables
|
Uganda 1-MRC/UVRI
|
Uganda 2-
UVRI-IAVI
|
Kenya- KEMRI
|
Tanzania-MITU
|
All (n=96)
|
Sex
|
Male
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
12
|
Female
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
84
|
Mean age
|
Men
|
43
|
41
|
48
|
52
|
46
|
Women
|
32
|
30
|
46
|
39
|
36.8
|
Education
|
None
|
2
|
1
|
-*
|
6
|
|
Primary
|
12
|
16
|
-
|
13
|
|
Secondary
|
9
|
5
|
-
|
5
|
|
Tertiary
|
1
|
2
|
-
|
0
|
|
Occupation
|
Fish related activities
|
7
|
12
|
6
|
12
|
37
|
Trader
|
1
|
4
|
6
|
2
|
13
|
Sex/Bar worker
|
10
|
6
|
0
|
3
|
19
|
Other
|
6
|
2
|
12
|
7
|
27
|
Marital status
|
Married/Cohabiting
|
11
|
14
|
15
|
17
|
57
|
Separated/Single
|
12
|
10
|
3
|
7
|
32
|
Widowed
|
1
|
0
|
6
|
0
|
7
|
* missing data
a) Migrating to the fishing community
When moving into the fishing community, women followed social/ family connections and most reported to have come at the invitation of a friend, relative or sexual partner. After getting into the fishing community, most women were involved in fish processing or trading while others engaged in bar/restaurant work, market vending as well as sex work. Participants noted that in the past, there was a lot of internal migration around the different fishing communities, but people had now got more permanent places of residence within the fishing communities, which they considered as their homes. So, even when they moved, some returned to these particular places. Most of the movement rotated around work although women in some cases reportedly moved in search of health care, because of family obligations and to a small extent for leisure.
b) Mode of communication
Most of the movement, especially for work, was triggered by the different social connections women had, and was usually aided by mobile phone calls, phone text messages and social media, especially WhatsApp. Within the networks, members shared mobile phone contacts, which helped to cement these relationships. Mobile phones also enabled network members to stay connected and to easily get together when alerted. Due to the easy means of communication, they could easily decide on a course of action to take. Network members always kept in touch and were kept up-to-date with information especially on where business was good through the different communication platforms of phone calls and social media. Through the friendship networks that they created and using these channels to easily share information, particularly regarding work, across and within a network, members were able to keep their trade/dealings moving.
“These women, especially bar workers and sex workers rely on information from other places whether there is money or not. So, when their counterparts on other landing sites or islands do not communicate about the situation there, they take longer to move. When they are told about what is happening in other places; that is when they can move” (man, 34 years, key informant -youth leader, Uganda (UG1).
c) Social groupings within the fishing communities
Diverse types of groupings existed within the fishing communities. These groupings or networks were formed basing on several features which included similar characteristics and interests of peers/members or involvement in similar jobs. The most salient among the various groupings that existed in fishing communities were the sex workers’ network, women fish traders/ processors, bar owners/workers’ network, hotel/restaurant workers’ network, sex workers-to-lodge owners/operators and women-to-family networks. However, almost all the different social groupings also networked with the fishermen, who were their main sexual clients/partners or fish supplier.
i) Sex workers’ networks
These were women aged 18 to 40 who usually frequented the fishing community during fish harvesting seasons to target fishermen and other men who were interested in paying for sex. Women selling sex had a network, which not only recruited other young girls/ women into the trade but also trained the recruits on ways of surviving in this industry including educating them about condom use, sex charges, and other forms of support.
The women also shared information about places where business was good. Their network helped them to find employment as well as social security whereby they saved, donated and lent money to one another through their associations known as ‘Ifogong'o’ in Sukuma language (meaning savings pouch/purse [in Tanzania-TZ] and ‘Munno mukabi’ in Luganda language (meaning ‘a friend in need’ self-help group (in Uganda-UG).
"If one of them met with bad customers, she makes effort to know who he is and shared the information with others in their network" (woman, bar worker, 38 years, TZ)
“These groups have helped us to save and to borrow in order to meet our financial needs. When we save, you can borrow the money among yourselves. These social coordinates are useful and they are the ones where we find comfort. They include the friends and those you associate with like your peers” (woman, 31 years, bar worker, UG2).
Almost all work-related movements by sex workers were prompted by phone calls from or to fellow sex workers in other ‘lucrative’ locations. They had connections who alerted them that fishermen in a certain area were making big catches. They would then move into that area quickly to exploit the opportunities leaving when their takings diminished, or they received information of another place where work was available. For example, before moving to a specific area, they first got phone calls either from fellow sex workers or from the lodge owners/operators. The latter usually kept sex workers’ phone contacts and in addition to providing them with place to work (to provide sex), they alerted them to come whenever the fish season started, and fishermen had money. So, in most of their movements, they relied on this information from their networks and usually carried small notebooks where they jotted useful information like locator information of the contact people in their respective destinations. They always had information regarding accommodation rates and transport fares to the different locations they moved to. They had information on who to first contact when they got to their destination and how to strategically target clients in each location. When these sex workers got into the community, they went to bars and lodges as they would stay there for a short time before they moved again. However, if the sex workers came into an area and found that business was not as good as they had anticipated or if their marketability reduced after staying in the community for some days, they would make phone calls to friends in other locations before they moved off again. The period these sex workers stayed in an area varied from one day to a couple of days or even weeks depending on the prevailing earning opportunities. Sometimes women would fail to get better prospects in the places they moved to and moved quickly to another location, on the basis of information provided within their network.
“The sex workers especially, they connect in such a way that they easily network if one finds an opportunity existing somewhere and also enrol new people into the sex work network. The young women look at those who have been sex workers and envy them. Some of them have made it and they lead a good life, have property, and the rest. So, due to lack of employment, they are talked into trying out in the trade. Then they form a group. The new recruit, if she gets money the easy way recruits others into the same. That’s why in every group you find there is a senior person, and these groups move together into an area and follow the same direction. They are connected by the same goal; contacts are by phone and social media. And through friends that they make, they keep their trade on track. To be connected, these people make sure they make as many friends as possible in the areas they operate from and keep in touch” (woman, trader, 38 years, UG1)
Women in sex work ensured they maintained a chain of friendships and connections with the different information sources including the lodge owners/ operators and the boat crew, with the latter being regular travellers and always had current information on fish availability/abundance within the different fish sites.
“When you talk to them, because as we always lift them to the boats, some of them have become our friends. They even ask you whether it's ok where they are heading to, and as we work here, we are aware of the situation happening in the islands through the traders, the boat skippers and other fishermen. When it is good, some of them even tip us on their way back if all went well” (man, 46 years, key informant-leader, boat loaders crew, UG1).
Besides networking with fellow sex workers, they also networked with fishermen, their biggest clients. Fishermen were reported to telephone inviting sex workers to follow them to the different islands/fishing communities that they moved to in the course of their work. Even other women in service provision like restaurant/bar operators, laundry and shopkeepers (to a small extent) also networked with fishermen and moved following the fishermen, especially when the latter moved for longer periods of up to 3 months or more.
“Like these fishermen who go to look for Nile perch, they stay away for a long time, we hear that they could ask women like sex workers to find them in certain islands where they dock to buy more fish especially if they have home-made ice containers on their boats”. (man, key informant-local leader, UG1)
“You find that sex workers also move to the different islands and their sole purpose is to find places where they can do sex work. And they are usually alerted by their friends doing the same work, or the lodge owners” (…). “In the case of sex workers and fishermen, mobility to where business is good is generated by phone calls from fellow workers” (woman, 57 years, key informant –VHT, UG2).
ii) Hotel/ restaurant workers’ networks
In Tanzania, women working at eating places (small hotels/restaurants) also engaged in transactional sex. They had their own network whereby they formed groups of 5-10 women who closely worked together. Their closer association helped them to locate places of high fish catch. They would meet together and allocate scouts to survey the business environment, once they identified good opportunities, they would move to the area.
“Hotel workers move together as a group to places with high fish catch. The areas with high fish yield have large collection of people creating high demand for food and sex. The size of the group moving to a particular island or landing site depends on population of the place of destination and the number of small hotels available in the area” (woman, 39 years, food vendor, TZ).
iii) Women fish traders/processors and fishermen networks
Other social connections were among women traders including fish traders/processors and the fishermen or their fish suppliers. Women in fish processing/ trading were reported to be very mobile and these women moved with or followed the fishing crew. These could take up to three months before moving back to their original communities (communities they considered as home). Being away from their homes for long periods of time exposed the women to multiple sexual partners and marriage/relationship break ups. For example, women engaged in fish trading/drying/smoking tended to move from one fishing community to another following the fishermen to secure fish or following their employers to process the catch, including drying fish. Their network helped them with security among themselves from bad men or from their employers and also simplified access to information about work opportunities including availability and markets for fish.
“Fish processors, are connected in such a way that if one finds an opportunity existing somewhere they communicate and invite one another” (woman, fish processor, 45 years, TZ).
In their quest for fish, women fish processors/ traders reportedly engaged in high risk sexual behaviour with fishermen to secure fish at a good price. Given that they moved from one fishing community to another, they sometimes had multiple sexual partners at the different fishing communities, which exposed them to sexually transmitted infections including HIV. In addition, this exposed them to sexual violence. Men on the other hand were reported to deny women fish if a woman declined providing sex, which left the women with a choice to make; to either provide sex and get fish cheaply or buy elsewhere at a higher price.
"You may find that a woman gets fish from several men and she is mixing them all up. Sometimes when men realise that the woman is getting fish from several men, they sometimes gang up and beat her" (woman, fish trader, 30 years, TZ).
iv) Bar owners’/ worker’s networks
Bar workers reportedly invited peers from mainland villages nearby for work in fishing communities. To a lesser extent, there were also middlemen on the mainland who recruited young girls for the bar owners because the latter changed employees frequently as a way of attracting bar customers.
“… at all those places I have mentioned, I have brokers who call me and inform me of girls who are looking for what to do. So I tell them to send the girls and they come. So every time, I need a girl to work, I call those people” (man 44 years, bar owner, UG1).
On coming to the fishing communities, most of the girls did not know they were coming to work in bars but on reaching these communities, bar work would be the easiest and readily available option. In most cases, such girls were not paid by the employers but earned through providing sex to the bar customers. This kind of work exposed the girls/women to the risk of HIV, not only through provision of sex to the bar customers but also through increased mobility since they kept changing places of work:
“They (the bar owners) keep changing these girls and bringing in new ones, because girls especially new ones attract clients to come to bars. So when bar clients get tired of seeing these old faces, they (bar owners) change and bring in new ones” (woman, 19 years, waitress, UG2).
Similarly, bar owners at different fishing communities had a relationship whereby they exchanged or swapped bar workers intending to have new faces in their bars to attract customers. In such instances, girls/women who were less independent or could not easily find work would have no option but to move to where the employer would take them.
v) Women - family networks
These networks included fishermen and their wives/long-term partners as well as women and their families. Women moved to follow their fishermen husbands/partners. Apart from a few women who moved and permanently stayed with the partners at the fishing community, this type of mobility was in most cases short-term. Women moved for a day, two days but did not go beyond one week. For example, a fisherman could ask his wife to go and find him where he went fishing. Besides, women could be travelling on behalf of the husband who could be away fishing to attend to the husband’s wider family affairs like burial ceremonies, last funeral rites or visit relatives. Other women left their families, including children and partners on the mainland and thus made frequent or regular trips to attend to their families.
Much as there was this connection between women and their families, some women especially those involved in sex work never wanted their families to know the kind of work they were involved in. So, some ended up changing their names, concealing their whereabouts as well as their identity, which resulted in a weakening of family ties for some women.
d) Benefits and risks associated with the networks
Benefits from the social groupings ranged from information sharing, group protection especially from violence, financial support, to working in groups. For instance, network members not only offered support by informing peers about prevailing business/income prospects but also tended to move in groups. For example, different groups of sex workers were reported to sometimes get involved in fights over sexual clients causing physical/bodily injury to some. For this, they preferred to move in specific groups as a form of protection. Others that commonly moved in groups were the bar/restaurant/hotel workers, who also moved together to provide support to each other.
"Hotel workers travel in a group for purposes of protection. They are in the same surroundings to protect against crime and persecution, and to help one another in the case that one of them is faced with a problem" (woman, 39, food vendor, TZ).
“Some of the women move in groups for purposes of security, most especially when they are going to places they are not used to. Here even when they have arrived at those places, they want to stay near one another for protection in case one of them is forced into having or doing something not accepted by the others. For example, some men force themselves onto these women, and this person (the offender) can be dealt with in a group, even when the others are still serving their customers, they are usually forced to abandon whatever they are doing in order to protect their fellow sex worker”. (man, 46 years, boat loader, key informant, UG1)
“The youthful sex workers are often seen to move in groups of three to five, and they have a linkage that they are either coming from the same place or have met on several occasions and have a tight connection. When planning to move to the islands, they meet somewhere to move together” (woman, 39years, key informant, restaurant owner, UG2)
Traders including fish traders were reported to also move in groups in case they are moving to the same market. In this way, they would load their goods on one boat and were assured of group protection and bargaining power to agree and set a good and uniform price for their goods.
Overall, women considered these groups as being important especially in terms of group support and protection. They reported violence including death of fellow women who did not belong to a group.
“Some time back, a sex worker was murdered by her customer, and she had come alone here in XX to work. Another sex worker had her private parts mutilated by a customer who used a razor blade to cut them and run away. She almost died because a lot of blood was coming out of her” (woman, 38 years, trader, UG1).
e) Risks from group membership
In addition to benefits, there were also risks from being a part of a network, which included exposure to HIV acquisition, violence and family breakages. Some younger women were reported to move because of peer pressure in a group and they find themselves living on the islands for good. Some of the women do not easily find shelter, so they stayed with friends or hired lodges for some time as they looked for a place to stay. Some of these places are prone to thieves, flooding during rainy seasons, and are poorly constructed. This was a particular problem for groups like bar workers who moved often and stayed in poor accommodation because they were working in a place for a short time.
“Some of the peer groups lead women into risky behaviours, for example, many women are connected by their peers to men, but not knowing the outcomes of those connections. Many of them have been harassed by the men they were connected to by their friends. This usually happens to bar attendants” (female, 31 years, bar work, UG2)
Sex workers were greatly exposed to a number of risks including HIV risk, some of which resulted from their mobility:
“…In addition to facing violence, they (sex workers) contract diseases and keep on spreading them. She gets it from here and takes it (the disease) to the islands and then from there to XX town” (woman, 43 years, Bar owner, UG1).
Women fish traders reportedly made losses, especially during the rainy season and this usually exposed them to the risk of acquiring HIV:
“Silver fish [a small type of fish] traders face the highest risk as they make big losses during the rainy season. Their silver fish could be washed away or it could rot, which could even result in involvement in sex for fish” (woman, fish processor, 46 years, UG1).
Mobility related risks not only affected those who moved but also their families as long-term mobility reportedly led women to abandon their children, which not only affected the children but the communities as well. Other women were reported to move with their children which exposed the latter to the hardships that came along with the moving.