FEATURE-Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists
Jeremy Clarke
Reuters North American News Service
Nov 26, 2007 08:04 EST
MOMBASA, Kenya, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64.
They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is \"just full of big young boys who like us older girls\".
Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex.
Allie and Bethan -- who both declined to give their full names -- said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya's palm-fringed beaches. They would do well to avoid the country's tourism officials.
\"It's not evil,\" said Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, when asked about the practise of older rich women travelling for sex with young Kenyan men.
\"But it's certainly something we frown upon.\"
Also, the health risks are stark in a country with an AIDS prevalence of 6.9 percent. Although condom use can only be guessed at, Julia Davidson, an academic at Nottingham University who writes on sex tourism, said that in the course of her research she had met women who shunned condoms -- finding them too \"businesslike\" for their exotic fantasies.
The white beaches of the Indian Ocean coast stretched before the friends as they both walked arm-in-arm with young African men, Allie resting her white haired-head on the shoulder of her companion, a six-foot-four 23-year-old from the Maasai tribe.
He wore new sunglasses he said were a gift from her.
\"We both get something we want -- where's the negative?\" Allie asked in a bar later, nursing a strong, golden cocktail.
She was still wearing her bikini top, having just pulled on a pair of jeans and a necklace of traditional African beads.
Bethan sipped the same local drink: a powerful mix of honey, fresh limes and vodka known locally as \"Dawa\", or \"medicine\".
She kept one eye on her date -- a 20-year-old playing pool, a red bandana tying back dreadlocks and new-looking sports shoes on his feet.
He looked up and came to join her at the table, kissing her, then collecting more coins for the pool game.
\"JUST UNWHOLESOME\"
Grieves-Cook and many hotel managers say they are doing all they can to discourage the practice of older women picking up local boys, arguing it is far from the type of tourism they want to encourage in the east African nation.
\"The head of a local hoteliers' association told me they have begun taking measures -- like refusing guests who want to change from a single to a double room,\" Grieves-Cook said.
\"It's about trying to make those guests feel as uncomfortable as possible ... But it's a fine line. We are 100 percent against anything illegal, such as prostitution. But it's different with something like this -- it's just unwholesome.\"
These same beaches have long been notorious for attracting another type of sex tourists -- those who abuse children.
As many as 15,000 girls in four coastal districts -- about a third of all 12-18 year-olds girls there -- are involved in casual sex for cash, a joint study by Kenya's government and U.N. children's charity UNICEF reported late last year.
Up to 3,000 more girls and boys are in full-time sex work, it said, some paid for the \"most horrific and abnormal acts\".
\"PREYING ON POVERTY?\"
Emerging alongside this black market trade -- and obvious in the bars and on the sand once the sun goes down -- are thousands of elderly white women hoping for romantic, and legal, encounters with much younger Kenyan men.
They go dining at fine restaurants, then dancing, and back to expensive hotel rooms overlooking the coast.
\"One type of sex tourist attracted the other,\" said one manager at a shorefront bar on Mombasa's Bamburi beach.
\"Old white guys have always come for the younger girls and boys, preying on their poverty ... But these old women followed ... they never push the legal age limits, they seem happy just doing what is sneered at in their countries.\"
Experts say some thrive on the social status and financial power that comes from taking much poorer, younger lovers.
\"This is what is sold to tourists by tourism companies -- a kind of return to a colonial past, where white women are served, serviced, and pampered by black minions,\" said Nottinghan University's Davidson.
\"LIVE LIKE THE RICH\"
Many of the visitors are on the lookout for men like Joseph.
Flashing a dazzling smile and built like an Olympic basketball star, the 22-year-old said he has slept with more than 100 white women, most of them 30 years his senior.
\"When I go into the clubs, those are the only women I look for now,\" he told Reuters. \"I get to live like the rich mzungus (white people) who come here from rich countries, staying in the best hotels and just having my fun.\"
At one club, a group of about 25 dancing men -- most of them Joseph look-alikes -- edge closer and closer to a crowd of more than a dozen white women, all in their autumn years.
\"It's not love, obviously. I didn't come here looking for a husband,\" Bethan said over a pounding beat from the speakers.
\"It's a social arrangement. I buy him a nice shirt and we go out for dinner. For as long as he stays with me he doesn't pay for anything, and I get what I want -- a good time. How is that different from a man buying a young girl dinner?\" (Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sara Ledwith)
HEADLINES — Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Sheryl Crow Takes Up Cause of Wild Horses in West Sheryl Crow is joining others in calling on the federal government to halt roundups of wild horses in the West, branding them as inhumane and unnecessary. Martin Griffith, AP NEWS - 7 minutes ago
Atlantis Astronauts Take 2nd Spacewalk of Mission A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and blazed through his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station on Saturday. Marcia Dunn, AP NEWS - 24 minutes ago
Suspicious Note and Package Found at Fort Benning A Fort Benning spokesman says Army officials are investigating whether a suspicious note and package found at the west Georgia post is a viable threat. Staff, AP NEWS - 28 minutes ago
Sheryl Crow Takes Up Cause of Wild Horses in West Sheryl Crow is joining others in calling on the federal government to halt wild horse roundups in the West, branding them as inhumane and unnecessary. Staff, AP NEWS - 28 minutes ago
Historic Health Care Bill Nears Key Senate Vote In a show of unity, Senate Democrats sealed a 60-vote majority needed to advance health care legislation Saturday ahead of an evening showdown with Republicans eager to doom the bill and inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. David Espo, AP FEATURES - 41 minutes ago
Lawyer: Ex-Air Force Nurse Sped Patients' Deaths A prosecutor has told a court martial that a former Air Force nurse killed three terminally ill patients with excessive medication because they were not dying quickly enough. Paul J. Weber, AP NEWS - 47 minutes ago
Dems Snare 60 Votes to Move Ahead on Health Care Democratic leaders secured the last two votes to move ahead on historic health care legislation, clearing the way for a Saturday night showdown on President Barack Obama’s top domestic initiative. Erica Werner, AP FEATURES - 56 minutes ago
Central America Demands Billions in Climate Damages Central American nations will demand 105 billion dollars from industrialized countries for damages caused by global warming, the region’s representatives said on Friday. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Greenpeace Rallies to Stop Deforestation in Indonesia Hundreds of Greenpeace activists rallied Saturday in support of a commitment by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Italy FM Warns Leaders Ahead of Climate Summit: Reports Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Saturday warned world leaders their credibility could suffer if they failed to make concrete commitments at next month’s Copenhagen climate summit. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Poland to Sell Ireland 15 Million Euro Carbon Credits Poland is to sell 15 million euros' (22 million dollars) worth of carbon credits to Ireland, the Polish environment minister said Saturday. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Belgian Ex-Premier Meets Party Chiefs as Hunt Begins for New PM Belgian ex-premier Wilfried Martens met party leaders Saturday as he began a royal commission to organise a smooth political transition after current PM Herman Van Rompuy was named as EU president. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Austrian Sets Up Online Cattle Auctions Austrian cattle farmers no longer have to travel long distances to sell or buy cattle: it can all be done at the click of a mouse, on a new auction website. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Ireland Battles Severe Flooding Ireland battled floods on Saturday described as a “once in 800 years event”, with the government rushing to provide shelter and drinking water and soldiers sent to assist those affected. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Belgian Ex-Premier Meets Party Chiefs as Hunt Begins for New PM The hunt began in earnest Saturday for a new Belgian prime minister after Herman Van Rompuy was chosen as the EU first president, with his predecessor Yves Leterme appearing in pole position. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Putin Backs Medvedev’s Call for Russia Modernisation Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday strongly backed President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for economic modernisation, moving to smother talk of differences between the two leaders. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Thousands of Spanish Farmers Protest Low Prices Thousands of Spanish farmers on Saturday marched through the streets of Madrid, halting traffic to protest the low prices they receive for their produce which they say is leading them to financial “ruin.” Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Thousands of Spanish Farmers Protest Low Prices Thousands of Spanish farmers marched Saturday through the streets of Madrid, halting traffic to protest the low prices they receive for their produce which they say is leading them to financial “ruin.” Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
UN Court to Rule on Niger-Burkina Faso Border Row Burkina Faso and Niger are to ask the International Court of Justice to settle their long-running border dispute, the Burkinabe foreign minister said Saturday. Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Angolan President Calls for ‘Zero Tolerance’ of Corruption Angola?s president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos Saturday called for “zero tolerance” of corruption within the country?s government to halt what he said was the “squandering of resources.” Afp, AFP GLOBAL EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Chelsea Cruise as Arsenal Stumble in Premier League Chelsea cranked up the pressure on their Premier League title rivals by cruising to a 4-0 win over struggling Wolves on Saturday. Afp, AFP EUROPEAN EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Chelsea Cruise as Arsenal Stumble in Premier League Chelsea strengthened their position at the top of the Premier League by cruising to a 4-0 win over struggling Wolves on Saturday. Afp, AFP EUROPEAN EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Flawless Sexton Eases Ireland Past Fiji Jonathan Sexton announced his arrival in international rugby with a flawless performance in Ireland’s comprehensive victory over Fiji here Saturday. Afp, AFP ASIAN EDITION - 60 minutes ago
Scotland Claim Rare Rugby Win Over Australia Scotland claimed their first win over Australia in nearly three decades after a defence-inspired 9-8 victory in their one-off Test match at Murrayfield here on Saturday. Afp, AFP EUROPEAN EDITION - 60 minutes ago
© 2009 Polity Media, Inc.