The Working Girls

So as I mentioned before, I recently spent some time in Katuna. This is a tiny little border town, a strip of lodges, bars and restaurants, on the Rwanda-Uganda border. It used to be a bustling place, but in early January the truckers stopped parking because thieves had begun siphoning fuel.

No truckers means no money, restaurants that saw 50 – 100 people a day get 20, if they are lucky. The lodges are empty and the beer bottles remain untouched.

A population that is really being effected are the commercial sex workers. These ladies were making between sh 50,000 – sh 100,000 a night ($29 - $59 CAN), and having both “shorts” and overnight customers. Now, sex is sold for sh 1000 (less than a dollar), and the women alternate their nights banging on the truck doors of the few braver truckers that chance it and avoiding the thugs that knock on their doors looking for money.

Soon they will be evicted and follow the truckers to their new stops in Kabale and elsewhere.

Katuna needs a lot of security, and the thieves arrested, but due to corruption it's not happening. Not only do the trucks need protection but the citizens. If something doesn't change soon Katuna will die.

On a more light hearted note, the girls are all exceptionally charming. As jokes were translated back and forth I was put at ease and quickly formed a bond with these woman, despite my inital nervousness.

And surreal Ugandan moment number (I don’t know I can’t count that high): Hope, one of the women, thinks I have a great stomach. I honestly could have kissed the woman – my body, one of envy? That was a first, and it was great!!