Everybody loves Kisumu’s ‘Condom Man’

Music blares out of a tiny tin shop in Nyalenda slums of Kisumu.

It goes: “Reggae in the bathroom, reggae in the bedroom, reggae everywhere, reggae in jail, reggae in church... Nobody can stop reggae, ’cause reggae’s strong.”

As the song plays, a group of young men seated on a bench outside the local barbershop branded Kinyozi Runda in bold writings, join in.

Perhaps in his weirdest listing of places that reggae culture would not be stopped, South African reggae artiste Lucky Dube in his classic “Nobody Can Stop Reggae” inadvertently forgot to mention the barbershops in the ghettos and rural Kenya that are synonymous with reggae music.

Pensively watching from across the street in his whitewashed offices is 58-year-old Erick Okioma. A TB and HIV champion running the Nelson Mandela TB HIV Community Based Organisation (CBO), Mr Okioma is a man on a mission; one that has seen him acquire the name “Kisumu Condom Man”, at least in some quarters.

He has religiously been distributing condoms in the neighbourhood in what he terms as the “surest way to address chronic Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), HIV prevention and early or unplanned pregnancies”.

Condom distributions

“We are, however, moving from the tradition of condom distributions such as placing dispensers in the backroom of some dingy bar and pubs to open placement in kinyozi (barbershops) and salons,” says Mr Okioma.

The widower and father of four says the barbershops have for long been places of gossip, political and football banter — a perception he says has led to these possible points of passing vital messages being overlooked.

 “Much focus has been placed in, say, the boda boda sector in community advocacy programmes. In the same manner one would hop on a boda boda to work or school, kinyozi and salons are another point where people of all ages gather for services,” he says.

“Even though a majority of people who hang around the two are young men, our simple observation is at some point both young and elderly visit any of the two for services thus it is accidentally a convergence point for all in the community,” he adds.

Staff at the CBO have gone all out in the pilot phase to identify and recruit new points into the programme.

A pilot phase was implemented along the 4.5km Kilo-Nanga-Dunga stretch and it identified 25 stations including 12 kinyozis, five salons, a public toilet, a chemist and several liquor stores.

The community mobiliser says unlike bars and pubs, the previously known dispensing points, barbershops can be frequented by everyone including teetotallers and “people of faith” who were locked out from accessing condoms.

He says the programme is also critical to the huge population in the slums at risk of contracting HIV.

At the time of visiting, the CBO had stocked a carton of 6,000 condoms and lubricants.

4,000 male condoms

At the onset of the programme in August 2021, the centre managed to distribute 4,000 male condoms and 300 female condoms.

Despite periodic shortages, the condoms are sourced and supplied by friendly organisations and government agencies including Liverpool VCT and National Aids Control Council (Nacc) through the Kisumu Central Constituency Aids Control Committee.

In the first five months of the pilot, the uptake saw an upward surge with distribution of more than 10,000 condoms.

“The uptake among males has been high compared to females,” admits Mr Okioma, a trend he applauds as positive given poor health seeking behaviour among men.

According to the CBO, the pilot programme has continued to trigger engaging and constructive conversation in and around sexual and reproductive health, with much focus on STI and HIV prevention and care.

“A positive shift from a place of gossip, political and football banter to hubs of sexual reproductive health education.” That is a conclusion held by the kinyozi and salon operators who say the open dispensing has sparked conversation.

“At the onset of the programme, the uptake was slow, for obvious reasons, but it picked momentum,” said a cheerful Mr Job Otieno, a barber at Kinyozi Runda in the Five-Ways area of Nyalenda.

Mr Otieno says the interest has been immense, forcing them to come up with ways to control and avoid wastage such as limiting dispensing to a maximum of three per person.

“We also get to talk on matters prevention and care; a debate that is scintillating given the opinions people hold,” says Mr Otieno.

Mr Otieno is in a group of other barbers that in the past months have undergone training on the sexual health to dispel rumours and non-truths.

Round visits

The centre has continuously, through periodic round visits, provided vital messages on sexual health, prevention and care.

Mr Okioma says borrowing from best practices in places such as India where barbers are referred to as counsellors, they hope to enlist the operators as peer educators.

“We had initially offered training on sexual and reproductive health to the young men managing the shops but we are looking to engage them as peer educators, armed with resourceful information,” says Mr Okioma.

He says the shops managed by at least two barbers, having a base in the community, gives them the edge when handling the community because of acceptability and living among them.

He, however, says in dealing with other cross-cutting issues such as public health, TB, HIV care and prevention, gender-based violence, human rights, child abuse, drug and substance abuse can be overwhelming to the shop managers and they will set up a platform for referral to the CBO and hospitals in worst case scenarios.

According to the second Kenya Aids Strategic Framework (Kasf II), the country has registered commendable progress evidenced by progressive decline in HIV prevalence among adults (15-49 years) from a peak of about 10 per cent in the mid-1990s to 4.5 per cent in 2020.

Despite the positive progress, the Kasf II document by Nacc lists Kisumu as among six counties including Homa Bay, Kakamega, Siaya, Migori and Busia with hyper epidemic levels of HIV prevalence among adults (15-49 years). At 17.3 per cent, Kisumu ranks second behind Homa Bay (18.5 per cent).

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