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Subscribe for a month to get full access. By Julius Maricha. Prostitution is a trade as old as time itself. No matter how much we look down with disgust on prostitutes, tackling it is a team effort if we are to see any changes. Prostitution is one of the oldest trades that come in several forms despite the fact that it remains illegal in many countries including Tanzania. Though efforts have been taken to slow down and get rid of the illegal but widespread trade, the undisputable fact is that the women, girls and their clients change tact by dynamiting the trade.
It now takes a very keen eye to identify a prostitute as many try to beat the long arm of the law which had always kept them on the run. However, not all the prostitutes changed tact, few amongst them are still brave enough to stay by the roadsides waiting for potential clients and run away when there is police patrol in the area.
Social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp groups, Tinder, telegram groups and many others currently have been used to promote prostitution trade whereby different active pages upload posts with sexual content with price tag for clients.
He added that it is very hard to know them unless you are a client since they do everything on their phones until you meet them. There is a habit of prostitutes renting rooms and use it in their trade famous as Vijumba vya wahaya in different locations in Dar es Salaam such as Tip-top at Manzese and Mwananyamala. One of the Tip-top residents, Elisha Japhet, said prostitutes started life by renting rooms in the area years back as normal tenants but after sometime, dangerous indicators such as finding used condoms near houses thrown carelessly started to rise.
