NPR
The women of No Sex For Fish are survivors -
but their survival is precarious
Justine Adhiambo Obura at her home, Nyang'ande, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025.
The road to Nduru Beach, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025. In early 2020, Nduru Beach was flooded due to rising water levels. Most No Sex For Fish members lost their homes and land, forcing them to relocate further inland. The floods also reduced the size of the fishing boat landing area and disrupted businesses around the beach.
Alice Akinyi at Justine's home just before table banking sunday, Nyang'ande, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025.
Rebbeccah Atieno, a member of the No Sex For Fish group, sits outside her current home with her ARVs (antiretroviral drugs), Nduru Beach, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025. She lost her home after the floods in 2020 and will have to move out of this house by April 2025.
Naomy Akoth at Justine's home just before table banking sunday, Nyang'ande, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025.
Alice Akinyi, a No Sex For Fish member, walks along two broken down boats, belonging to the No Sex For Fish group, Nduru Beach, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025. In early 2020, Nduru Beach was flooded due to rising water levels. Most No Sex For Fish members lost their homes and land, forcing them to relocate further inland. The floods also reduced the size of the fishing boat landing area and disrupted businesses around the beach.
Rebbeccah Atieno at Justine's home just before table banking sunday, Nyang'ande, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025.
Erick Okioma's office, HIV activist, Nyalenda Social & Health Justice Center at the Mandela Community Information hub, Kisumu, Kenya, 2025.
On the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya, a group of women formed the No Sex for Fish cooperative to resist jaboya — the practice of exchanging sex with fishermen for access to fish. By pooling their resources, they bought boats of their own and began employing men to fish for them, breaking away from the gendered power structures that dominate many fishing villages.
I first visited the group in 2019 for NPR together with Rebecca Davis and Marc Silver, with journalist Viola Kosome working as our local translator. Since then, NPR has continued to follow the women’s story as they faced one setback after another — from the catastrophic floods of 2020, which destroyed homes and fishing grounds, to recent cuts in U.S. aid that have put livelihoods and health services at risk.
In 2024, I returned to Kisumu with Viola — now a journalist in her own right — to see how the women are holding on in the face of these challenges.