The ‘faces and twists’ of Human Trafficking (HT) never cease to amaze. Surrogate motherhood stands out as one highly unethical and criminal activity. Desperate women in slums are willing to undergo a high risk pregnancy for monetary gain.  The procedure is a very shady deal and the money promised never comes true.  Out of desperation and ignorance, they sign consent for all that will play out in the coming months. A medical doctor cum trafficker will inject her with a high dose of oestrogen hormone to effect an ovulation.  Within some hours, she will be artificially inseminated using specimens of Qatari males.

Waiting in a cramped ‘holding house’ with minimal food, this will be the longest nine months of her life. She must undergo a mandatory Caesarean Section (CS) at a high cost hospital outside of Nairobi where victim is flown by air for the CS.  The details and travel documents of the baby are all prepared in advance of its birth.   The mother is heavily sedated and will never see her child.  S/he will have passed through the International airport and arrived in Qatar by the time she starts asking questions like ‘where is my baby’?  She is lucky if she receives even one third of the agreed sum of money to ‘achieve her dreams.’ “Oh well, there was xyz new drugs we had to buy” etc. etc.  After ten days she is escorted to a bus back to Nairobi.  Since she signed for indemnity, any complications – immediate or later ones which may arise in the future is solely her problem.  CHTEA staff has met and witnessed all their complications too.  The age range was 15 – 42 years old – both are in the high risk category for having a baby.  In a two month period, CHTEA managed to rescue 8 of the 13 mothers in waiting.

On arrival, these infants have DNA testing done to insure that the child has Qatari parentage?  If not, it will be returned to Nairobi and the trafficker doctor will sell it to a childless couple for a sum of between 2 – 5 Million KShs (equivalent to $20,000 – $50,000).  What of the ones who have a Qatari father??  Some of CHTEA’s participants in workshops figured out that maybe these children will be raised to become slaves from childhood.  But the reality is as different as it is ‘chilling’. In a study done in Ireland on neonatal transplants 2011 – 2018, in that 8 year period, only 36 transplants were carried out. Writing in the IMJ, the lead researcher commented that “neonatal organ donations are rare” So this doctor trafficker can ‘mass produce’ Kenyan babies for organ retrieval.  Having one Qatari parent means that the tissue compatibility is almost one hundred per cent guaranteed.

This is taking place right here in the Capital city of Nairobi and at the Coastal city of Mombasa. It is a highly lucrative enterprise and all carried out strictly under the radar away from the media.  Yet the hospital where these unethical and criminal operations are carried out is owned by a person of high standing in the Kenyan political class!