Naima Said stumbled on an ingenious way to tackle the heroin addiction that ravages the coast and run with it.
For the 31-year old beauty therapist, the answer lay in an assortment of make-up sponges eyeliners, mascara and lipstick. With this, she wages a spirited fight against the ravages of heroin on her clients.
The Nation on February 25, 2020 featured Naima and the small but powerful parlor she runs in Mombasa that goes by the name Beauty Corner.
It is in this space that Naima allows her YouTube acquired skills to reign as she receives her unconventional set of clients, heroin addicts and recovering heroin addicts.
The parlor is located in the Reachout Centre Trust which is dedicated to helping Mombasa residents fight drug addiction.
Started in 2019, its aim is to bring in female users to use its services that include HIV testing, counseling, methadone treatment, and cervical cancer screening.
Faiza Hamid, Reachout's Programme Manager, explained that it was necessary to set up a beauty parlor as women were left behind.
“Female drug users have very specific needs,” explains Faiza, “And their needs aren’t being met.”
Despite the 50+ treatment and rehabilitation centers that are registered with the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) women may still find it hard to access drug treatment services.
For women, the issues around drug abuse are distinct from those men wage against. One is stigma with many engaging in sex work to fund the habit given that one dose of heroin costs between Ksh 150-Ksh 200.
Naima, who runs the beauty parlor understands this all too well. Currently five years clean, Naima used heroin for 10 years.
For Naima, the beauty parlor is meant to remind the women that they are still beautiful.
"I talk to these girls. I say to them: ‘What you see on the outside is drug addiction and self-loathing. You are beautiful. You’re a mother, a daughter, a sister.’ As I paint their nails, I say, ‘why don’t you start methadone? Why don’t you check your [HIV] status?’ When it works, it’s like magic," says Naima
Before Naima started the Beauty Parlour, only a few women would drop-by the Reach-out Center, they confessed that it was because they felt the center was male-centric.
Since the Beauty Corner began less than a year ago, 453 women have benefited from its services.
Mombasa's heroin problem is dire with Reachout Executive Director Taib Abdulrahman confirming, 'On the streets of Mombasa, it’s easier to buy heroin than sugar from a supermarket."
