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Kenyans taught to be good lovers
By Kevin Mwachiro
BBC News, Nairobi
Gertrude Mungai says her therapy will stop husbands philandering
Flower sellers have been doing a roaring trade with Kenyan lovers this Valentine's Day by increasing the price of stems about tenfold.
But a survey last week suggested that while Kenyans have an appetite for sex, they are not good or frequent lovers.
To address this problem, Gertrude Mungai has set up a business to make Kenyan women better lovers.
She says her culture recognises that being a good wife extends beyond exceptional culinary skills and bearing children.
Marriage counsellors say many women in Kenya do not know what to expect in a sexual relationship and this has caused low esteem among men who opt to have affairs.
Mrs Mungai is convinced that her therapy is a guaranteed way of getting husbands to help around the home and is a safeguard against philandering.
'Love-making ceremony'
She says she is indebted to her grandmother who organised a session for her with a somo - a traditional sex therapist and marital sex counsellor- in the run-up to her wedding.
Mrs Mungai has received flowers from grateful husbands
"Love-making to me is ceremony. It is not just about sex. I encourage women to prepare for love-making," she says.
Armed with this new-found knowledge she found herself being the focus at bridal showers and in no time discovered that people were willing to pay to listen to her.
From her home at the suburbs of Nairobi, she now runs her business Tetezzo - which means incense burner in Kiswahili - in a garage converted into a boudoir.
In the bedroom, cushions of various sizes are littered across a traditional Swahili carpet, pink walls embrace the pastel pink and lilac drapes that are strewn across the ceiling.
It has a sense of serenity and gentleness and any inhibitions soon crumple.
'Difficult'
Mrs Mungai strongly believes that women should assert their femininity despite the challenges of modern living.
When they are through with my sessions, they seem to have a new found respect for me
Gertrude Mungai
Her clients are mostly middle class women in the capital, but as her talks have gained popularity, requests for her sessions have been coming from women in other towns.
She gives a few free sessions for rural woman and her clients are drawn from a wide range of age groups - her oldest client was 58.
But older women are the most difficult to teach, she says, as they think there is nothing new they can learn.
"When they are through with my sessions, they seem to have a new found respect for me," she says.
Pole, belly and lap dancing along with striptease techniques are all on offer for married women or brides-to-be.
She confesses that she has on occasions received flowers from husbands who have benefited from the fruits of her labour.
By Kevin Mwachiro
BBC News, Nairobi
Gertrude Mungai says her therapy will stop husbands philandering
Flower sellers have been doing a roaring trade with Kenyan lovers this Valentine's Day by increasing the price of stems about tenfold.
But a survey last week suggested that while Kenyans have an appetite for sex, they are not good or frequent lovers.
To address this problem, Gertrude Mungai has set up a business to make Kenyan women better lovers.
She says her culture recognises that being a good wife extends beyond exceptional culinary skills and bearing children.
Marriage counsellors say many women in Kenya do not know what to expect in a sexual relationship and this has caused low esteem among men who opt to have affairs.
Mrs Mungai is convinced that her therapy is a guaranteed way of getting husbands to help around the home and is a safeguard against philandering.
'Love-making ceremony'
She says she is indebted to her grandmother who organised a session for her with a somo - a traditional sex therapist and marital sex counsellor- in the run-up to her wedding.
Mrs Mungai has received flowers from grateful husbands
"Love-making to me is ceremony. It is not just about sex. I encourage women to prepare for love-making," she says.
Armed with this new-found knowledge she found herself being the focus at bridal showers and in no time discovered that people were willing to pay to listen to her.
From her home at the suburbs of Nairobi, she now runs her business Tetezzo - which means incense burner in Kiswahili - in a garage converted into a boudoir.
In the bedroom, cushions of various sizes are littered across a traditional Swahili carpet, pink walls embrace the pastel pink and lilac drapes that are strewn across the ceiling.
It has a sense of serenity and gentleness and any inhibitions soon crumple.
'Difficult'
Mrs Mungai strongly believes that women should assert their femininity despite the challenges of modern living.
When they are through with my sessions, they seem to have a new found respect for me
Gertrude Mungai
Her clients are mostly middle class women in the capital, but as her talks have gained popularity, requests for her sessions have been coming from women in other towns.
She gives a few free sessions for rural woman and her clients are drawn from a wide range of age groups - her oldest client was 58.
But older women are the most difficult to teach, she says, as they think there is nothing new they can learn.
"When they are through with my sessions, they seem to have a new found respect for me," she says.
Pole, belly and lap dancing along with striptease techniques are all on offer for married women or brides-to-be.
She confesses that she has on occasions received flowers from husbands who have benefited from the fruits of her labour.
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