"Mere Mortals"

They’re called Twilight Girls. In the Kenyan city of Eldoret, they are indistinguishable from other young girls. They draw water from the family ground well with infants strapped to their backs. They squat over small, open-flame stoves to warm a pan of githeri (maize and beans) or mukimo (mashed green peas and potatoes). They wash soiled laundry in basins filled with water the color of sand and hang them out on clotheslines to dry.

Then at night, they sell their bodies to strangers for a few shillings to feed their families. In this HIV-infested environment, many take no safety precautions, exposing themselves to a disease that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.