Economic pundits posit that having one income is too close to having none. It is, therefore unsurprising that people are coming up with weirder and more unconventional ways of making money. From selling ovarian eggs to selling toe photos on social media sites, people are willing to push the definition of what a job is.
Nailantei Norari lists some of the strange avenues people are taking to make mulla.
PROFESSIONAL MOURNING
In some communities, mourning is considered to be a celebration of a life well-lived. Some people, therefore, hire professional mourners to cry and wail; during a loved one’s funeral ceremony. The professional mourners familiarise themselves with the deceased and then proceed to mourn and wail not just during the pre-burial meetings but in the burial too.
There are different rates for different activities such as simply crying, dancing around the grave and threatening to jump into the grave. it is a common practice in western Kenya.
BREAST MILK SALE
While the breast milk bank at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital operates solely on breast milk donations from lactating mothers, breast milk is a commodity that can be sold for a huge load of money in other countries including the USA. In order to sell breast milk, however, the lactating mothers have to undergo tests to ascertain they are free from HIV, Hepatitis A and B and other diseases such as Syphilis.
USED UNDERGARMENTS
The internet has made it easier to buy items to satisfy fetishes as well as to make money while supplying said fetishes. There is a big market for used undergarments, with the grossest and the most worn undergarments fetching a higher price than the cleaner ones. As gross as this might sound, one can make up to ksh5,000 for a pair. Would you do it though?
SELL POOP
Some people sell poop to scientists who use it for poop transplants. Poop transplants involve taking one person’s poop and putting it inside someone else’s colon, usually because the recipient is missing a crucial gut bacterium and is getting sick as a result. It sounds like the nastiest thing ever, but it saves lives. You might as well get paid doing something you are going to do anyway, right? Besides, in America, this can fetch you upwards of ksh100,000. Do not flash good money down the toilet, sell it instead.
AIR FARMING
Air farming is becoming increasingly common in the UK and Canada. People in polluted areas, such as some areas of China, gladly buy clean air and breathe it in to provide some much-needed respite to their overworked lungs.
ONLY FANS ACCOUNT
Only Fans is a website where people join and create content for their followers for a modest subscription fee. The content can be anything from suggestive semi-nude photos to full on lewd photos. The site has been referenced in many songs such as Savage, a song by Beyonce and Megan Thee Stallion. Many Americans have bought new houses and cars from running only fans accounts, where followers pay extra to view naked photos and tip the content creators for content created.
SKULLS
There is a market for both human and animal skulls online. A clean and embellished human skull can fetch up to Sh85,000 on eBay. The online market also deals with human and animal bones with some collectors buying human skulls from different eras and years in order to diversify their collections. There are currently no laws to govern the sale of human and animal bones, as the trade is still very new.
CLINICAL STUDIES
Being part of clinical studies is a quick way of making money. If you fit the clinical studies' specifications, you can negotiate for a good payment depending on the time period of the study and the anticipated side effects. One should get into this only when they are fully aware of all the side effects of the drug on trial.
FEET MONEY
While you may think your feet should just be used for walking, they can also earn you good money. You can sell photos of your feet on specific websites and on Instagram as well. All you have to do is post pictures of your feet with the right hashtags. Some people even buy photos of your feet in socks or shoes and may also buy the worn socks and shoes, of course at an extra cost.
EGGS
While someone may not be able to sell semen in Kenya today, it is very possible to sell eggs. Some in vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinics offer between ksh50,000 and ksh100,000 to harvest a single egg from a young woman aged 24 and below. Several tests are done to ascertain the young lady’s genetics before any egg is harvested. While the money is lucrative, many people though argue that donating an egg is tantamount to donating a baby and are therefore religiously against it.
