Lucy Wanjiku was infected with HIV Aids by her boyfriend when she was only 19 years old. She says her boyfriend with whom she was engaging with in unprotected sex infected her with the virus knowingly in 2009 when she was in form three. “When I met him, he showed me love and gave me all the attention that my parents never gave me. That is why I fell for him,” says Wanjiku. She learnt that she was pregnant in December 2009.
“I was later forced to get married to the man whom i barely knew,” she narrates. The pretty dimpled Wanjiku says she only got to learn that she was HIV positive when she took her ailing child to the clinic. “In my mind i thought that everything was okay because this is the only man whom i have ever had a sexual relationship with only for things to change at the clinic,” she says.
The revelation of being positive coupled with the eventual death of her child sunk Wanjiku into depression. She says she lost focus in her life and just hoped that she would die because her husband with whom she is now separated also started abusing her physically. Wanjiku says she could no longer stay in the relationship when her husband started bringing women to their matrimonial home.
She says she sought help from parents who then directed her to counselors who would help her bring her life back to normal. Wanjiku who now counsels young girls about relationships says she forgives her ex husband and also hopes that other young girls do not fall into the same trap she did while she was young.