They call me Wilbroda Akuro. I am a 26 year old female from Nairobi. I am also HIV positive.

At 20, I met my first love and felt like anything was possible. But things changed when I got pregnant in 2015 and he told me to have an abortion.

I didn’t understand why – we were in love and I felt we could embark on this new journey together. Then I found out he got another woman pregnant.

I knew her and she was five months pregnant when I was three months old. I felt so betrayed and hurt – I didn’t want anything to do with him and most importantly, I didn’t want his baby.

I remember sitting in a makeshift clinic where an unqualified doctor asked me three times if I was sure I wanted to terminate my pregnancy.

The first two times I said yes. But the third time, I suddenly wasn’t so sure. I came home and my boyfriend kicked me out.

My sister accepted me into her home but I kept quiet about my pregnancy because I knew she would be ashamed of it. When I was five months pregnant, I visited an antenatal care clinic.

Once again my life was turned upside down when I found out I was HIV positive. I remember telling the nurse to test me five more times. I was so shocked – this couldn’t be my result.

In Kenya, HIV is considered a death sentence; I therefore did not expect to live very long and thought I could infect my unborn baby.

To spare us both, I decided to have an abortion. Luckily, the nurse took me to meet mothers2mothers, a charity that employs HIV-positive women in the community as mentor mothers, who support women like me with the health advice and help they need.

Here I met Rahab, who helped me understand that my diagnosis was not a death sentence. Above all, she told me that I could have an HIV-negative child.

She sat with me as long as needed and left me to cry, while explaining what I needed to do to keep my child uninfected and so that I too could live a healthy life.

Rahab was healthy, intelligent, and had four HIV-negative children. I couldn’t believe she was also HIV positive. She became my confidante, my friend and my sister.

The hardest part of my journey was sharing my status with my family. They didn’t know much about HIV and separated the utensils I used at home; I had my own cup, plate and cutlery.

Then came the happiest moment of my life, when my son Giovanni – which means gift from God – was born HIV-negative.

He was the greatest ray of sunshine and the greatest reward after all my trials. I wanted to help other HIV-positive mothers like me and I also became a mentor mother.

Now I teach women so they can make informed decisions about their sex lives, stay healthy, and feel understood, accepted, and appreciated.

Originally posted 2018-11-23 09:48:46.

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