Prelude
This story, narrated by Lisa Akinyi (not her name) to Esther Wangui and written by Sheila Wamahiu in 1994, a young girl who contracted HIV/AIDS because of risky behaviour provoked by ignorance. In the 30 years that have followed since then, almost half of Kenyan teenagers aged 15 to 17 remain unaware of how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS, according to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS).
Lisa’s story is one of four cases spotlighted in Sheila Wamahiu's landmark 1994 study on the situation of the female child in Kenya. Funded by UNICEF Kenya, the study was a product of a project coordinated by Joyce Umbima, then the Executive Director of the Kenya Alliance for the Advancement of Children (KAACR).
By September 1994, by the time this piece of work was completed, Sheila Wamahiu had resigned from Kenyatta University from her position as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Foundations and the Head of Development Studies. After her resignation, she worked as an independent consultant for the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) where she was involved in coordinating the African Regional NGO education inputs into the Dakar and Beijing processes. She was also the coordinator of the nascent ad hoc group of Women Educational Researchers, which later morphed into the Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK).
This story is being republished by Jaslika with consent from Esther Wangui and Sheila Wamahiu as part of our contribution to public knowledge, under the theme: “So what has changed?”
The Story
Despite the gravity of the AIDS pandemic, many Kenyans continue to practise high-risk behaviour. Sometimes the behaviour is caused by an unwillingness to face up to facts, an unwillingness to believe that AIDS is non-discriminative and that it can affect anybody, anywhere if proper precaution is not taken. Sometimes it is caused by ignorance. The story of Lisa is reflective of both — unwillingness and ignorance, a sure recipe for disaster!
Slim, pretty, ebony-skinned Lisa — always a cheerful face, welcoming and cooperative, a cheerfulness that masks the inner misery and conflicts that tear her young life apart. Lisa Akinyi (not her own name), is only 19 years of age, and she has HIV and AIDS!
Born to an unmarried couple in 1975, Lisa lives with her natural father, stepmother and five step-siblings. Her father is a worker with the Kenya Railways Corporation, while her stepmother operates a small food kiosk in Athi River, in the outskirts of Nairobi. Lisa's biological mother abandoned her soon after birth and has since then remarried. As she grew up, Lisa's life was uneventful and banal, if not a little lonely. Her father and stepmother were strict Christians who did not believe in giving “too much freedom” to their children. As long as she was in primary school, this did not pose any problem for Lisa. She was content to concentrate on her school work, help her stepmother with domestic chores and babysit her younger (step) siblings after school hours. When she sat for her primary school leaving certificate examination (KCPE), Lisa did not have problems getting through and securing a place in a secondary school in the city. Though she did not realise it at the time, this was the beginning of the end for her.
Commuting to school every day by matatu (a type of public service vehicle), Lisa one day met the man of her dreams, her knight in shining armour – or so she thought. This man, named Simon, was a young teacher of 22. He would soon prove to be her nightmare, the source of her misery. This was in 1990. She was in Form I, only 15, young, protected, naive, idealistic and romantic.
It started off innocently enough. They would meet in town, and instead of going to school, they would go to the movies. This was an exciting change from Lisa's usual drab routine of home-to-school, and school-to-home again. She was also flattered by the attention this handsome young teacher paid to her.
It was not long before Simon had taken her to his one-roomed bachelor pad. When they did not go to the movies, they would go to Simon's place and make love. Lisa's first experience of sex was thus when she was only 15. Lisa recalls that first experience with a mixture of bitterness and resignation:
“I did not have a particular reason for having sex the first time. It was Simon who suggested it, though he did not really pressurise me. I just felt that I loved him enough. And after all, he had mentioned marriage. ”
It went on this way for more than a year. Lisa was happy in her ‘love’ and the prospect of getting married. And then everything started to go wrong. She discovered that she was pregnant. She was not unduly worried though, Simon had said he would marry her; surely this was the right time to make good his promise? He wouldn't let her suffer the wrath of her parents! He loved her, and he would love their baby.
Lisa' 's dreams were rudely shattered when she told Simon about her pregnancy. Simon simply disappeared: "I never saw him again", states Lisa, the pain etched all over her face.
Her pregnancy did not progress smoothly. It made her drop out of school. By the time she was five months old, she had to be admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital; her baby was born four months premature.
“My baby was placed in the incubator for three months, but the doctors could not save its life. I remained in the hospital myself for about one month. It was during this time that my blood was taken and I tested positive for the HIV virus.”
When Lisa was given the prognosis, she was shocked. She had dropped out of school, her boyfriend had deserted her, and her baby had died prematurely. She felt as if her life had become " completely useless". Her father and stepmother’s' attitude towards her did not help either; since the time they were informed about her condition, they started to treat her "harshly”. She recalled,
“At first, my food started being separated from others. Nowadays, my food is placed on a different type of plate and my food is also prepared separately. I feel very isolated and lonely even in my own household. ”
Lisa is yet to come to terms with her fate. She has not told her friends about it, she does not know how she will face them if and when they do find out. So she puts on a mask, a mask of cheerfulness to hide the depth of the pain within herself.