Man narrates how he found out he is HIV positive, says his mother died without telling him
A Kenyan man Brian Omondi, who was born with HIV, is
sharing his experience with the world, The Kenyan man says he did not
find out about the virus until his mother passed away.
22-year-old Omondi says he was 14 years old when he found out about his
status Brian Omondi, he narrated his experience as someone who has been
living with the Human Immuno deficiency Virus since he was born. The
young man recounted his story in a chat with BBC. The young man
explained that he started taking the anti-retroviral tablets when he was
10 years old. He said he did not know about his status even when he
started taking the anti-retroviral tablets. According to him, he only
found out about his status when he was 14 years old after his mother
passed away.
Omondi, who is now an HIV activist working with
a church group, explained that his status was not picked up at birth.
He said his mother decided to get him tested when he got sick
frequently. He said: "I was sick most of the time but the condition
worsened, so my mum decided that I should get tested. That is when I
tested positive and started taking the ARVs, but my mum never told me
why I was taking those tablets. After his mother's death, Omondi
revealed that he went to live with his aunt and her neighbours found out
about his status and began mocking him. He said parents often warned
their kids not to play with him. Omondi said: "I remember this girl in
high school, we met in person and she addressed me as: 'You HIV person.'
This hurt me." The young man said he does not blame his mother for not
telling him about his status. He said: I think she could have been open
with me but on the other hand I cannot blame her because she was trying
to protect me at that age. It is hard! You find that you will be
stigmatising yourself, you will be asking yourself some questions like:
'If these people find out about my status how will they take me? How
will they treat me?
Aid group BBC also spoke to another HIV
positive lady who also found out about her status after her mother died.
The lady identified as Winnie Orende explained that her doctor asked
her to get tested at 12 years old after her mother died of HIV. She
said: "When I lost my mum, after two months, my doctor called my older
sister and asked that I go to the hospital alone and see him. I wondered
why me? Because the worst thing is that I am the only one in a family
of four who is living with the virus. This really affected me for some
time." Orende said she faced stigma from the community, where they were
calling her names. She expressed that she would have preferred if her
parents told her. The lady said: "I face stigma from the community where
I stay here in Kongowea, Mombasa. The problem started when they knew my
status. People were just calling me names. I felt bad. It would have
been better if they told me about my status, rather than another person
telling me about it. I wanted to kill myself, but then I realised that
even if I killed myself, my sister would suffer. So I stopped having
suicidal thoughts.