She cheated death thrice after learning that she was HIV positive.
However, neither the pesticide, the attempts to be knocked down by a vehicle or the dare devil stunt of jumping into the Thompson Falls would take away the life that 33-year-old Mary Nyokabi wished to end.
“Testing positive was like being handed a death sentence. I have never felt so useless in my life. I just wanted to die and rest in peace,” she says.
She contracted the deadly virus from her husband but was unaware of it until he confessed on his death bed. The stigma associated with the disease then made her feel cheated and unworthy to live. But, she decided she had to soldier of for the sake of her two daughters.
It was after her husband’s death that Nyokabi hit the headlines as she got married to an HIV positive man in 2007. She says getting married to 56-year-old Charles Kamau gave her life a new turn.
However, the couple parted ways after disagreements since he could not adjust to the fact that he now had two more daughters. Accepting them into his life became impossible. She decided not to let her status determine her destiny and has risen from a beaten up lady to a role model in Nakurus’ kwa Rhonda Slums.
She is the co-founder of the Daughters of Grace Ministry, an outreach that seeks to give hope to women who have the virus, most of whom inherited it from their wayward husbands. The group was founded late last year after Nyokabi decided to empower these women who felt neglected by the society because of their health conditions.
“I wanted to give them hope to live another day,” she says as she breaks a smile.
The group, which currently has a membership of 20 people, has seen the women benefit from income generating activities like making liquid soap, yoghurt and weaving baskets which earns them each a profit of Sh 600 weekly.
Most of these ladies have no any other source of income, which becomes strenuous to their budget.
The money is used to buy their daily groceries, pay for their medical bills, cater for rent and also pay their children’s school fees.