A Form Two student at Nyanchwa Girls High School during World Aids Day celebrations in Kisii narrated to the crowd how she was rejected by her mother after she tested positive to HIV.
The teenager's touching testimony moved the Gusii stadium crowd to tears as she narrated how she suffered stigma for a long time.
"My mother separated with my father when I was very young. She got a different husband at Eldoret, where we had moved to. He gave my mother a condition to take me where she got me from if she wanted the marriage to prosper," narrated Lydiah Nyambeki.
"Consequently, my mother beat me every time I called her mum. I sought protection and care in my maternal home at Ogembo. While in class 8, I became sick and I tested HIV positive in hospital. My affliction escalated because almost everybody including my own grandmother stood against me and I felt odd," she added.
She said she heavily relied on her uncle who was schooling in a Ugandan University before he died mid this year, leaving her in darkness.
"It's only my uncle who stood with me. He could pay my school fees and send me upkeep money before he died in second term this year. I have since dropped out of school due to lack of fees. I did not do this year's end exams that would promote me to Form Three," she said, appealing for support from well-wishers to help her complete her studies.
Kisii County Commissioner Chege Mwangi has since promised to support her, challenging other leaders to support the student too.
She said she has a fee balance of Sh40, 000.
However, the smiling Nyambeki said she is living positively after undergoing counseling.
She has called on youths to be extra cautious and avoid sex before marriage and urged the public to accept those living with the virus.
"Sex is for married people. My message to youths is, do not look at someone and be contented that they are healthy. Who could know that I am victim the way I am smart?" she posed.
She also warned couples against extra-marital affairs, noting they render innocent children afflicted and helpless when parents die of HIV.