Phenny Awiti, a mother of two who is never afraid when it comes to sharing her HIV status with the public has said that men turned their back on her after she publicly revealed she was HIV positive.
Through her Instagram post to mark two years of making her HIV status public, Awiti said she used to attend to different men who hit on her through Facebook by in-boxing them her HIV status.
Unfortunately, after replying to one at a time, the men kept on hitting on her through her Facebook inbox until she decided to gather the courage and face all of them at once.
She revealed that she took her HIV status to her timeline, a move that changed how men were seeing and hitting on her.
The mother of two said some of the men went further by blocking her for what she had shared on her wall. Others branded her with all kinds of names.
"And on the 5th of May 2017, after going through my inbox on Facebook, I thought to myself "I am tired of telling these men one by one in the inbox that I am HIV Positive, let me address them all on my wall!" As soon as I came out publicly, all the coffee dates disappeared, some blocked me, some called me sister in Christ," reads part of Awitis' Instagram post.
She said that her post marked the beginning of discrimination and stigma, but strongly fought it and indeed emerged the winner.
Awiti is proudly raising HIV-negative children which makes many Kenyans feel encouraged in one way or another, with some taking it on social media to praise her.
"Happy two years @awitiphenny, finally normalizing HIV positively. Still, I am proud that I am raising HIV Negative Babies, so satisfying," she noted.