"My In-laws Found Out I Was HIV Positive And They Did The Unthinkable." Benard Narrates

Benard was born and raised in Kitui in a family of four children. He was the third born and he had two brothers and one sister. His Parents were HIV positive and they infected Bernard and his younger sister with HIV during birth. After several years of using ARVs his mother succumbed from the virus followed by his father soon after.

He was taken together with his three siblings to a children's home in Nairobi. However they were separated and Benard and his sister were taken to a children's home that dealt with people living with HIV. While his other siblings were taken to a normal children's home.

Life was good at the children's home but his sister's condition worsened when she suffered form meningitis and she died. He was hurt by his sister's death and this affected his education. However he managed to finish his secondary education a d he joined a college.

He graduated with a diploma in information technology and after college he got a job Ina good company. While he worked there he was still taking his ARVs medication and he decided to talk about his condition.

He joined a group on social media of people living with HIV and talked about. In this group he met a young lady that was HIV negative. He told her about his condition and they fell inlove. Soon after they decided to get married. They moved into the same house and within no time his wife became pregnant.

However as time went by one member of the group who was also a friend to his girlfriend's family informed them that Benard was HIV positive. His in-laws were shocked and even accused him of infecting their daughter with HIV.

"My in-laws were shocked and angry when they realized that I had married their daughter and I was HIV positive." Benard said.

They forced his wife out of the Marriage and vowed to disown her if she failled to comply with their instructions. She decided to leave him with they newborn child. This affected him a lot. He tried to explain to his in-laws that a HIV positive person can live with A HIV positive person without infecting them with the desease but they didn't listen.

According to Benard, he sunk into depression he stopped going out and even thought that people hated him for being HIV positive. He barely bathed, ate nor took his medication and his health worsened. A friend who was also HIV positive noticed his change and took him for counseling.

Bernard rook control of his life after counseling and he met another lady who HIV positive and they are happy. Together. He has adviced people to stop discriminating people with HIV. He also believes that with proper enlightenment people would stop discriminating people living with HIV.

Content created and supplied by: Shayne (via Opera News )