An inviolable spirit

Inviolata Mmbwavi, 38, has lived positively with HIV for 19 years but has not let this dampen her fierce spirit. She talks to NJOKI CHEGE about her foray into politics and her advocacy work.

She discovered she was HIV positive at the tender age of 19 when she was given only six months to live. But 19 years later, Inviolata is still alive and kicking, and what’s more, is not even on anti-retroviral drugs. She says she is a living testimony of Prof Miriam Were’s popular quote: "In every war, there must be survivors."

"I first tested positive while living in Kakamega, where I was born and brought up. I was very shocked and thought it was a death sentence," she says.

Deserted

Together with her boyfriend, she left for Nairobi, where she decided to get tested again, this time, at Kenyatta National Hospital.

Says she: "They didn’t tell me directly that I had the virus. They just told me to make sure that I never have sex without a condom, and I should make sure my partner does not either."

That was when reality struck her, and when she informed her boyfriend, things went from bad to worse. He took off and she has never seen him since then. Inviolata did not inform her mother that she was HIV positive, because her mother had vowed to disown anyone who tested positive in her household.

"After the relationship was over, I went to live with my aunt in Dandora. She was the only one who understood my pain. Many considered me a misfit since I got pregnant out of wedlock," she says.

She gave birth to a baby girl, but her joy was short lived. Inviolata fell seriously sick after her delivery.

"It became clear to everyone that I was HIV positive. I was skinny and malnourished, and many thought I was going to die," says she, adding that people advised her eldest brother to take her back to Kakamega while she was still alive, as it would be more expensive to transport a dead body.

"So I was taken home to die, and the neighbours began telling my mother to save enough money for my burial."

Inviolata began saying goodbye to her month-old daughter, convinced that she would die and leave her in her grandmother’s care. However, help came from a relative.

Says she: "I remember this aunt who convinced my father to take me to hospital. Even if I died, she said, they’d have tried their best to save my life."

Odd jobs

Mercifully, after taking her to Mukumu General Hospital, Inviolata’s health began to improve. A cough that had disturbed her for five months disappeared in three days, and she was strong again. Soon after she was discharged, Inviolata left for Nairobi again. She had no money and no job, but she had hope.

She says: "I felt that life gave me a second chance, and I was not about to waste it."

Indeed, she turned over a new leaf and her journey to success began. She lived with her aunt as she did odd jobs in Industrial Area, saving every loose coin so she could buy newspapers and magazines that published articles on HIV and Aids.

She notes: "I read anything I could get my hands on, as long as it talked about the condition. Sadly, the media then only focused on Sexually Transmitted Infections and TB, but never HIV and Aids. Nobody was teaching young girls about the virus. Nobody told them that they could contract HIV even at the first sexual encounter."

So one day, propelled by her quest for knowledge, she wrote an anonymous letter to the Straight Talk magazine editor, narrating her story and her struggle with HIV.

The editor, touched by her story, contacted her and introduced her to the Kenya Association of Professional Counsellors.

They employed her as a counsellor, teaching young girls about HIV and Aids and encouraging them to get tested. She then worked for Women Fighting Aids in Kenya (Wofak) as a peer counsellor. She would go door-to-door to empower and enlighten HIV positive women.

In 1999, she teamed up with other HIV positive women and formed the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV and Aids in Kenya, (Nephak).

"We wanted to reach out to the people in the rural areas and promote the quality of life of people living with HIV and Aids through advocacy and fighting stigma," she says.

In 1999, Inviolata was among the people chosen to talk to the MPs about the condition during a major retreat at the Coast.

"I talked for over one hour, giving them my experience as a HIV positive woman, and the challenges we faced. It was after that retreat that former president, Moi, declared HIV and Aids a national disaster," says a beaming Inviolata.

Just three weeks later, Inviolata was appointed to sit in the National Aids Control Council (NACC). Soon after, she was sponsored to take a higher diploma course in counselling psychology. Everything was falling into place.

She was later offered a full sponsorship for a masters in Counselling at Durham University, UK.

Few votes

She came back to Kenya in October 2003, and immediately got a job as the national Nephak co-ordinator.

At Nephak, she was involved in supporting a woman who had lost her job after testing positive for HIV. She also challenged the criminalisation of HIV positive people. After Nephak, her next stop was politics.

Says she: "I got into politics not only because it was a childhood dream, but also because I wanted to prove to the world that HIV positive people can also take on leadership."

Her choice of constituency was easy: According to a research carried out prior to the 2007 elections, there are 8,000 people living with HIV and Aids in Embakasi constituency. Embakasi was also had the second highest cases of TB in Nairobi.

"I already had 8,000 votes, if not more, I thought," she offers.

But as Inviolata found out, Kenyan politics has it’s own unpredictable dynamics.

"During campaigns, people would tell me to my face that I was too young (at age 35) and that they would never vote for a dying person who wouldn’t last a term in Parliament. Others told me to stop using my HIV status to get sympathy votes. I got 320 votes, but the way I choose to see it, at least 320 people believed I could lead them," says Inviolata.

But her work has not gone unnoticed. In 2008, the American Embassy feted her on International Women’s Day as an ‘unsung heroine’ for her fight against HIV and Aids.

Says Inviolata: "I inspire people and it makes me especially proud when my daughter tells me that I inspire her."

Currently, she is running her own organisation, Grassroots Empowerment Trust, which she formed in 2008.

The organisation is based in Kakamega. She is focusing on teenage girls because they are most vulnerable.