Lucy Wanjiku on losing son, marriage and living with HIV

Lucy Wanjiku Njenga in a previous interview

In February 2012 at the age of 21, Lucy Wanjiku Njenga experienced every mother’s worst nightmare when her son, who was barely a year old, died suddenly. Then a few days later, she tested HIV positive. Despite the cards that life have dealt her, she has risen from the ashes to become a community leader who not only speaks for the voiceless on the global stage, but is changing the lives of young girls and women in her community. She narrates her story to Annie Awuor.

“I have been told that I not only speak with passion and conviction, but that I speak eloquently, yet I have no education beyond secondary school. I have also been told that I am bubbly and very positive, yet I have every reason to be sad and bitter. I am the first born in a family of three and grew up very timid and kept to myself a lot. Although I grew up in Dandora for most of my younger years, I also lived in Sinai, Mlango Kubwa, Eastleigh, Huruma.