City pubs made me heroin addict, HIV victim reveals

By DAVID ODONGO

His undying strength of character has seen him not falter in life.

While most people in his shoes would have opted for suicide, Frigacy Kihara, 22, a recovering drug addict, is determined to live and help create a drug-free generation in Nairobi.

At 16, Frigacy, then a Form Two student, was hooked to hard drugs.

His life depended on them and no single day would pass without a puff.

“I had a low self-esteem in high school and I joined a ‘bad group’ for acceptance. We started with alcohol, then bhang, and soon I was hooked to cocaine, heroin and bhang,” he tells The Nairobian.

Like most high school students, Frigacy could easily buy alcohol and drugs from pubs in the city centre.

After completing school in 2010, his full time job was drinking, partying and drugs.

“I am an only child, and my mother is abroad, so I had no one to control my spending. My days were all spent drinking and partying,” he says.

His life, according to him, was ‘picture–perfect’ until last year November when he fell sick.

During one of his sober moments, he decided to go for medical check-up.

He tested HIV positive. Shock, disbelief and trauma clouded his mind.

“The news hit me hard. I couldn’t eat or sleep and was holed up in the house weeks on end,” says Frigacy.

Though he has accepted his condition, he suspects he could have contracted the disease when he was hooked to drugs.

“I remember I would share syringes with some of the drug addicts. When one was broke and needed a quick fix, we simply drew blood from the ‘high’ one and donated to the one in need,” he says.  

Frigacy says he owes it all to his friend, Sasha, who has encouraged him not give up on his path to recovery.

The up-and-coming musician says he has come clean about his addiction to drugs to advise the youth that “no one is too young to contract HIV”.

Frigacy, who is completely off drugs now, says he has no regrets and has learnt to view life from a ‘brighter side’.

“I thank God I had a chance to get out of that life, and I am alive. I will continue doing all that I can to raise awareness among the youth about drug abuse and HIV,” the young man says.