Muthoni Kariuki Blog

A Sad Tale

Posted by Edward Karani , Monday, April 26, 2010 6:49 AM

Mercy had gotten infected during her first year at the University of Nairobi, the best university, south of the Sahara and east of the Limpopo, the only university that used the article ‘the’, they had been told that were only two universities in Kenya, the University of Nairobi and others, that was her first, she gotten so carried away by the fact that for the first time she realized she was among the top ten percent top performers in her KCSE, she was the crème de la crème of society, her new found freedom, her mother and father were not there to tell her what to do, or push her around and give her curfews, in campus life began at night, fellowships were held at night, so was everything else, good and evil. They had told her about gold rush, but when an older, hot looking guy came her way, and he treated her so well, better than any guy had ever treated her, she did not seem to understand what it was all about anymore. Her first short lived boyfriend, it only lasted for a month, but it got her infected with HIV. After the orientation week, everything that they had been told about HIV, she as well as a majority of the other girls, it never seemed a reality to her or them, something that affected Africa, seemed a million miles away, in a place where it was believed to affect a lot of students. The night nurse had claimed that maybe just 4 out of 10 student’s maybe positive, a sad tale to tell.

Then where did all the ignorance come from.

She had used the morning pill, even though as a Christian she was supposed to be abstaining. Her only fear had not been HIV but pregnancy, the only physical evidence of the life she had been living. If she ever became pregnant her father who happened to be an associate Pastor of a Repent and be Saved ministries, the biggest of its kind in the country with 15000 members would kill her. Her father the revered ‘reverend Doctor bishop Miujiza’ had healed so many people with HIV, as well as other problems, but Mercy knew he could not heal her, she would be as a matter of fact, the biggest embarrassment of his life. There was no way he was going to recover from the shock that his daughter, the one he would all so mention, in his sermons often because she was in the university, was HIV positive.

Her boyfriend in first year, was a student representative in SONU, he was the Vice academic chair, ‘an honorable member’. He was also every girl’s dream. She had never seen a student who had a car in her life, his own room, while the rest shared. In his room, there was state of the art everything. He had a plasma TV, a lap top, a very nice looking lap top, a two stove cooker, a really expensive radio that was worth over 20000 shillings, he took her on a nice date, in SENSES, the most expensive, campus cafeteria ever, and she ordered, chicken and rice, she was on top on the world at that point. With the money, that he and other corrupt student leaders got from the all powerful politicians that supported them, so that campus politics was just as dirty as every day politics in Kenya, with the key determining factor being tribe, ‘ tribe,’ forgetting that the hope of an entire nation, lay on them, the future leaders, a sad tale, indeed.

Evans the SONU rep was also in his final year in school. He introduced her to alcohol, at that point, her friendship with Anne was dead, they were not talking, and she felt that Anne was jealous of her new found life. You see Anne was a rather ordinary looking girl, short, and a bit dark, not as coal though. Evans took her out to a party for the fresher’s, which Anne was totally against, because there was bound to be a lot of alcohol. Mercy came back to her room drunk. A month later, they went out clubbing, the whole night and then went back to Evans room, and they drunk some more alcohol, that’s when in a momentary lapse of reason and she had given herself away. The next day, she went for the morning pill fearing she could get pregnant, that had marked the end of her relationship with Evans, he had actually taken advantage of her ‘fresher’ mind, gold rush, ‘wahi kuwahi na fresher,’ ‘ponyoka na fresher,’ had proven to be true. Evans moved on to another fresher, it was like he was on a mission. He actually dated most of the girls in her class, that’s why the news of her status was quite shocking, and most of the girls in class had slept with some of the guys in class, maybe the whole class was infected, it was hard to know.

What they had said about the university, and the things that went on in there was not even a quarter of the things that actually went on in these great academic institutions. The last time she had gone to see Evans, his goons and her thrown out of the hostel. Now she was HIV positive and it was killing her, the words of comfort.

“Many people are living positively. You can do it”

Were just like adding insult to injury. It was easier said, when it was not you who had tested positive. She wanted to quit school, go back home, and die in peace. How would she ever tell her boyfriend, Mark, whom, she really loved that there’s was a possibility he was also positive. Everything was now past complicated. They had used protection at times, even though they all went to church, the same church as Anne, but what if she had infected him. All that time she had slept with him, knowingly, at first for revenge, then she had come to realize that she actually loved him and they had decided they should stop any other sexual relations and wait, a promise they had been unable to keep, especially since he had his own house and all. Actually, she had led him into temptation, she found out about her status, when Mark and her were already dating, by then, they had not slept together at all, she actually enticed him, for revenge.

During her second year in campus, as she went home for the weekend, she happened to board, the same matatu as Mark and David, they were coming from a Kesha. David sat on his sleep and slept, leaving Mark and Mercy to pass time talking, Mercy was a bit shocked he seemed so fresh, unlike David who was fast asleep.

“Are you sure umetoka, Kesha?” she asked. (Are you certain that you are coming from a Kesha?)

“Yeah,” he smiled at her.

Just then David turned and opened his eyes. She was seated in the middle, while Chris sat at the end and David near the window.

“How comes you look so fresh and vibrant unlike Davy.”

David smiled waiting for Mark’s response.

“Well, I made good use of my time.”

David laughed sleepily.

“Kesha for this dude ishad (finished) at 12 midnight,” he said. “The rest of the time, he was asleep, ameamka tukisema, (he woke up just as were saying) the grace.”

Mercy laughed.

“See the marvin he is wearing, don’t let it fool you, he pulled it down so that it covered his eyes and the rest as they say is history.” David joked.

Mercy looked at the mervin that Mark was wearing; she could not help but laugh.

“Zi!(no!)” he defended himself. “I was praying,”

They both laughed.

“From 12midnight to 5pm? “ David asked.

“In the spirit,” he joked.

Later on the conductor came to take their fare, Mark paid for all of them, and he gave the tout a one hundred shilling note.

“Watu watatu, (for three people)” he indicated.

The conductor took the hundred shillings note. “Ongeza twenty.” (That will cost you an additional twenty shillings.)

David who was asleep woke up.

“I thought they said thirty bob?” Mercy said to him.

David agrees with them.

“Buda, (sir)” David told him. “ule msee alikuwa anaitana alisema 30, saa niaje imekuwa 40.”(The person, who was calling us in said 30, how comes now you are asking for 40?)

The tout is now hostile towards them.

“Gari ni 40.” He told them. “ Mi ndio nimesema, na muharakishe.” ( I said the fare in 40, I am the one calling the shots.”

The three friends were shocked.

Mark who was standing next to the tout grabbed the 100 from him.

“ Shukisha.” (We want to alight, now!)They all got up. “hiyo ni wizi, unataka kutuibia tukiona” ( you want to steal from us in broad daylight.)

David pressed the alight button, the tout knew he was cornered, they were so far off and if he allowed them to alight, they could actually board another Matatu for only twenty shillings.

“Sawa basi leta hiyo so!”(It’s okay bring the a hundred) he tries to take it but Mark put it back in his pocket.

“Zi,(no)” he smiled at Mercy who watched in disbelief. “Leta change ya ashu.” (Give me my ten shillings change first.)

The tout had no choice but to give him the ashu (ten shillings) before he gave the one hundred shillings to the tout. She was definitely impressed, later that day, Mark called her and invited her for lunch, she agreed, and the rest as they said, was history.

Now, she was positive, what if Mark was also positive, they had messed up big time; Mark would be so shocked if he ever found out. She could only picture his face, sadness and anguish.

And there was Anne, who had put so much trust on her, which was now broken. Her family, they would never find out, not if she had something to do with it. Her three years in campus were all for nothing. Now as a forth year, she wanted to pack and leave, to a place where no one would find her. It’s was a temporary lapse of reason, she had completely lost her bearing and now she had to pay the price.

She did not mean to tell Ian, as the first person, as her second year at the university began, she heard that Evans could not graduate that December because he had succumbed HIV related illness, that’s where her nightmare began, she was afraid that he could also have infected her too, for the next couple of months she was in total distress, her bones suffered, mortal agony. Went for the test six months later, after a couple of failed attempts, where she would get to the door and ran away. At some point, she had left the VCT guy alone just as he was about to read her results. That day, she sat through the whole thing, she asked him several times after the test results.

“I’m I positive?”

She asked him over and over again, until it became.

“I am positive,”

She walked out a zombie.

She had told Ian because, they had slept together. He also became withdrawn, and reserved. He did not get tested until a few weeks back, he turned negative, and that night he called Mercy with the good news. The next day the news about her positive status was all over campus. The funny thing is, Anne her best friend had not heard the rumors, Anne was not a gossiper. Months later, that’s when Mercy did decided to break the ice and let Anne know, she was bound to know anyway. She still had not accepted her status.

She had seen from the bathroom window Anne washing her beddings, now she was a kind of outcast. No one would ever look at her the same. Her siblings, they would totally reject her. Her father the preacher, he would chase her from home. At church, they would never accept her; sermons would be made in her name, endless. Her mother would die from the shock. She was better off dead. That night all she wanted was to die, her life lacked meaning. In the morning, she was more convinced death was indeed the better option.