Keep a Child Alive

Day 29 - Lisimba: No Love at Home, No Place to Go

The staff at our Family Care Clinic (FCC) in Mombasa, Kenya, first met Lisimba* in June 2006 when she was just 14 years old.   Her mother was HIV-positive, so they agreed that Lisimba should be tested as well.  When Lisimba’s test results confirmed she was positive for HIV, she went through intensive counseling and then started on ARVs.

Lisimba responded positively to the HIV treatment and the accompanying counseling she received at FCC, but her home life was growing increasingly more unbearable.  She had been born to a single mother who later married and gave birth to three more children — all HIV-free thanks to PMTCT interventions. Lisimba was treated badly by her family because she had HIV.  Her stepfather, in particular, used any small mistake she made at home as an opportunity to throw her HIV status in her face, condemn her actions and cause her grief.  Lisimba became seriously depressed as the situation at home continued to degenerate.

Lisimba had been an active participant in FCC treatment and counseling programs for four years, including our adolescent post-test club, so it was a surprise to everyone at the clinic when she stopped coming to in June 2010.  When the staff asked her family why Lisimba was no longer attending the program at the clinic, they were told that she had disappeared — without a trace.

More than six months passed without any word from Lisimba and then, on January 31, 2011, she appeared at the clinic with her mother.  We learned from her that things had become terrible at home that she couldn’t bear it any longer.  She fled to Tanzania in search of her father, whom she had hoped would somehow offer her a better life than the one she was leaving behind.  In Tanzania, Lisimba quickly ran out of money.  With no place to stay and nobody to turn to for help, Lisimba was at the mercy of the streets.  Naïve in the extreme, she was quickly and routinely taken advantage of by men and soon became pregnant. Lisimba knew that she could not survive with a baby living as she was and determined she had no choice but to return home to Mombasa.   The clinic was thrilled to see Lisimba, despite her poor condition, and immediately counseled her on the options available to her.  She restarted her ARVs and enrolled in our PMTCT program.

Today, Lisimba is 5 months into her pregnancy. Although she is under the care of FCC, she still has little other support, which is so frequently the case for young people living with HIV/AIDS.  With no job and having abandoned education, her future is unclear. Life, already a significant challenge for Lisimba in the years we have known her, will be even more difficult once the baby comes.  The Family Care Clinic will be there to support their care, hoping with all our hearts that her child be born free from HIV.

Lisimba is why we do what we do at Keep a Child Alive. Text BUYLIFE to 90999 to give $10 to help us continue these inspirational stories of hope, love and strength.

*Name changed to protect anonymity

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