"I thought I'd be dead today, but I am living for the future"

Thirty-six-year-old Elizabeth Wamaitha is a widow raising a small child. When she learnt she was HIV-positive it seemed like the end of the world, but she now has a new lease on life.

"In 1996, I married a very violent man. It was worse because for six years I was unable to have a child. Finally, in 2002, I fell pregnant. At the same time I learned that I had TB, but I gave birth to a baby girl in September of that year - two months after her birth I left my husband.

I moved in with my younger sister in Nairobi, but I was constantly falling sick. Faith, my little girl, was also always ill; she got boils that took a long time to heal and was coughing.

Months later, I learned that my husband was sick and had fallen into a coma. Days later he passed away, but my in-laws no longer considered me part of their family so they didn't tell me.

I decided to visit Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi – I was worried because my husband had died and I didn't know why. The doctors tested me and found I was HIV-positive.

I didn’t want to continue living; I felt like a burden to my sister, to everyone. I had no job, my only child was in pain and I was always crying - I just wanted to end the pain.

At the hospital, we were given ARVs [life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy]. I have been on these drugs for two years and four months now, and Faith has been on them for one year and eight months - she doesn't know why she takes these drugs.

I help out at my sister's kiosk, but it's tough: I only make about 150 shillings from nine in the morning till eleven at night. Many people feel uncomfortable coming to my kiosk; they prefer to go somewhere where they don't have to feel pity for the trader. Still, I have saved some cash for Faith's school fees - she starts nursery school soon. I am planning to open up a clothes-washing business to support us.

I am happy I am able to keep alive and provide whatever I can for my daughter. I was expecting to have died right after her my husband. Three years ago I was dying. Today I know that HIV/AIDS is not the end of the world, but rather it has been a turning point in my life."

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