Jane Ngima Muriuki poses for a photo in Nyeri town

SHE is HIV negative but has lived with HIV positive husband for almost 20 years now.

Jane Ngima Muriuki from Nyeri South district who is a mother of three sons has now spoken of her long kept secret of how she has lived with her husband Joe Muriuki who was first tested positive in 1989.

“It hasn’t been easy staying in the same house, sharing household goods, but here I'm having come this far and still negative.” forty-four- year old Ngima said.

It all started 19 years ago when her husband was an accountant at Nairobi City Council and Ngima was a teacher at Heshima Secondary in Nairobi.

Muriuki was tested HIV positive and when the school administration heard of it, she was sacked immediately.

Hard life was to follow as she started picking pieces to ensure she carries on. Her last born son Eric Munyiri was born the following year and fortunately he was negative. We later become pioneers which helped us to get first hand information on how to live with the disease positively.

Her husband later became an active board member of the World Health Organization representing the African continent on matters of Aids. He travels a lot to Geneva for monthly meetings which have provided a platform for sharing information on how to live safe lives. This has also helped the family to be quit conversant with information.

“He has been dealing with matters on Aids day in day out both locally and internationally. He meets community based organizations and groups with HIV/Aids in Nairobi and even here in Nyeri.” she notes.

“The first step is to overcome stigma and let stigma not be part of you. Many people who notice they are positive for the first time rush to start taking ARV’s instead of first going for counseling which is a big mistake.” she cautions.

“We have no problem in sharing things including clothing and utensils; you can’t be infected by sharing them. This is one way of fighting stigma since the victim will feel he/she part and parcel of the family. One can live for many years if he/ she is not stigmatized.” she adds.

Her husband is now undertaking his masters degree programme in public health at the Kenyatta University

She adds that her colleagues who witnessed her sacking have since regretted, apologized and blamed their decision on lack of enough information. The school later lost four teachers due to the deadly disease.

She says she doesn’t hold a grudge with her husband and wants her family to be a good example to other affected families who might be living in the same situation.

She is happy that her family has become role models of HIV/Aids victims especially with her sons still excelling in their education.