Disclaimer:Please sit down before reading this real life story ordeal narrated to the Kenya DAILY POST.
Elizabeth Wanjiru ‘Shiro’ is a young lady whose life history has
unfolded in a way she never envisioned. 2007 was a big year for her. She
was a young, beautiful, healthy, perfectly endowed and charismatic
student at the University of Nairobi. Her zeal and ambition in life was
overflowing.
Elizabeth was quite vocal and active in campus politics. An avenue
that her fellow female mates refrained from. She pushed for agendas and
actively participated in motions in the university’s political sphere.
This made the then Secretary General of SONU, G.G Kariuki notice her.
Kariuki approached her with a proposal. He wanted to have her in a project dubbed as ‘Vijana na Kibaki’ -
an initiative aiming at conglomerating the youth in support of Kibaki’s
second presidential bid. The young individuals were meant to advocate
for the president to have a second term in office and in reward were
flooded with hefty allowances. Shiro like many other University students
survived on a shoe string budget. Making some cash outside the pocket
money she received from home sounded like the ideal plot.
She was the only female in the 8 member group. Her presence in the
group was meant to alter the composition of the group to seem like it
was gender sensitive. The group kicked off with a lot of vigour. Days
flew. Contacts were made. Her presence was felt….
*……*…..*……*…..*
One day, a youth meeting was held at the PNU headquarters bringing
together diverse campus representatives. The meeting was only meant for
those in PNU’s pay roll. In attendance were individuals such as
Sylvester Kweyu , the then Kenyatta University Students Union (KUSA)
chairman. Additionally, Mike who was a Secretary General of one of the
Universities was also in the congregation.
The meeting went on well until KU’s Mwenda Gitobu noticed that Mike
was in the congregation. He shot up halting the meeting, firing
accusations that the meeting had been sabotaged by ODM snitches.
Note: At the time, bad blood was precipitating
between ODM and PNU. The situation was nasty with some individuals
swearing to die to keep their partisan loyalty alive.
A scuffle mushroomed between the two groups causing chaos in the
area. The meeting was being held at a house next to the DOD (Department
of Defence ) along Lenana Road, where the PNU HQ’s were located. Other
executive officials of the party were in attendance and were situated in
an office just opposite the press area where the youth were. A trail
down the headquarters led to some rented external public toilets.
Having heard the noise made from the scuffle, a powerful PNU
Cabinet Minister came to calm the situation down. Since time immemorial,
the Minister has always held top respected positions in Government. His
influential nature calmed the situation down.
Shiro in a bid to ease the chaos tension, walked down to the loos
to relieve herself. Coincidentally, Mheshimiwa also headed to the ‘Public loos’ to
take a breather. There, he met the beautiful Shiro and introduced
himself. The two gave each other their compliments and exchanged
numbers. A friendship bond was formed. Little did she know that this
friendship would grow to something more.
*…..*……*……*…..
Shiro forged a head viewing that the meeting with the Minister was
just but a contact she had created. The following week she attended a
PNU meeting at Manor house situated in Manor Lane in Karen.(Manor is a
posh exclusive avenue where a fairy tale wedding was once conducted by
Kiss 100 as a reward to its avid listeners. ) The group of 8 campus
representatives spent the night there. However, on the day that the
group was meant to leave, the PNU Cabinet Minister called up Elizabeth.
He told her that he had sent his driver to pick her up as he longed to
see her again.
True to his word, he sent an exquisite limousine that drove her to
the Serena Hotel where the two had late lunch and spent some time
getting familiar with each another. They continued their rendezvous and
sooner than later they became more than friends.
Years passed. Kibaki retained his position as the president of the
Republic. The Post Election Violence almost consumed the country. By the
time the situation had calmed down, Elizabeth was through with campus.
Hungry for a job, she consulted the Mheshimiwa who through his influence
got her a job at Kenya Re-Insurance. Shiro was not the type to date
young men who she deemed to be immature. She now had herself a rich
sponsor (Mheshimiwa) who bought her a lavish car and a beautiful
apartment in Nairobi’s South B area. How to spend money was what the big
question for her now. Her love life with Mheshimiwa flourished….
However, in 2010 she began falling ill. A cold wouldn’t leave
her side. One day as she was driving from her parent’s house in Thika
suburbs, she decided to check in St. Francis Hospital in Mwiki. The
doctors carried tests on her and after taking her blood samples found
out that she was HIV positive. She was shocked beyond belief. She had
been faithful to Mheshimiwa, had he returned the favour? No.
Intriguingly, he was quite aware of his health status and had kept it a secret. He had ruined her years of hard work and spiked her future.
Late last year she called Classic 105 Breakfast show
and narrated her ordeal to Maina Kageni and King’ang’i in the morning.
As she spoke one would tell that she was engraved in so much pain. Her
conclusion in the show was simple, if she went back in time, she would
never hook up with the Minister. In her words she says, “He gave me
everything that mattered then, but took away everything that I need
now…”
“We live and we learn….To take one step at a time. There’s no need to rush. It’s like learning to fly, or falling in love. It’s gonna happen when it’s supposed to happen. And we find the reasons why. One step at a time….”
These are lyrics of a song by RnB artist Jordin Sparks that Shiro wishes she listened to years back.
Elizabeth Wanjiru has vowed to go public in 2013 (After elections)
and tell her story even name the Minister. She aims at campaigning
against the animosity that influential politicians subject innocent
girls to.
We at the DAILY POST thank her for giving us the exclusive interview at 680 Hotel in town. We will continue supporting her emotionally.
All the best Shiro
courtesy of the : The Kenyan DAILY POST
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