Actress Nyce Wanjeri has opened up about the challenging past that forced her to drop out of school.
The ex-Aunty boss actress, in an int...
Actress Nyce Wanjeri has opened up about the challenging past that forced her to drop out of school.
The ex-Aunty boss actress, in an interview with local television, says she developed ulcers aged 12 when her dad succumbed to HIV.
"I remember when we went to bury him I overheard one of my aunts ask why I was crying for a man who was not my real father. My mother had told me that my dad passed away because of a malaria type from Mombasa, and then I was told that he was not my biological father," said the actress.
The TV personality added how she was forced to be a mother to her younger siblings after her mom also fell ill.
"My mother was affected by my dad's demise. She sunk into depression and lost weight. I was the first born in my family with two younger siblings, to whom I was forced to be a mother at the time,"
"We lived a comfortable life when dad was alive but things became unbearable after his death and mum got sick. My mum was hospitalized for three weeks."
The actress adds she would later stumble on hospital documents indicating her mother also had HIV. This shocked her to the core.
"One day I came across receipts, and it’s when I learned that my dad was HIV positive and so was my mum. Turns out my dad used to have other women in Mombasa where he lived occasionally. He contracted the virus, but never told my mother about it."
"There was a lot of stigma surrounding HIV at the time and it was a disgrace to die from it. My mum was so stressed she had lost her will to live. My 5-year-old brother at the time was 40 kgs while my mum was 36 kgs. The burden of taking care of my mum and my siblings fell on my shoulders,”
The mother of one further narrates how she had to drop out of school for a while owing to her responsibilities.
"I dropped out of school in class 7. I was doing poorly in school because of the struggles we were going through. I remember begging my mum to be strong and not give in to death because I was too young to be left alone with my younger siblings, and she stayed strong.”
