NAHASHON Nabwayo is a TV comedian, a hospital volunteer and a member of St John’s Ambulance. And he can do emergency child birth care.
It was while performing the last of those roles that he had the accident that led to him discovering he had HIV.
The 46-year-old, known to Kenyan TV viewers as Shikwekwe The Great, was on his way to hospital when a chain of events began that would lead him here, to the men-only support group in Mathare.
“In 2008 I got a stubborn patient,” he says. “I attended to her when, in the ambulance, she delivered. When I went to cut the placenta, she thought I was going to cut her and on the way, struggling, I cut my finger.”
He thought the cut had penetrated only the top pair of two pairs of gloves, so he removed top one and carried on. But later that night, he removed the other glove and found blood on his finger. He had some injections, and was told to go for a check-up three months later.
When he did so, he was found to be HIV positive, although a month before his cut, he was negative.
He is coping well with his status, but says it was difficult initially to convince his wife of the importance of safe sex.
“When I told my wife that we had to use condoms, she said ‘you actors are always going here and there and are infected and die frequently’. It was not easy to explain until I had a health worker to approach her.
“Today she’s the first person to ask me ‘do you have a condom?’. She is still negative, and I am positive.
“I thank God for that and I thank God for this group, because it has assisted me. I have been told very many lessons about being a community health worker, and I have told people how to be free.”
Gavin Aitchison travelled to Kenya with Christian Aid, to witness the charity's work with HIV victims and to meet those on the front-line in the fight against the virus.
• Christian Aid’s Christmas appeal this year is focused on HIV, marking the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the virus.
If you would like to donate to Christian Aid’s Christmas Appeal, or would like to find out more about its work on health and HIV, visit christianaid.org.uk/christmas or call 0845 7000 300.
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