Read This Woman’s Story On How She Pulled Through Despite Being HIV Positive And A Rape Victim At 16


The popular saying the downfall of a man is not the end of the world is best to describe the emotional story of this young Nigerian lady living with HIV.

Ogechi Stella Njoku was raped twice at the age of 16 on different occasions while hawking. She is a mother of  four and graduate of Economics from the University of Ibadan and she is also living with HIV, a discovery that almost shattered her dreams and made her give up on life. She is determined to use her story to touch lives and also change the perception of the society about  HIV and stigmatization.

Speaking about her background, She said

”Yes, my childhood experience was characterized with hard work, which propelled me into becoming an independent woman. I was born into the family of eight Children, and I was the last born but unfortunately, I lost seven of my Senior Siblings, making me an only child. I lost my father too, as a child, hence I was singlehandedly trained by my mother.”

According to Njoku, ”growing up was like hell, I would hawk before school and immediately after school. My hawking experience became bitter when I was raped at 16, in 1996 and I lost my virginity. Nothing could be done to the guy who did it because his father was the chairman of one of the local government in IMO state then. My experience became more bitter when I was raped for the second time by gangs of men in pretense of trying to buy my market. I hated hawking, my passion for education grew, my dream to become someone influential and rich grew, my vision for life became my burning desire. I was determined by quest to take care of my mother and make her proud, hence I wasn’t ready to allow any challenges deter it. I kept pushing on.


Njoku came to Lagos in 1997 and lived in an uncompleted building for over a year. She worked in a Pharmacy for a while and after seeing her boss’s children who were schooling at University of Lagos, her enthusiasm for education and good life intensified. I reassured myself of my dreams of becoming a graduate.

She became a single mother of four children at 28, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing her degree.  She is Oracle Database Certified Expert and a graduate of Economics. She also established her company, BDMG Resources Limited on 5th April, 2017 and she is still gainfully employed with the Nigerian Society of Engineers

However,  another heartbreaking moment for her was when she found out she was HIV positive. ”My only regret was becoming HIV positive, but I thank God that all my children are NEGATIVE and their father is also NEGATIVE. Surviving the reality of living with HIV became my greatest challenge, my worst nightmare, the thought was killing, the pains was excruciatingly great, better imagine than experiencing. I conquered the FEARS . I became adherent to my ARV, today I am gladly living positively healthy with my viral load undetectable and high CD4 count.

Speaking about why she opened up about my status, she said
”my inspiration was drawn from the knowledge I gained while studying what HIV entails. Applying the things, I learnt from the HIV health counsellors while being counseled and my personal research from World Health Organization (WHO) and USAIDS websites proved to me beyond every reasonable doubt that HIV is not a killer disease, if only victims adheres to their ARV drugs. Hence my passion to see people live above their fears of HIV grew. My enthusiasm to change the Myths people held about HIV grew. I knew that I needed to lend a voice, I understood that such long held Myth about HIV can only be changed true a healthy life of a testimony from a victim of HIV.

 





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