First Lady Margaret Kenyatta on Wednesday mourned an 18-year old girl from Busia who moved her to tears with a poem, during an event to deliver a Beyond Zero mobile clinic in the county.
Francisca Achieng' sadly died on Tuesday, a week after she narrated her story of living with HIV to Ms Kenyatta.
Speaking during the opening of the 7th International Conference on Peer Education, Sexuality, HIV and AIDS at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Ms Kenyatta eulogised Achieng' as a brave young girl.
The First Lady highlighted that Achieng's courage to stand before the huge crowd was commendable, adding that she had died a true ambassador.
“While in Busia last week, I listened to a brave 18-year-old school girl Francisca Achieng', who stood before a crowd of thousands and narrated her story living with HIV. Just yesterday, Francisca lost her physical battle with the disease, and is no longer with us, but as true ambassador, she won through her public testimony of hope. Her spirit lives on,” Ms Kenyatta stated.
The teenager died at Murumba Sub-county Hospital where she was rushed after developing a severe headache at their home in Sikarira village in Butula.
In her poem, Achieng' expressed how she hated the virus in her body.
"I never seduced you, but you fell for me. I never loved you, but you hooked me. I never welcomed you in my life, but you penetrated it. I never dreamt of taking you out, but you are always going with me. I hate you with passion," goes the girl's poem in part.
While in Busia, Ms Kenyatta also visited women at the County's Referral Hospital.
