INTERVIEW: A Gay Kenyan's Gang Rape (Part 2): The Resurrection

Anthony Adero granted me the privilege and the honor of discussing with him his redemptive experience following the trauma of being gang raped. We delved into his "afterlife," his journey through fear, denial and social resistance, and the overwhelming difficulty of finding the expressive language to capture an awful occurrence that grew into a blessing as he reclaimed his body before the world. Nick Mwaluko: Following the rape, you were in recovery, physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. During that entire stretch of time, you were not sexually active. Anthony Adero: Absolutely not. Mwaluko: How did you find out that you had HIV? Adero: I felt my body was not my body. Mwaluko: Yours was a nonconforming body, wouldn't you say? Adero: Yes and no. I left Nairobi's city center for my home village because I did not want to come near or close to another stranger. I needed solitude, peace, space, familiarity, which I falsely associated with safety. I was deeply depressed, very sickly. I could not get out of bed. My youngest aunt suggested, with the utmost compassion, that I get medical attention. My first test was negative, but I knew my body was not my body. My second test was positive.