Carrying a pregnancy comes with joy for many women with their families looking forward to the child's birth.
However, this was not the case with 20-year-old Shirleen Mukami, who shared her tough pregnancy journey on social media in a long post on Wednesday, November 10.
In the long post, Mukami disclosed that she struggled with battles brought from the unplanned pregnancy that saw her halt college education and face rejection from the child's father and friends.
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"After endless days of trying to reason with him, I gave up and decided to focus on me and the human being growing in me. It hurt that he would deny something so obvious. And then when he now decided that we terminate it, I felt even stupider. Still, I soldiered on with my pregnancy.
"Suddenly, my whole world collapsed around me. I dropped out of college, strained my relationship with my parents, lost friends, lost my social life, lost the man I loved, lost it all. I wasn't prepared 4 the emotional strain a pregnancy can impact on a woman. My life went black," Mukami stated.
According to Mukami, after the tough experience, she wondered about the young mothers like her who were rejected because of unplanned pregnancies.
"I thought of all the young moms like me, in their early twenties. With no jobs, absent baby daddies, unsupportive families, little friends, and no cash. I couldn't imagine how many we are. And wished our salaried 'men' knew what it meant to run away from their young pregnant lover.
"I've painstakingly raised this boy alone with zero cash and endless prayers. He's only five months, and I'm losing my mind. I can't imagine how tough the following months and years can be. My idleness disturbed my mind, and I needed to occupy myself. And then I called up a friend.
"Together, we decided to do something to occupy our minds and spread our love and support to young mothers like us. My friend's baby is five months too. We called a few other friends. Shared our story. Reached out to relatives and launched the 'Baby Shower Sisters'," Mukami added.
She has since used her initiative to reach out to young mothers facing social stigma and is appealing to Kenyans, in general, to support the group as they plan to broaden to reach 100 mothers by the end of the year.
"Kenyans, kindly support our little 'Baby Shower Sisters' initiative. We've been doing little and can't mind doing much. Going out more. Meeting more mothers and healing our minds. I don't even have much myself. But it's by giving that I have been receiving a diaper or two myself."
UPDATE:
Details have now emerged about the genuineness of the story told by Shirleen Mukami.
Reports indicate that it might have been a well-scripted act to solicit money from the public using the kid.
According to emerging screenshots on social media, Shirleen executed the plan to use the baby to appeal for funds with the baby daddy.
