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Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) Chief Executive Officer and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s niece Nana Gechaga celebrates 23 years of being sober.
Through a video on her Instagram account, Nana who has always been vocal about her past drinking life said that said that is happy with herself as she has remained sober for that long.
She also added that she is proud of the woman she has since become.
“It’s the 4th of July and everyone in America is celebrating independence day. But for me, it’s an extremely important day for me. I am 23 years sober today. I don’t take it for granted.
I know there are so many people out there struggling with alcoholism and I want to say, keep on going. The race is within yourself,” Nana said.
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Nana also revealed that fighting addiction is not an easy task, adding that for someone to walk through the journey, its takes alot alof courage and decisions.
“I don’t take it for granted, and I know a lot of people still out there struggling with alcoholism and I just wanna say keep at it and Keep going, the race is with yourself and as hard as it may be, look for the people around you and don’t be ashamed to ask for help. The day that I asked for help, is the day that my life changed.” she added.
In 2020, Nana opened up and revealed how she got into an addiction that almost took her life, she said that she statrted taking alcohol to forget and to feel dumb and before she knew it, she was already addicted.
“I started drinking to forget, I started drinking to feel numb and before you know it you are going from a functional alcoholic to not remembering what happened before and at age 21, you wouldn’t want your child to go through that,” she said.
Nana said that at that time, there were alot of issues she was not comfortable with just like any other as young adult and to cover all that, she got into drinking.
“I was checking into rehab at age 21 so when people are starting I’m checking out. So I started at a young age. And I think again it’s more of you don’t party out. I used alcohol to mask a lot of things. There are a lot of things I wasn’t okay with, there are a lot of things that I had issues with like any other adult or young person growing up but when it hooks you, it hooks you,” she narrated.
Sometime back when she was hosted at a popular Youtube channell ‘Jesse Junction’, Nana said how greatful she is because during her addiction, she never had any injury.
It took her brother Jommo Gechaga, who is now the president Uhuru’s personal assitant and her sister to get her help.
“It wasn’t easy, it took a lot. It took my brother and sister also intervening saying this is the last chance but let us get her some help. I had gotten into accidents, crashed cars during that stint and I’m lucky to be walking. Lucky to have no major damage. I really partied a lot and did not take life seriously,” she said.
“The one thing I can say to them is, tomorrow is another day and try to live or get to that day and never be ashamed or too proud to ask for support. Kenya has a lot of support and use it,” the mother of three boys conluded.