#147notjustanumber - THE COUNTRY GRIEVES ONCE AGAIN DUE TO TERRORISM

It is four weeks on and Kenya has been in a state of shock since four Al Shabab militants stormed Garissa University in the country's east on the 2^nd of April and slaughtered 148 people.  The group said its attacks were in retaliation for acts by Kenya's security forces, who are part of the African Union's mission in Somalia against Al-Shabab.  The mass killing was the worst the nation has seen since the 1998 bombing of the American embassy and eclipsed the horrific Al Shabab attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013. 

It’s a devastating story, but it’s likely that you don’t know many of the details, because these senseless deaths received nowhere near the level of reporting as the fatal Charlie Hedbo attack in France in January; there was no Je Suis Charlie social media campaign, no immediate meeting of world leaders, no celebrity endorsements of campaigns to assist the survivors.  The whole world stood up for #CharlieHebdo and for #Germanwings. 148 students were massacred in Kenya. Where’s the outrage from world leaders?  Graffic images were shared around the world to get the horrendous pictures out to the world just how bad things were.  African lives matter too.  Despite the noble sentiment, it was a troubling tactic: As a number of Kenyans were quick to point out, the dissemination of shockingly graphic photos risked disrespecting the dead, and re-traumatising survivors and the victims’ grieving families.  Is that what it takes to get our plight out there?  It is embarrassing, as a westerner, the treatment that Africa as a whole, gets at times.  Ebola was another classic example of the world taking notice only once it hit closer to home once it left the African continent.

They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and fellow citizens.

They were students and dreamers, pursuing their ambition for a better life.

Determined that the students killed in the terror attacks in Garissa not be reduced to a number, a Kenyan social media campaign set out to tell the story of each individual victim.  Using the hashtag #147notjustanumber and #theyhavenames, friends and families of the victims, journalists and others on Twitter have begun to honour the lives of those who died – sharing the photographs, names, ages and character portraits as the details become available.  Each tweet paints a powerful portrait of loss.  The initiative was an effort to humanise victims of terror and according to a social media monitor, the hashtag #147notjustanumber has been mentioned 52 000 times so far.  Some of the tributes are heart wrenching and they were ordinary people, bettering themselves and their families, to have their lives ended in this way is just horrific and 2 weeks later is still hard to comprehend.  Some of the tributes include Leah N Wanfula, who at 21 was the first of nine siblings to go to university. There’s Gideon Kirui, 22, whose entire family saved up for him to continue his education; and Selpher Wandia, 21, who was studying to become a teacher.  They record small details that will be remembered by those closest Beatrice Njeri Thinwa, 20, was a fan of Kenny Rogers and Mildred Yondo loved theatre, music and mangoes.

The harrowing event was on 2 April 2015, where gunmen stormed the Garissa University College in Garissa, killing at least 148 people, and injuring 100.  The militant group Al-Shabaab, which the gunmen claimed to be from, took responsibility for the attack. The gunmen took over 700 students hostage, freeing Muslims and killing those who they identified as Christians. The siege ended the same day, when all four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer.  Garissa, is located in the North Eastern Province around 200 km from the border with Somalia, and was considered "one of the safest spots in the region". It housed both military barracks and police headquarters.  Al-Shabaab, a multi-ethnic militant group based in Somalia with links to Al-Qaeda, had killed over 200 people in Kenya in the two years prior to the event.  It has been reported that there had been "high-profile warnings about a threat to a major university" prior to the attack.  A student at a nearby college, said that "strangers had been spotted in Garissa town and were suspected to be terrorists", and then "on Monday [30 March 2015] our college principal told us… that strangers had been spotted in our college"; on Tuesday, while the college closed and sent its students home, the Garissa University which remained open, was attacked.  The attack came a day after the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had chastised the United Kingdom and Australia for renewing their travel warnings over security threats in Kenya, and accused them of perpetuating colonialism.  I wonder how he feels about that outburst now?

The attack started at around 05:30 am local time.  Two unarmed guards were killed at the entrance.  Survivors indicated that the shooters had summoned the pupils to get out of their bedrooms in the dormitory and to position themselves face-down on the ground, and then executed them.  The Kenya Defence Forces and other security agencies were deployed and surrounded and sealed off the university to flush out the gunmen.  The siege ended after nearly 15 hours, with four gunmen killed just after dusk. The masked attackers wielded AK-47s and were strapped with explosives. When they were shot by Kenyan forces, four of the terrorists were shot by the Recce Squad Commandos of the Kenyan GSU. The fifth terrorist was able to detonate his suicide vest causing injuries to some of the commandos.  Of the 148 dead, 142 were students, 3 were soldiers and 3 were police officers.  Around 587 students escaped, but 79 were injured. Authorities said all students have since been accounted for.  My heart bleeds as I think of what those students were thinking in those hours.  The stories that are coming out now of survivors and also messages of the slain students as they waited for help to arrive.  Messages to their families, phone calls made and even more disturbing and upsetting, some of the terrorist rang family members where they heard the fatal shots down the line of their loved ones being murdered.  It truly is SHOCKING.  There is a lot of talk of why it took so long for the Recce Squad to arrive, security at the university at the time, the assailants were known and there are many, many more stories circulating.  No matter what the real truth is, the facts are 147 lives were lost, tragically, they died for no reason, for something they had nothing to with.   

Ten days after the shootings, an explosion of a power transformer outside caused by an ordinary electrical fault, at the student hostel at the University of Nairobi, Kikuyu, sent pupils panicking in fear of another attack. The Nairobi University blast happened at about 04:00 local time on Sunday 12^th April, with one death and a further 150 pupils sustaining minor injuries.  Reports say there were multiple explosions, or a prolonged sound, prompting fears of a terrorist attack and sending many students into a panic that made many of the students think it was Al-Shabaab who had attacked.  They said the transformer went out in three loud blasts, plunging the dormitory into darkness, which heightened the panic among the students.  Some avoided using the entrances to their hostels, thinking that al-Shabab militants were occupying them, and jumped from windows, some as high as the 6th floor.  One man died after jumping and several other students were critically injured with many suffering cuts and broken limbs.  Students jumped from windows at their University of Nairobi residence halls in a stampede that underlined growing tensions just over a week after gunmen stormed another university campus.  Witnesses said the transformer blew up at about 4.30am, setting off terrified screams from the women's wing of a dormitory. The panic spread to the men's wing, where students woke up and scrambled to get out.  Students said the incident evoked memories of the attack in Garissa, which also came before dawn.  An example on just how nervous Kenyans, especially university students, are as we try, as a people to digest, recover and move forward never forgetting the innocent lives lost in a war that has no purpose.

But let’s agree on this: now is a time to respect the dead and their grieving families by sharing messages of unity without spreading al-Shabaab’s message of hate and fear.  Take a quiet moment to pay your silent respects for the young people who lost their lives.

Because they had names, and their lives mattered.

My most heartfelt condolences go to the families of those who were killed. The victims were targeted simply because they were seeking an education.  Here’s a list of 126 of the victims who have been identified so far. Some victims remain unaccounted for.

Abdulrazak Mohammed
Abel Mukhwana
Agnetta Chite
Alex Omorwa Mogaka
Alice Mbete Mulu
Angela ‘Ka/Jojo’ Kimata Githakwa
Aquilla Mulei
Ayub Njau Kimotho
Beatrice Njeri Thinwa
Bernard Kipkemboi Tonui
Branton Wakhungu
Cyrus Sila Mutuku
Dadley Mose
Dan Mwiti
Dianah Musabi 
Doreen ‘Special Rose’ Gakii
Ebby Omari
Edward Wafula (Missing)
Elider Obiero
Eliud Wafula
Elizabeth Kerubo Nyangarora
Elizabeth Nafula
Elizabeth Namarome Musinai 
Eric Ondari Nyabuto 
Erick Gwaro Kombo (Still considered missing)
Faith Kendi
Faith Kinyala
Gideon Bryson Mwakuleghwa
Gideon Kirui (Classified Missing)
Hellen*
Isaac Pop Bushen (Isaac Kosgey)
Koskei
Ivy Betty Wanjiku
Ivy Kihia
Jacinta Njeri
James Ochode
Jane Akinyi
Jane Nyambura
Jeff Macharia
Job Njue
John Mwangi Maina
Josephine Nyaboke
Josephine Onyancha
Joy Chepkorir
Judith Jepkemboi
Ken Glenson Echessa
Laban Kumba Daniel
Leah N Wafula
LYDIAH Melody OBONDI
Macline Ubue
Mark Dennis Mutuma
Mary Muchiri Shee
Mildred Yondo Wakholi
Monica Ngwasi Mutinda (Still classified missing)
Mwende 
Newton Karani
Obadiah Okiring Okodoi (Missing)
Oliver Maina
Peter Magio Mulindiro
Peter Masinde Nyangure
Peter Odhiambo
Peter Yule
Priscilla Kathure Akwalu
Richard Bor ( classified missing)
Risper Maggie Mutindi Kasyoka
Romana Chelagat Sambu
Ruth Esiromo Nakhanu
Samuel Mwangi Maingi
Selpher Solo Wanda
Solomon Oludo
Susan Anyango Othwilla
Susan Onyinkwa Kwamboka
Tobias *
Tonie Wangu
Tracy Angela
Veronica Syokau
Virginia Simiyu
Yvonne Makori
Jessica Cherono
Mlindiro Peter Magio 
Prisca Auma Wayodi
Dorcas Kasugina Julius
Alex Mueri Muchiro
Kevin Ouma Odongo
Samuel Mutiso Musau
Fransciscah Ndungwa Joseph
Duncan Mwitu Baini
Gideon Kipkurui
Faith Kendi Gituma 
Marion Musenya 
Stephen Mutua
Onyinkwa Susan Kwamboka Emily 
Emily Namaemba
Miriam Hawa 
Everlyne Lodengo
Caroline Njoki 
Purity Kawira Kaunyangi 
Caroline Mukami Ndumia 
Syrus Sila Mutuko
Lucy Nyambura 
Victor Mbogo
Jackson Kipketer 
Joyce Wakiuru Waweru 
Annetter Miller
Duncan Mwendwa Kalekye
Joash Obare Mosiria 
Beth Njambi Gakenya
Aggrey Momanyi
Faith Chepchirchir 
Ann Ongwae
Caroline Koech 
Harriet Andole
Bilha Njeri Gitau
Philemon Thakaramoi Madaa
Philomena Kasyoka Munyoki
Catherine Mbithe Mutuku
Amos Wanyonyi Mwangangi
Emma Mutahi
Mumo Kilonzo
Dennis Ouma Onyango
Kennedy Ouma Echesa

May they rest in peace.