Having survived almost one year miles away from home, I got reminded of events that are to be commemorated in two days time that took place in my hometown Nairobi. The day before on the 20th September, I had just flown back from Khartoum in Sudan on what had been my final assignment before taking my sabbatical to head to school. Sudan had been a very mixed experience. I loved the people, and for the guys I interacted with , their genuineness and hunger to learn was quite refreshing. Due to the language barrier (the Sudanese generally speak Arabic), I used sign language at times and a few trusted "interpreters" in class to explain to the rest whatI was saying. What I felt was a shock to my system was their eating cycles (two meals a day,...at 11 am and dinner)...I am used to three meals a day! Anyway that is a story for another day...
Anyway, I got back on 20th evening and tired from my journey, I blacked out, slept through 21st September. Then the following day, My phone was jolted by a flurry of text messages and whatsapp messages. "There seems to be some massive robbery at Westgate, the gunshots emanating from there are crazy!...Are you ok?"...I was thinking to myself, which crazy thug would go rob Westgate during the day!...Unless you wished to die, you wouldn't get far. But the info kept coming in more confusing and scary at the sametime...."It appears these guys pack some serious firepower", one message read.."How do you explain them keeping the police engaged that long?...Kwani how many cartridges of bullets did they carry?"
I quickly switched on the telly to find out more about what was happening. To be honest, I was thinking of driving around westlands that day having been away from Nairobi for almost two weeks. I had missed my city...Westgate would have been on my route for sure! The stories that were filtering through were contradictory and confused..."It was some sophisticated gangsters, ...it's terrorists..." Finally the stories converged, and it was pinned down to the Al-shabaab or "the boys"..what the lose translation from Arabis is ...funny enough a few days earlier my Sudanese class were happily calling me shabaab because of my youth. I did not know now what to make of the tag...Sometimes people have a way of messing up innocent words and names! For instance, some names like Hitler, Judas and Stalin are all but historical now...you would not find any parent naming their offspring after these fellows...what were the Al-Shabaab doing to an innocent word describing the youth?
ON realising the gravity of the situation, of course I tried to reach everyone I knew on phone to know if they are ok. Texting of course...after hearing that the murderous gang in the mall was going around looking for people who were hiding and executing them, I would not want to endanger anyone by dialing their phone and giving away their location. At the same time I was busy wondering what the hell the journalists in a bid to get a scoop were busy doing, trying to contact fellows who were hiding within the mall with the terrorists trying to locate them by calling them and asking them on air where they were hiding and if they had seen the terrorists. I used twitter to try and voice my displeasure at our news anchors who were giving away people's locations...In this interconnected day and age, that was tactical ignorance. Anyway, as it turns out, several hundred people were stuck in the mall unable to get out as the police, who had been outgunned at this point by the terrorists cordoned off the mall and a state of panic slowly spread. It was now global news. My close family members and friends were ok thankfully, my workmates as well....However my housemate's dad was stuck in the mall, and would be rescued 8 hours later after the shooting had started....I can imagine the anxiety he felt in those 8 hours....
No one had any info on how many terrorists there were, who they were and what they wanted. The gunmen had mercilessly killed several people as they made their way into the mall...The body count was rising, and it was sickening seeing bodies of women children, helpless civilians being dragged out of the mall as the siege continued.
The terrorists would keep the mall under siege for the next 3 days, leaving a body count of 67 dead and almost 200 injured from the attack. As the guns died and people came to terms with what was happening, I still wonder what drives human beings to commit such atrocities. What angered me the most was that the gunmen some of whom traveled from such pacifist countries as Norway were busy causing mayhem in a land they have nothing to do with. The brainwashed shabaab blow themselves up while their leaders self preserve themselves....why do they never ask themselves why these so called leaders of theirs never volunteer to put their lives or those of their family members on the line? I have come to realize that youth is mixed with mental turmoil and a lot of growing up to do. As you become older you realize how foolish you were when you were young, and am sure those 19 year olds and early twenty year old shabaab would think twice if they were in their 30s, being asked by some "leader" to sacrifice themselves for some cause that sometimes they have no comprehension of.
I just wanted to remember those who lost their lives that September afternoon, their families and to commend all those Kenyans who were their to help in a most difficult situation.
As for the Al Shabaab... "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword!" I was tempted to print some expletives, but I think I am better than that!
Anyway, I got back on 20th evening and tired from my journey, I blacked out, slept through 21st September. Then the following day, My phone was jolted by a flurry of text messages and whatsapp messages. "There seems to be some massive robbery at Westgate, the gunshots emanating from there are crazy!...Are you ok?"...I was thinking to myself, which crazy thug would go rob Westgate during the day!...Unless you wished to die, you wouldn't get far. But the info kept coming in more confusing and scary at the sametime...."It appears these guys pack some serious firepower", one message read.."How do you explain them keeping the police engaged that long?...Kwani how many cartridges of bullets did they carry?"
I quickly switched on the telly to find out more about what was happening. To be honest, I was thinking of driving around westlands that day having been away from Nairobi for almost two weeks. I had missed my city...Westgate would have been on my route for sure! The stories that were filtering through were contradictory and confused..."It was some sophisticated gangsters, ...it's terrorists..." Finally the stories converged, and it was pinned down to the Al-shabaab or "the boys"..what the lose translation from Arabis is ...funny enough a few days earlier my Sudanese class were happily calling me shabaab because of my youth. I did not know now what to make of the tag...Sometimes people have a way of messing up innocent words and names! For instance, some names like Hitler, Judas and Stalin are all but historical now...you would not find any parent naming their offspring after these fellows...what were the Al-Shabaab doing to an innocent word describing the youth?
ON realising the gravity of the situation, of course I tried to reach everyone I knew on phone to know if they are ok. Texting of course...after hearing that the murderous gang in the mall was going around looking for people who were hiding and executing them, I would not want to endanger anyone by dialing their phone and giving away their location. At the same time I was busy wondering what the hell the journalists in a bid to get a scoop were busy doing, trying to contact fellows who were hiding within the mall with the terrorists trying to locate them by calling them and asking them on air where they were hiding and if they had seen the terrorists. I used twitter to try and voice my displeasure at our news anchors who were giving away people's locations...In this interconnected day and age, that was tactical ignorance. Anyway, as it turns out, several hundred people were stuck in the mall unable to get out as the police, who had been outgunned at this point by the terrorists cordoned off the mall and a state of panic slowly spread. It was now global news. My close family members and friends were ok thankfully, my workmates as well....However my housemate's dad was stuck in the mall, and would be rescued 8 hours later after the shooting had started....I can imagine the anxiety he felt in those 8 hours....
No one had any info on how many terrorists there were, who they were and what they wanted. The gunmen had mercilessly killed several people as they made their way into the mall...The body count was rising, and it was sickening seeing bodies of women children, helpless civilians being dragged out of the mall as the siege continued.
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| The suspected shooters at Westgate |
The terrorists would keep the mall under siege for the next 3 days, leaving a body count of 67 dead and almost 200 injured from the attack. As the guns died and people came to terms with what was happening, I still wonder what drives human beings to commit such atrocities. What angered me the most was that the gunmen some of whom traveled from such pacifist countries as Norway were busy causing mayhem in a land they have nothing to do with. The brainwashed shabaab blow themselves up while their leaders self preserve themselves....why do they never ask themselves why these so called leaders of theirs never volunteer to put their lives or those of their family members on the line? I have come to realize that youth is mixed with mental turmoil and a lot of growing up to do. As you become older you realize how foolish you were when you were young, and am sure those 19 year olds and early twenty year old shabaab would think twice if they were in their 30s, being asked by some "leader" to sacrifice themselves for some cause that sometimes they have no comprehension of.
I just wanted to remember those who lost their lives that September afternoon, their families and to commend all those Kenyans who were their to help in a most difficult situation.
As for the Al Shabaab... "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword!" I was tempted to print some expletives, but I think I am better than that!
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| Hero on that fateful 21st of September and his image from a grateful Kenyan |
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