THE LATE BRAVO IGASI

Little Bravo Igasi left his parents’ Kawangware home in Nairobi at about 3pm on Sunday with only Sh5 in his pocket.

According to his mother, who spoke at the Kenyatta National Hospital yesterday, the nine-year-old caught up with Mr Peter Githaiga’s family, their neighbours, at the bus station and they headed for the rally. Bravo was friends with the Githaigas’ son, Ndung’u, and they would attend evangelical crusades at Uhuru Park together, says Ms Grace Abunga.

But because he had been left behind, she thought he had gone back to the Pentecostal Assemblies of God church at Kawangware, or to his aunt’s house in the neighbourhood. But when Bravo had not returned home by 7pm, three hours later, his mother became apprehensive and called her sister to ask if she had seen him.

He was not at her sister’s either, so she called Mrs Githaiga. She spoke to her after the fifth attempt. “Tulikuwa na Kadesh (that’s Bravo’s nickname) lakini hatuko na yeye sasa. Kumekuwa na bomb na marisasi (“We were with Bravo, but not now, There have been bombs and bullets),” said Mrs Githaiga told her.

In shock, Ms Abunga rushed to the bus station. There, she met her husband and asked him to call Mr Githaiga, but he did not and she decided to take a matatu to the city centre to look for her son. When she got to Uhuru Park, police were sealing it off and she was directed to the Parliament police station, and later to Central police station.

Still, she could not find her son and she and other family members walked to Kenyatta National Hospital’s accident and emergency centre, where all the victims had been taken. At about 11.30pm, after she described her son’s clothes to nurses at the centre, one of them directed her to a bench and asked her to sit down.

A few minutes later, she was taken to one of the rooms, where she identified her son’s body. Ms Abunga later learnt from Mrs Githaiga that her son was sitting on Mr Githaiga’s lap when the blast went off. Both died on the spot. However, Bravo’s friend was saved as he was thrown away due to the impact. Ndung’u’s mother was also saved and was receiving treatment at the hospital.

In another incident, two complete strangers met shortly after the second explosion at Uhuru Park on Sunday evening. One of them is now dead, and the other is the only one who can tell relatives and friends the details of their loved one’s death. Mr Stephen Odhiambo, 28, left his Kibera house minutes after 7am on Sunday.

He was headed for a church service at Jesus Is Alive Ministries, on Haile Selassie Road, before proceeding to Uhuru Park later in the afternoon. It never occurred to him that he would be holding a dying stranger at Uhuru park that evening. Ms Faith Wanjiru, 21, from Kanyungu, Kiambu, went to Uhuru Park for what she thought was a chance to see all of Kenya’s famous televangelists whom she had seen only on TV.

She never made it back home. By evening, she was lying in the arms of Mr Odhaimbo, choking on her own blood. Shrapnel from the explosion had torn through her left side. She bled to death in his arms. According to relatives and friends, Wanjiru had left home around noon for the city centre.