Photo/FREDRICK ONYANGO Ms Lucy Wanja whose son George Munyua (inset) died while swimming at the beach in Italy at the weekend. She spoke at her house in Kawangware, Nairobi on July 4, 2011.
By JOY WANJA jwanja@ke.nationmedia.com By DAVE OPIYO dopiyo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, July 4 2011 at 22:30
Posted Monday, July 4 2011 at 22:30
A 15-year boy under the care of a charity run by controversial priest Father Renato Kizito has drowned in Italy.
George Munyua Gathuru was a Form One student at Domus Mariae, a school run by Fr Kizito’s Koinonia Community, a Christian charity.
George died on Marina di Ravenna where he and 20 other students were to attend a cultural festival.
Along with five other friends, he decided to take an early Saturday swim depsite a warning sign indicated by a red flag at the beach.
According to a press statement from Koinonia Community, George died on Saturday (1pm Kenyan time) while swimming at Singita Beach in Marina di Ravenna, Italy.
Mr Marco Colombaioni, 28, an Italian, also died trying to rescue George. He had earlier rescued four other boys, now admitted at Santa Maria delle Croci hospital where they were said to be in stable condition.
“George was one of the best artists of the Koinonia Children Team, and with 20 other members of the team had arrived the previous day in Italy, where they went to perform at the world famous Ravenna Festival,” read part of the statement.
The Ravenna Festival is a cycle of events connected to classical and contemporary music, jazz, opera, ballet, musical and theatre that has been taking place in Ravenna every summer for the last two decades.
The month-long festival under the theme: ‘Fabula in Festival’, started on June 7 and ends on Thursday.
According to an Italian website, ‘Dottor Salute’ meaning Health doctor, the boys are said to have jumped into the sea for a swim despite a red flag caution against swimming in the rough waters.
His mother, Mrs Lucy Wanja Gathuru, 47, who lives in Kawangware, Nairobi described the incident as “shocking and depressing”.
“My George was a very good swimmer, but I do not know what happened,” Mrs Gathuru told the Nation in an interview at her home on Monday. She described her son as energetic and talented.
George, she said, was an obedient and confident boy, who was also a member of the Scouts movement, the school choir and the gymnastics club at the school.
“His passion for sports and acting was unmatched. We will miss him,” she said.
George, the lastborn in a family of five, was upbeat before his departure for Italy on Thursday, for what would have been a seven-day trip.
This was his third trip to Italy, having earned accolades as a talented actor and sportsman. “He promised to call and inform us of his safe arrival,” his mother said.
The boy is said to have sent a message via Kivuli Centre in Kawangware, one of the centres under Koinonia, which had organised the trip, to let his mother know he had arrived safely.
A condolence book has been opened at Shalom House and Kivuli. There were no details about the transport of George’s body, but the other boys will be arriving home on Friday.
Fr Kizito has been at the centre of sexual abuse allegations. He has protested his innocence and no charges have been brought against him.
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