Yesterday afternoon at about 1pm, a Nairobi dad received a call that would forever alter his life — a call that no parent would ever want to receive. On the other end was a shaking voice telling him that his young daughter had fainted in school and had been taken to the hospital.
In a second, he abandoned all that and ran to the hospital, his mind faltering and his heart pounding in horror. “God, please, she has to be okay,” he was praying aloud as he navigated the traffic at mid-day.
When he did come, what met him stopped him in his tracks. His little girl — even tidily attired in her school uniform of blue and white — was a corpse in the hospital bed. There were nurses present, with sympathetic faces. The room’s atmosphere was somber except for the gentle whir of machinery.
Her dad fainted in tears, calling out her name, unable to accept the fact that she was dead. Eyewitnesses have told of how the child, a Grade Four pupil and chatty one at that, tripped on the playground at mid-day recess. Teachers and other children tried to revive her before they took her to a nearby clinic, but it was too late.
Her untimely death remains a mystery, though it is believed by the doctors to be caused by some medical condition. Her teachers have described her as “a smiling and hardworking student.”
Neighbors and friends have since flocked to the home of the bereaved parents to offer their condolences as the parents struggle with tragedy.
“She left home with a full life and never came back,” cried the father. “I still can’t accept that my little girl is dead.”
The crash has pushed to the top debates on compulsory health examinations for school children — a small step that can save the lives of tots.
By Kenyans