I felt I had to write about this as I, like
many, have been affected by the events at Westgate. Any names I have used have been changed due
to the horror of the situation.
It started as a normal Saturday, I had
stayed home intent on having a lie in and my family had gone off to school for
the annual P.T.A. picnic. I had a lazy morning, finally turning on my phone at
about one. I was not prepared for what I read next.
“Amy Where are you?” “Are you at Westgate?”
“Have you seen the news?” “Amy pick up your goddam phone- I’m worried about
you”. As I was reading through them my phone started to ring, it was mum.
“Amy there is a shooting in Westgate – stay
at home please”, now this being Kenya I didn’t think anything of it, that was
until my dad called. That’s when I knew something was up. “Amy don’t go
anywhere – where is everyone else? Do you know anyone at Westgate?”. I had no
idea what was going on, I rushed to the computer hoping to find something
online but there was nothing, that’s when I got the third phone call:
“Amy, stay at home”
“What’s going on? A robbery? I was trying
to find something online but…..”
“A gang – there is a gang inside Westgate
and they are shooting everyone, women, children – everyone, and Katie’s inside
with her kids”
I stopped dead, I rarely heard my mum sound
so distressed and the worst thing was there was nothing I could do. . It seemed
as though the worst was still to come however, when the cheerful news of
Katie’s escape was countered with my sister’s announcement that her friend was
missing.
Confined to the house all I could do was
refresh the pages of the news teams which had caught onto the events and take
comfort in the fact that my immediate family were safe. My friends in the UK, bless
them, were great. They dealt with a side of me who is seldom seen –
incomprehensible, out of control, upset and so scared. And they did it
brilliantly, if you guys are reading this thank you so much, you really helped.
When mum came home she brought with her
news of what had happened, what was still happening; they are stories which are
unlikely be broadcasted on any news channels or even any websites, they are
accounts from survivors of what they saw, and they are horrific. These accounts
are continuing today and the truth about these monsters is coming out – the
brutality that ran through their veins, their disregard for human life, and
their enjoyment of watching others suffer including those who had yet to see
their fifth birthday. There was something really sadistic about the way these
guys were playing with the victim’s lives, enjoying the sense of power it gave
them. I will never be able to understand how people can execute innocent people
for no reason. Religion as usual seems to be just an excuse, I have Muslim
friends- I know the Quran doesn’t preach the murder of young children, this was
a heartless massacre and it will take a long time for Nairobi to heal. I won’t
forget the days that followed – all news we got was bad. We didn’t know who was
telling the truth and who was lying and constant sound of helicopters and
sporadic explosions made everything horribly real.
It hasn’t changed my opinion of living here
however, ignoring the constant cries of relatives and friends begging me to
move back to the UK (hey guys did you leave London after the bombings? Nope
didn’t think so) the way that Kenyans came together to help, not hesitating,
not questioning was astounding.
One thing I will say is that there are amazing
people in the world; the Muslims who hurriedly wrote down passages of the Quran
for others to learn in the hope that those who didn’t believe wouldn’t get
shot, the brave people who went back inside the mall in order to help bring out
the injured (people from all backgrounds, Somalis, Kenyans and countless more
risked their lives side by side), the thousands of people who donated blood and
money and everyone who came together and created the support network that this
country needed.
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