Like millions of Kenyans all over the country,
Esther Mungai was watching television in her house in Kakamega town in
Western Province, expectantly waiting for the results of the 2007
General Election.
It was about 9 a.m. and she was with
two of her three children, George Thuo and Faith Wanjiru, then 20 and
nine years respectively.
Their house help, who had
worked for them for four years, had just returned from the shop when
they heard people shouting, “Sifa Kwa Yesu! Pack and go!”
Esther,
a high school teacher, was also a business woman and owned two matatus
christened Sifa Kwa Yesu (Glory to Jesus). The voices were frighteningly
close and she knew that if she and her family did not leave
immediately, they would all die.
That dark day was December 29, 2007.
Before she could act, George, her second born, said, “Mum you will not die.”
He
then shepherded them out of the house and helped her and Faith scale
the perimeter wall. All they had were the clothes they were wearing.
When Esther and her husband built the family home, they had fortified the wall with broken pieces of glass to deter thieves.
By
the time she dropped to safety on the other side, Esther had unsightly
cuts on her face, deep bruises on her elbows and chest, and had lost all
her finger and toe nails.
She says it was total chaos outside and in the confusion, she was separated from her children and house help.
For two weeks, Esther had no idea where her children were or even whether they were alive.
'LONGEST TWO WEEKS OF MY LIFE'
“Those were the longest two weeks of my life. It is amazing that I did not die of worry,” she says.
Esther says police rescued her and took her to the Kakamega General Hospital, where she was admitted for nearly a month.
“I
was mentally confused and fearful. I was so traumatised, I imagined
that the dedicated doctors and nurses treating me would poison me,” she
says.
She would later learn that her three-bedroom
house was ransacked before it was set ablaze. Also burnt to the ground
were her two matatus as well as the family car, which had been in the
compound.
The rental houses that she had put up in an
adjacent compound were also set ablaze, although the mob allowed the
tenants to salvage their belongings before setting the buildings on
fire.
Just like that, a fortune that had taken 20 years to build was reduced to ashes.
Esther and her husband, Stanley Mungai, who died in 2001, had lived in Kakamega since the 1980s and in their home for 16 years.
She
says besides her rural home in Nyeri, she knew no other home and, being
a teacher (she taught chemistry at Kakamega High School), she was known
to many of her neighbours.
Never in her wildest
dreams, therefore, could she have imagined that people she probably knew
and interacted with would destroy her home and everything she had
worked so hard for.
'IT HURT BEYOND WORDS'
For
some time, Kakamega police station became her home as she prayed for
the senseless killings and destruction to come to an end.
“We could only wait and hope since there was nothing we could do. There is nothing worse than helplessness,” she says.
In
spite of the desolate circumstances, the strong and positive character
that she is, Esther made it her business to encourage others who had
lost their homes, assuring them that all was not lost.
“They thought I was mad,” she laughs.
It
was not until February the following year that Esther and her children
were finally able to travel to Nyeri, the only place they could seek
refuge. Thankfully, her house help had found her way back to her Busia
home.
Unknown to Esther, her mother had been told that
she and the children had not survived the violence, news that affected
her so much that she fell ill.
“Even though she was
relieved to find out that we were alive, she did not regain her health
and eventually died in January 2009,” says Esther.
Her
first born, Charles Mungai, who was studying medicine in the US when the
chaos broke out, took a break from his studies and travelled back home
to be with his family.
Since there was no home to go
back to, Esther transferred Faith to a school in Nyeri while George, who
had just completed secondary school, went to live with friends.
This fragmentation of her family disturbed Esther, but it was the best she could do at that time.
Meanwhile,
she sought a transfer from the Teachers Service Commission, determined
to start her life afresh. She was posted to Nkurumeinya Secondary School
in Ongata Rongai in March 2008.
NEW LIFE
She
says that starting over was not easy, not only because she was in a new
environment, but because she did not have a place to stay.
There was also the fact that, try as she might, she was unable to put the trauma she had suffered behind her.
While
she could afford to push it to the back of her mind during the day, her
sleepless nights were a torture and she wondered if she would manage to
rebuild her life.
At her lowest point, a friend who
knew about her loss invited her to live in her disused house in Rongai
until she got back on her feet.
“I could hardly believe
it. I will always be grateful to this friend for offering me a place to
live for more than a year,” says Esther.
She adds,
“When you are helpless, when you have reached a dead end, there is often
someone who is willing to help you and ease your pain. My experience
taught me never to take friendship for granted.”
ANGELS IN DISGUISE
Besides
this good friend who came to her aid in her time of need, Esther, who
was then the vice-chairperson of the Kakamega branch of the Kenya Red
Cross Society, is grateful to the organisation’s secretary general,
Abbas Gullet, who sent her a cheque when he learnt of her misfortune, as
well as the principal at her new school, Jeremiah Mwangi, who has been
understanding and even allowed her time off to recover before reporting
to work.
Besides teaching, Esther is also a
multi-level marketer, a job she does in her free time and during
interaction with others. It is one she especially recommends for young
people and those in school or looking for a job.
“Don’t
wait to get employed. You have the advantage of being energetic and in
good health. Don’t just sit and do nothing, work,” she says.
Esther’s
second born, George, is now at the University of Nairobi while Faith
just joined Meru University of Science and Technology.
Things are, indeed, looking up for Esther, who is even building a new home.
“I
had vowed that I would never build a house again, convinced that I
would not be strong enough to deal with it should someone burn down my
home a second time, but I realised that I cannot afford to live in fear.
I realised that it is important for me to deal with what happened and
move on,” she says, adding that her mother, before she died, encouraged
her to build a new home.
Though it has taken time,
Esther has finally come to terms with her loss and even forgiven those
who destroyed everything she had.
“Yes, I lost
everything, but I stopped asking why it happened. What matters is that
with God’s strength and the love of true friends, I have managed to pick
myself up and make a new life for myself.”
She adds,
“I thought I had it all figured out, that I had my life and my
children’s future all mapped out, but I realise that sometimes God has
other plans for us and that He will give us the grace to accept them.
Out of all this, forgiveness was my big lesson,” she says.
Esther
believes that God has much more in store for her than what she lost,
and because of this, she will give this chapter of her life the best
shot.
She has advice for you: “Don’t waste your energy
fighting for what is lost, focus on the present. Make use of what you
have, learn new skills, and change to adapt to your new environment.”
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