Kenya: Baby Satrin Osinya's future
is looking bright, one year since terrorists snuffed out his mother's life.
Satrin has started school. He is in kindergarten at the Potterhouse School in
Runda, Nairobi, which offers the British National curriculum. It is one year
since terrorists stormed into the Joy of Christ Church in Mombasa, firing
indiscriminately and leaving six dead and others injured. Two months to his
second birthday, the terrorists killed his mother and left a bullet lodged in
his head. When The Standard broke the story of Satrin, the whole nation was
touched. Amref Flying Doctors flew him to Nairobi, where Kenyatta National
Hospital surgeons successfully removed the bullet which had not caused internal
damage. Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko later took in Satrin and his brother, Gift
Moses, who was photographed carrying the injured Satrin to safety on the
fateful Sunday. Gift is in boarding school in Thika. The Standard team drove to
Potterhouse School on Friday when pupils were leaving for home in the
afternoon. There were two buses, and Satrin was driven off in one bus, together
with only one other child. How fast children grow. You can hardly relate him to
the boy of last year, who, head bandaged, was always in his father's arms. His
father, Benson Osinya speaking on phone from Mombasa says a lot has changed in
one year. See also: Commuters stranded for hours after ferry breakdown at
Likoni "We used to be a large family," he says, pauses, "but
since my beloved passed on... things have changed." But he is glad that
his two sons are getting a good education. Satrin and Gift normally visit him
during school holidays. His two older sons Peter Osinya, 24, and Eric, 23, have
since joined college. "I pay their school fees. Sonko said he will mostly
concentrate on Satrin and Gift. The Government through the office of Kuttuny
(Joshua Kuttuny, political advisor to the President) promised me a job, I
waited and waited," he says. His name had been forwarded to Kenya Power,
which was to give him field work. He says that after the wait became too long,
Sonko came to his rescue again. "Sonko has several houses at the Coast.
Some are undergoing construction and renovation and I supervise the
works," he says. He has not planned anything as a commemoration but says
he will organise for prayers.
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