Eight months on: Living with scars of horrific road crash

Peter Nyaboga and her daughter Lucy Nyaboke one of the five girls whose hands were cut in an accident which occurred last year August involving St Mary's Nyamagwa girls school bus which left 4 students dead and several injured at their Bonyangande home Kisii County on 14/04/2017.Lucy lost a hand and sustained head injuries. she has since returned to the same school but can not write and perform manual duties,she depends on assistance from other students.[photos sammy omingo/standard]

Eight months ago, on August 12, 2016, a bus carrying St Mary’s Nyamagwa Girls High School students crashed just two kilometres from their school. It left four school girls dead and scores of others badly injured.

The school had just bought a new bus and the students had insisted on a joy ride to “test” the new machine that they would be using to attend academic functions.

Lost control

The accident happened near Itumbe Shopping Centre, as they were returning to school, after the driver lost control of the bus and crashed into a ditch.

The aftermath of the crash saw the interdiction of the then school head Florence Osoro.

The incident changed the lives of five of the joyriders forever, as they ended up with amputated hands and severe head injuries.

Their academic journey had to be interrupted as they tried to learn how to once again become self-reliant despite their missing limbs.

Verah Moraa is one of the girls. She lost her right hand and had her left palm amputated. She is still in pain and is unable to carry out her daily activities.

The 17-year-old girl, who is the last-born in her family, has now abandoned her education.

She says her family has been drained financially and they could not afford to take her for check-up at Kijabe Hospital.

“My prayer is for well-wishers to help me get prosthetic hands. God gave me a second chance, I want to live and achieve my dream of being a journalist,” she said.

Across in the neighboring Bobasi constituency, in Itumbe market is Elyphinah Bwari, Moraa’s former classmate. She too lost her hand at the scene of the accident.

“The last thing I remember is sitting at the back of the bus singing along to music blaring from the powerful music system. We were all in a jovial mood. Next thing I know, I was in hospital and my hand had been cut off,” she said.

Prosthetic hand

Bwari says her only hope is to get a prosthetic hand to allow her achieve her dream of becoming a land surveyor.

For Bethsheba Moranga the pain is still fresh. She too lost her right hand and suffered several head injuries.

“I have been asking God why me but I opted to thank Him for giving me life and a second chance to serve Him. The support and tender care I have received from my parents and sisters has given me a reason to smile,” she says.

Bathsheba like Bwari, went back to St Mary’s Nyamagwa Girls and this year they will be sitting their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam despite the glaring challenges.

When the accident occurred, Peter Nyaboga - Lucy Nyaboke’s father, had planned to visit his daughter in school for a prize-giving ceremony.

His plans were however, scuttled and he ended up spending a whole day searching for his child at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital wards and morgue.

After a 10-hour search, he was informed his daughter had been admitted at the hospital’s ICU where she stayed for three days.

“I identified my daughter’s hand at the scene and I thought she had passed on. We prayed at the scene together with my friends and was grateful to finally find her alive in the hospital,” he says.