It’s a tough time for church after crash

Nebert Adesi, a survivor of the Gilgil road accident, during an interview.  [David Njaaga, Standard]

As Nebert Adesi passed through Gilgil on his way to Nairobi on Monday, he flinched and his heart beat a little faster.

It was one of the few times in his life he had been truly scared, and with the fear came the distressing understanding that he might never enjoy the frequent and until then, often pleasant upcountry trips.

Adesi is one of the survivors of the Sunday morning accident in Gilgil in which 12 people perished when the bus they were travelling in from western Kenya crashed into a trailer.

Adesi would have never guessed that he would be involved in an accident in a few days when he left Nairobi on September 27. He, with 27 others, left for the small village of Viseru, Vihiga County. Before their departure, they prayed for a safe journey, as they routinely do before embarking on church trips.

Naturally they expected a safe return, but four of their members did not make it back alive and most of the other 24 who survived did not return in the same state as they either sustained physical injuries, psychological trauma or both.

The 28, congregants of the Matendo branch of the African Divine Church in Kangemi had travelled for the burial of Christine, a church member.

At 7pm on Saturday night after the burial, the 28 boarded Climax, a Nairobi-bound bus in Majengo, a small town close to Viseru village. From the start, the ride was uncomfortable.

“The driver was speeding. Passengers complained during the journey but the driver did not listen,” Adesi said. Eventually, he added, the angry passengers got tired of complaining.

At around 1am, the bus stopped at Nakuru for around 15 minutes for passengers to relieve themselves and have snacks.

Adesi said he remembered the moments before the awful 2am accident. The bus, while trying to overtake a Canter truck, collided head-on with another truck.

Majority of the front seat occupants, including the driver, either died or sustained serious injuries.

Painful death

“The driver died a very painful death. His body was mashed beyond recognition,” Adesi said. 

Adesi and as another survivor named Leon recall the desperate hours following the accident – searching for their fellow congregants, realising that three were already dead, trying to save Reverend Ernest Luvale, who was trapped between seats, and rushing the injured survivors, including the reverend and his wife, to hospital.

“The rescue was disorderly. We took them to Gilgil Hospital but we were directed to Nakuru Referral Hospital,” they said.

The Reverend Luvale’s brother remembered arriving at the hospital in Nakuru in the morning to find his brother on a stretcher, unattended since admission and crying out in pain.

As the survivors heal, the church is coming to terms with the gap left by the four female church members who died.

The victims were Emmy Kageha, the church’s ‘Mama Assembly’, Beatrice Luvale, the reverend’s wife, Everlyne Avisa, an usher, and Beatrice Iminza, a Sunday school teacher. A fifth member from another branch of the African Divine Church also died.

“Everyone is pretty emotional right now. It is not easy accepting that we have lost all these people,” said Wycliffe Amakang’a, the deputy secretary general of the church.

Even more tragic, the church members said, was that the four women, all middle-aged, had left children. Ms Kageha was a mother of six, while Ms Luvale and Ms Avisa had two and one child respectively.

The reverend, who is recovering at the Nairobi Hospital, is still not aware that his wife died. He is now regaining his memory.

“He was fully conscious on Tuesday, for the first time since the accident,” Mr Amakang’a told The Standard.

Four members

“He (the reverend) did not know why he was hospitalised. He did not remember being in an accident or travelling to Nairobi. The reality is coming back to him in bits,” Amakang’a said.

The reverend kept asking for his wife, causing a disagreement between the doctors, the family and church members. While the doctors insisted it was right to inform the reverend of his wife’s demise, the church and the family felt he was not ready for the news.

The church is feeling the impact of the loss even more now that it is planning the funerals of the four members. The bodies are at Chiromo Mortuary.

The church and the families of the deceased are raising funds and making funeral arrangements. Three of them will be buried in Vihiga County while Avisa will be laid to rest in Nyanza. The church will hold a joint funeral service on October 16.

While Amakang’a admitted that the church was shaken, he noted that “we will still travel for the burials of the four members. We cannot fear because we decided to perform God’s job. He is the one who decides matters of death.”

Adesi said he planned to travel for the funerals, hoping that with time, his fear of passing the spot where he almost died will subside.