Mother saves child as lunch break at church turns tragic

NAIROBI: A woman with her child survived narrowly when the tent they were eating in came crumbling down. The tent was lifted up almost 10 meters by a whirlwind before disengaging the corner fittings and top extensions. The detached metal fittings came down crashing under the weight of the canvas. The tent was lightly placed on the ground hence easily carried off.

However, as luck would have it, Lucy (not her real name) instinctively prostrated over her son on the ground to protect him from the falling tent. The 2pm incident that took less than 10 seconds aroused other worshippers and church leaders who were nearby. The other children who were using the tent were evacuated to safer tents as the mess was being sorted. A few plastic chairs were broken by the impact.

‘’We saw the tent roof being lifted to over ten meters high before it came falling,’’ narrated Maiya, who witnessed the incident.

Luckily, Lucy only escaped with wrist bruises nurtured while protecting her son. When this writer arrived at the scene, the frightened boy was crying due to the fall as the mother covered him down. Young men ran to the scene to remove the trapped furniture and belongings. The bruises were dressed and ointments applied by doctors who were holding a medical camp at the same occasion.

‘’We thank God that no one is injured. If it were not His protection, we would be talking about other things.’’ Elder Eric said.

Related Incidents

Earlier in the day, a lady who owns a high school nearby had come complaining why the church used the field without notifying her. Apparently, the field is land whose ownership is under dispute. The lady who hails from Ukambani threatened to strip naked before the worshippers if the tents were not removed. Many of the worshippers feared that the two incidents were related.

But most of the church scouts who have been out camping recalled familiar occurrences when tents have even injured campers under strong winds. This helped allay the fears of ‘spiritual’ war.