Family celebrates girl who hang upside for over five minutes on broken swing

By Kevin Omollo | 6yrs ago | 3 min read

Until yesterday, Elizabeth Awino was still a traumatised girl, trying to come to terms with a New Year Day’s near-brush with death.

This is the girl who was pictured hanging dangerously on a five-metre high merry-go-round, tightly holding her four year old cousin, after the swing chair disconnected, suspending them in the air.

Awino, 12, a standard six pupil at Ong’adi Primary School in Kajulu, Kisumu East, was reluctant to share her ordeal which left her shaking at the mere mention of merry-go-rounds.

Yesterday, her parents Henry Okumu and Benter Akoth slaughtered a cock, to celebrate the lives spared by a simple but brave act.

Having lost six children in their three decade marriage, the couple was all thankful that their last born daughter came out of the ordeal safe.

“What if she felt exhausted and left the arm of the chair, or pushed away the small boy she was holding? The incident has reawakened bad memories of death in me but I thank God he was in control,” Akoth said.

She says Awino left home with her four cousins on New Year’s Day to go for leisure walks in Kisumu town and Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground, where various fun activities were being held.

Deafening screams

“We had swung on the merry-go-round on Christmas Day, so when we got to the Sports Ground on January 1, we went straight to the swing,” said Awino.

Awino paid the Sh100 charges and held her four-year-old cousin on her lap for the swing. After about five minutes, with the merry-go-round in full speed, the chains holding her seat snapped, leaving her and her young cousin hanging on for dear life.

“I was holding my cousin with one hand, and the arms of the swinging chair on the other. He was also holding onto me tightly,” Awino said.

“I was out of the chair, hanging helplessly, and I felt the weight of my cousin pulling me down. But I do not understand how we continued holding on to each other and the arm of the seat for that long,” she said yesterday.

There were deafening screams from the ground, as people watched helplessly.

Strong girl

The machine operators then switched it off, but it still continued running for another five minutes before Awino and her cousin were rescued, and rushed to Kisumu County Hospital, where they were examined. Her pictorial story was captured in the Standard of January 2.

When the Standard visited them at the hospital, Awino could not speak, and only remembered the name of her school, which was used to trace her yesterday.

Mr Okumu, her father, said he heard of the story on radio during the newspaper review programme and never thought it could be her daughter.

“I was shocked when I learnt that it was my daughter,” he said.

“She has been saying that she would wish to be a nurse, and I am glad she has started saving lives now. She is strong as she goes to the river to fetch water with a 20-litre jerrycan. This mental and physical strength could have worked in her favour during the ordeal,” Okumu said.

In school, Awino was already a celebrity, with her schoolmates milling around her to get a glimpse of her pictures in The Standard.

Her headmaster Gilbert Otene, described her as a strong and brave girl, attributing her swift and brave actions to her sporting life.

“She is in athletics, football and high jump,” Otene said.

Awino is also her class prefect.