On the morning of June 6, life appeared normal in the home of Ms Rachael Wahu Kariuki in Ndabibi Central, Naivasha, Nakuru County.
As on previous weekends, Ms Wahu and her Grade Six daughter, Cynthia Muthoni, 13, spent part of the morning at the river washing clothes before returning home.
Cynthia Muthoni, 13, who died by suicide inside their house, on June 6, 2026 in Ndabibi, Nakuru County.
Photo credit: Pool
At around noon, on her way home, Ms Wahu bought foodstuffs that would be prepared for lunch. She instructed Muthoni to cook the food before she left for work.
Ms Wahu — a cook at Ndabibi Central Comprehensive School — returned to her house at around 3pm and found the daughter in good spirits. She stayed briefly, for less than an hour, before being called to go back to school.
Moments later, while Ms Wahu was at her place of work, two neighbours arrived on a motorcycle. They asked Ms Wahu to accompany them to one of her neighbour’s houses. While there, she received the devastating news that her daughter was dead—by suicide. Muthoni’s sister is reported to have stumbled on the lifeless body as she entered their house, and alerted neighbours.
“I left her in good spirits. As I left home, I told her that I was rushing back to school to receive beans that had been bought by the school administration. She had not done anything wrong. We had not quarrelled. I do not know what led her to take her own life. She was my sixth-born child. We loved her,” Ms Wahu said through her tears.
Ms Wahu said that before Muthoni’s death, she had refused to return to school and had wanted to enrol in a vocational course after recovering from a kidney ailment. Ms Wahu said Muthoni had added weight because of the medication that she had been taking, and feared being mocked by her classmates.
“Before her death, she had been diagnosed with a kidney condition. The medication she was taking had caused her body to swell, which made her feel her classmates would body-shame her. But I tried to assure her that they would understand her condition. I never knew it would take this direction,” Ms Wahu said.
A few kilometres away, Mr Kiragu Mochogua and his wife are mourning their 16-year-old daughter, Jane Wanjiru. Jane had gone to collect firewood but failed to return, prompting her parents to search for her.
Jane Wanjiru, 16, who died by suicide in a forest near their home in Ndabibi, Nakuru County in May, 2026.
Photo credit: Pool
As Mr Mochogua searched in a nearby forest, he found his daughter’s lifeless body hanging from a tree.
“I collapsed. Neighbours were alerted about the tragedy. It was heartbreaking to see her lifeless body,” Mr Mochogua said.
He described Jane as hardworking, but reserved. He also said that she rarely shared her feelings.
“Whenever we asked if she had any problem, she would simply say she was okay,” the grief-stricken father said. “We would sometimes sit together and crack jokes, but she never told us if she was going through something. She was not an outgoing child. Her death shocked us. We are in pain. I miss her every day.”
Jane’s mother, Ms Phyllis Wambui, said her daughter had suffered persistent health complications and dropped out of school in Grade Five. Her younger sister also left school in Grade Three to help care for her, as their mother did casual jobs.
Ms Wambui said that Jane often asked whether she would recover and return to school, and she would reassure her. The family said that Jane’s health had begun improving, and they were preparing to take her back to school when she died.
“Her younger sister had to leave school to take care of her. If I stayed at home, we would have no food or money for rent because I depend on casual jobs. After Jane died, our neighbours helped us because we had nothing,” Ms Wambui said.
Beth Nyaguthii Juma, 12, who died by suicide at her grandmother's house in Ndabibi, Nakuru County March 24, 2026.
Photo credit: Pool
Another family has faced similar pain. Mr Peter Chege Juma said that he lost his younger sister, Beth Nyaguthie Juma, a Grade Six pupil, on March 24. Mr Juma said that his sister’s death was so painful that he could no longer live in the family compound, and had to move out to a rented house.
“Our mother died in 2024, and our grandmother began taking care of my siblings and I. I am the only boy. After I got married, I took my younger sister to live with me. Her death left us heartbroken. I do not think I will ever heal. She never showed any sign of distress. She was our last-born. I loved her,” Mr Juma said.
The suicide cases have left Ndabibi Central residents alarmed, with child protection volunteers warning that the deaths are no longer isolated incidents but part of a growing mental health crisis affecting children and adolescents in the area.
The area Senior Assistant Chief, Mr Aseth Kariuki, raised concern over the growing number of suicide cases involving children, particularly those aged between 12 and 15 years.
Mr Kariuki described the trend as deeply troubling, saying that the circumstances driving children to take their own lives remain unclear, leaving families and the community struggling with unanswered questions.
“This year alone, we have buried five children who died by suicide within Ndabibi. When we followed up on the cases with the parents and the school administration, they said that there were no warning signs. We do not understand what is happening to our children. We are appealing to the government to step in for the children to get social support,” Mr Kariuki said.
Ms Mercy Wangui Mburu, a teacher, child protection volunteer and mental health champion with Basic Needs Basic Rights Kenya, says Ndabibi has recorded a worrying rise in suicide cases involving minors over the past year.
At least 10 children have died by suicide in the area since June last year, while seven others have attempted suicide, according to the organisation.
Most of those affected are aged between 12 and 17. The first reported case involved a Grade Six boy who died by suicide while preparing to return to school, followed by the deaths of two Grade Nine learners from local schools.
Ms Wangui said the crisis is overwhelming volunteers, with several attempted suicide cases also reported among students, including Form Four learners at Ndabibi Central Secondary School. She cited a 16-year-old girl who allegedly attempted suicide after years of neglect and abuse at home, saying the teenager had lacked parental support and was forced to fend for herself from a young age.
“The rate of deaths by suicide, especially among minors, has been rampant here in Ndabibi... The situation is overwhelming. I find myself covering this whole area almost alone, and it is a very heavy burden,” she said.
Ms Wangui urged the national and county governments to intervene urgently and support community-led mental health programmes.
“We need professional counsellors, even if they can camp here for two months. We are ready to work with them. We need to understand what these children are going through,” she said.
In 2025, the Kenya Psychiatrist Association highlighted suicide as a critical public health concern in Nakuru County, recording over 400 verified suicide-related signals between January 2020 and April 2025.
During this period, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated Kenya's national suicide rate at 6.1 per 100,000 people, while data from the Ministry of Health showed approximately four people die by suicide every day.
According to data compiled from Nakuru County's m-Dharura mobile tracking application, of the 400 suicide-related signals, 337 (84.25 percent) were completed suicides, while 63 (15.75 percent) were attempted suicides. Men accounted for 53 percent of suicide deaths, while women represented 46 percent of attempted suicides.
The surveillance system identified Gilgil Sub-county as the region recording the highest number of completed suicides (accounting for more than 18 percent of tracked signals), followed closely by Njoro, Rongai, Naivasha and Molo sub-counties, which recorded the highest percentage of youth suicide attempts.
Among cases with known methods, self-poisoning and hanging were the most common at 49 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively. Notably, 76.25 percent of suicide cases did not receive documented follow-up or response from sub-county disease surveillance officers.
According to Meshack Ondieki, a counselling psychologist, improving communication between parents and children, strengthening family support systems and expanding access to professional counselling are among the measures that could help curb the vice.
He said the way children are raised and the environment in which they grow up can significantly influence how they respond to emotional and social challenges.
Mr Ondieki noted that authoritarian parenting, where parents make decisions without allowing children to express themselves or participate in family conversations, can leave teenagers feeling helpless, hopeless and emotionally isolated.
Mr Ondieki also identified domestic violence as a major factor affecting the emotional well-being of children.
As a preventive measure, Mr Ondieki highlighted warning signs parents should watch out for, including emotional withdrawal at home, declining school performance, loss of motivation and changes in how a teenager relates with peers, teachers, siblings or other adults.
He said other signs include loss of appetite, social isolation, and reluctance to participate in normal activities and avoiding responsibilities they previously handled without difficulty.
Some teenagers may also lose interest in hobbies, appear constantly tired or begin neglecting personal hygiene and self-care.
Mr Ondieki said such changes should not simply be dismissed as normal teenage behaviour, especially when several signs appear together, as they may indicate a child is silently struggling with emotional distress.
