My 2007-08 PEV scars ‘bleed’ 15 years later …
Roselyne Nakhumicha, 16, a Form One student at Friends School Sirende, in Trans Nzoia was just an infant when the 2007/2008 violence happened following disputed presidential election results. She carries the scars of post-election violence in Kenya. She has appealed for support to undergo reconstructive surgery.
What you need to know:
- A missing left hand and disfigured face are a stark reminder of the unpleasant face of post-election violence in Kenya
- Roselyne, a Form One student at Friends School Sirende, in Trans Nzoia was just an infant when the 2007/2008 violence happened
- She was six months old in January 2008, she encountered the electoral violence scars
- Angry protestors, unhappy with the swearing-in of President Mwai Kibaki on December 30, 2007, set her parents’ house on fire at dusk
Troubled by scars of post-election violence, Nakhumicha, 16, is pleading for reconstructive surgery support
Monday evening, in Bikeke village, Kiminini constituency, Trans Nzoia county, Roselyne Nakhumicha is seated on a plastic chair inside her parents’ one-bedroom mud-walled house doing her homework.
She is just 16. A missing left hand and disfigured face are a stark reminder of the unpleasant face of post-election violence in Kenya.
Roselyne, a Form One student at Friends School Sirende, in Trans Nzoia was just an infant when the 2007/2008 violence happened following disputed presidential election results.
She was six months old in January 2008, when she had an encounter that would forever leave her carrying the scars of that time, when the country went mad.
A picture of Roselyne Nakhumicha who was just an infant when the 2007/2008 violence happened following disputed presidential election results. Now 16, she carries the scars of post-election violence in Kenya.
Angry protestors
Protestors, angry at the swearing-in of President Mwai Kibaki on December 30, 2007, set her parents’ house on fire at dusk.
Her mother, Susan Khamala, had just returned home from the bush where she had spent the night with her baby, fearing attacks by rowdy gangs that terrorised villagers at the time.
Susan tells Nation.Africa she left her baby sleeping in the house at 6pm and went to the river nearby to fetch water for domestic use, only to find her house in flames when she returned.
She dashed to the house upon spotting the flames, desperate to rescue her baby.
"It was horrific and I cannot remember what transpired next, but I only found out that I was in a hospital bed at the then Kitale County hospital when I woke up from a coma," she narrates.
Neighbours had helped put out the fire and rescued the baby whose face and hands were badly burnt.
Months in hospital
Susan and her husband David Khamala would spend the following months in and out of the hospital treating their beloved child, exhausting their meagre earnings from menial jobs.
Their daughter has been to the Kijabe eye clinic twice, where doctors operated on her and amputated her left hand at the wrist.
Roselyne Nakhumicha, 16. shows her amputated arm during an interview with Nation.Africa at her parents' home at Bikeke village, Kiminini constituency, Trans Nzoia County. She was a victim of the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence victim as an infant, and is appealing for support to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Fifteen years after the incident, Roselyne desires to have reconstructive surgery. She is sad and disturbed by the scars on her body.
"Doctors told me I may not be able to undergo the surgery once I am 40 years and it is my desperate and humble appeal to well-wishers, be it the President, our governor, or any other person of goodwill, so that I may regain my looks," appeals the teenager.
Desperate for corrective surgery
She is appealing to well-wishers to support her have surgery at the Kijabe hospital.
Citing her parent’s humble background, Roselyne says they cannot raise the Sh700,000 for the procedure.
The teen tells Nation.Africa her schoolmates usually ridicule her, and she is often sad.
Roseline Nakchumicha, 16, a 2007/2008 post election violence victim at her parents' hime in Bikeke village, Kiminini constituency, Trans Nzoia county. She was an infant when protestors, angry at the presidential results that declared Mwai Kibaki as the winner of the elections burnt down her parents' house. She has appealed for financial support to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Her father, a boda boda operator, says the family of four has endured hard times as it has had to cope with high medical bills for Roselyne.
The Khamalas have also appealed to persons of goodwill to help their daughter undergo skin grafting, noting that this will boost her self-confidence and motivate her to do better in school.
Focused and determined
A neighbour, Maureen Kundu, describes Roselyne as a focused and dedicated young girl who is determined to scale heights in education. With good support on her medication and education, she is poised to excel, she says.
"I have been their neighbour for quite some time now and I do understand their predicament. They struggle to make ends meet, living from hand to mouth and any form of support to the family would be worthwhile," she says.
