January 15 remains an unforgettable day for many Kenyans. It was the day terrorists attacked the Dusit D2 complex on 14 Riverside, Nairobi, killing several people.
The story is personal to me. On that day, years before I became a reporter, I was at my parents’ home waiting for classes to resume at my university campus in Juja when my mother called me over the phone. She was in Mombasa for a work trip and had received a startling call from my sister, Esther Mwikali, who said, “Mum, send help, we are under attack.”
That call marked the beginning of the longest four hours of my life. I rushed to turn on the TV and kept switching from one channel to another. The news was the same: ‘Dusit Hotel under attack.’
I felt so helpless because there was nothing I could do. I could not call her as my mother had warned me that the phone’s ringtone would make her hiding place known to the attackers. All we could do was wait.
“This can’t be happening,” I thought to myself. It was the second time terrorists had threatened the life of one of my family members. My mother was a survivor of the 1998 Nairobi US Embassy bomb blast.
I whispered countless prayers as I stayed glued to the screen. Survivors were being rescued and I hoped against hope to see Esther among them. At around 6 pm, I saw her in her black and white skirt being escorted alongside her colleagues by heavily armed officers. I held back my tears as I called for a taxi to go to her house, which is where I assumed she would be heading.
When I saw her and held her in my arms, I was speechless. I was so glad that she was alive.
Four years later, my sister still recalls the events of that day that permanently altered her life. At that time, she was working for Metta, an innovation hub that supports startups and entrepreneurs. She was the Head of Community and Operations. Their office was on the sixth floor in the block close to Dusit Hotel.
“On that day, everyone was in the office. My boss, Maurice, and I had just walked back into the office after having a chat on the balcony that faced the entrance of Dusit. An office telephone rang and I picked it up when I heard a really loud bang,” Ms Esther says.
She turned to their glass windows and saw a cloud of dust and debris rising up in the air as the building trembled. Shortly afterwards, she heard gunshots.
A scene of the evacuation from Dusit D2 Hotel that was attacked by terrorists on January 15, 2019.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
Maurice Otieno, who was the CEO at the time, recalls that there were about 60 people in the office that day, which was an unusual number for a Tuesday. He said that such large staff numbers were only seen in the office on Fridays.
When he heard the first bang, he thought an electrical transformer had exploded.
“I heard people shouting and rushed to the balcony to see what was happening downstairs. I saw armed men walking into the premises. I immediately thought that criminals had shot at the security guards outside the gate. I turned to my team and told them that we were under attack,” he said.
During the first hour of the attack, Maurice says that some people had informed the public on Twitter that there was an ongoing robbery at a bank which was in one of the blocks at Dusit.
“I told my colleagues to help me push the shelves and couches against the door since we couldn’t escape. The next best option was to hide. Then we saw on Twitter a confirmation that it was a terror attack. We armed ourselves with kitchen knives and put our phones on silent,” Maurice says.
In that anxious moment, he had to make a tough choice. One of his colleagues ran back to the office and on finding the door barricaded, began knocking desperately. Maurice did not want to risk the lives of the 60 people in the room, so he declined to open it. She squeezed into one of the electricity boxes that were in the hallway and was eventually rescued.
Esther remembers the loud screams and gunshots that continued for a while. She was aware that the knife she was holding was no match for a bullet or a grenade.
“Two hours later, people in the office started dropping their weapons. After such a terrifying ordeal, you get to a point where you welcome death. It is all so scary but there is a sense of calmness and peace that comes with that acceptance,” she said.
At around 6 pm, they heard a knock on the door, and a voice asking them to open.
“We were all paranoid. One of my colleagues went to the ladies’ washrooms and climbed up the ceiling, only for him to fall back onto the floor. They called out my name, ‘Maurice! Maurice!’ I peeped through the door and saw rescuers in civilian clothing. I was hesitant but they called out other names of people in the room and we finally opened the door,” Maurice says.
They were all led out of the building. Some were barefoot and had to step on broken glass while others walked while crouching to avoid getting hit by stray bullets.
“When we got to the gate, everyone started crying because we could not believe that we had made it alive. None of us had cried when we were inside. It was like we had bottled up all our emotions, which finally came out when we realised we were safe and alive,” said Esther.
Unfortunately, one of their colleagues, Jason Spindler, an American citizen, did not make it.
“Jason had returned to the office that day from a silent retreat in Bali. He came back with so much excitement and joy. He smiled at everyone and said, ‘This year we are going to do amazing work.’ He was so jovial. He then went down to the nearby restaurant to have lunch,” Esther says.
A few minutes before the attack, Aidah Ng’ang’a, who also worked at Metta, had chatted with Jason before he went down to the restaurant where he met his death.
“My role entailed collecting rent from those who did business in our space. Jason passed by and told me that he had seen my email and he was going to approve the payment after lunch,” she says.
Survivors have experienced different challenges following the attack, including survivor’s guilt.
Vehicles in flames at the scene of the terror attack at Dusit D2 Hotel on January 15, 2019.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
“At an event to mark the first anniversary of the attack, we saw the photos of all those who had died, including a nurse who had passed away a few days before the memorial after staying in hospital for a whole year due to injuries. Looking at those pictures, I wondered why they and not me. They never thought they could ever witness something like that,” says Aidah.
In the first week after the attack, doctors prescribed sleeping pills for Esther but she says they did not help. Any loud noises such as a door banging or fireworks triggered severe anxiety. The attack had left her traumatised.
“I was at a get-together with friends a few weeks later and someone popped a bottle of champagne. I started screaming and running toward the door,” says Esther.
Checking for exits and hiding places whenever they are in an enclosed space has become a norm for many of the survivors. To cope, some created a mental block to prevent flashbacks. Others chose to use alcohol to get by.
“As a leader, I kept a brave face for my team but everyone has a breaking point. In October of that year, I found myself unable to even go to work or to any dark parking lots. I became extremely paranoid. I was the last one to go to the therapy sessions that had been paid for by our company,” said Maurice.
After investigations, the premises reopened for business but things have never been the same again.
The Dusit D2 complex was put up for sale in January 2022 over a debt of Sh5 billion after Cape Holdings Limited, the owner of the property, failed to pay Synergy Industrial Credit Sh4.2 billion plus interest after losing an 11-year court battle.
Last Thursday, the United States offered a Sh1.2 billion reward for information leading to the capture of Mohamoud Abdi Aden, a Kenyan national suspected to be the head of the Al-Shabaab terror cell that carried out the attack.
You can listen to this story on Nation Audio under the Dusit Survivors’ Recall podcast by Sylvia Muia. Visit www.nation.africa
