When Pauline Wanjiru’s counts her blessings, the gift of being alive tops her list, having been the lone survivor of a horrific road crash last year.
Although the 36-year-old was injured in the crash that killed four people on November 17, 2021 on the Njoro-Soilo road, she says the miracle of surviving still baffles her and she is grateful.
Her cousin Samuel Ndungu, his two friends and their driver died when their vehicle crashed in Njoro.
That fateful day, Ms Wanjiru says, they left Njokerio, Njoro sub-county, at 4.30am to head to Nakuru and drop off her cousin's friends, who were travelling back home after their school was shut down.
Ndungu's two friends were students at Egerton University and were heading to Machakos and Nyeri counties.
Their journey was cut short when their vehicle collided head-on with a lorry, killing three people on the spot. The driver of the Toyota Passo succumbed as he was rushed to Nakuru Level Hospital.
Ms Wanjiru said that before they set off, Ndung’u had suggested that they drop off the two using their uncle's car. She had the car keys, as they had planned to use the vehicle to travel early in the morning.
“I used to operate my uncle’s cereal shop in Njokerio and I would commute every day, but that day I closed the business late, forcing me to sleep at my uncle’s place,” said Ms Wanjiru.
None of the four – Ndung’u, his two friends and Ms Wanjuri – knew how to drive but they had the car and so they agreed to find a driver. They asked a friend to drop them off in Nakuru.
Ms Pauline Wanjiru recuperates at her home at Shabaab estate, Nakuru city on February 23, 2022.
Photo credit: Cheboite Kigen | Nation Media Group
She does not remember what led to the accident but recalls seeing bodies scattered on the road with a few passers-by surrounding them. The next thing she remembers is that she woke up in a hospital bed.
Doctors told her that her ribs and left hip and leg had been badly injured and needed special treatment, and that she would be staying in the hospital for the next few weeks.
A week after she was discharged, she was taken back to hospital after her left hip developed a swelling. She ended up being operated on, and three litres of water was drained from the knee.
“I remember the pain I felt when I was told that all the occupants of the vehicle had passed on. But I could not attend their burial since I was still in the hospital,” she said.
For the past three months, Ms Wanjiru has paid a doctor to dress the wound at home for Sh1,500 daily.
“During the day, my neighbours help with house chores and cooking while at night a cousin I stay with helps me when I need to go to the washroom,” she said.
Her mother, Alice Muthoni, 55, said that she received the shocking news of her daughter's accident through her brother.
“When her uncle called me, I was attending to my livestock. I was terrified but I thank God she survived. We hope that she will be able to walk again when that hip injury heals,” Ms Muthoni said.
