As other candidates were defending their eligibility to be employed as enforcement officers at the Bomet County government using their academic credentials, Mr Gideon Ng’otwa only had photos and videos to show.
Yet, he was selected and appointed for the job because he had done a lot to prove he could do it, despite having dropped out of school for lack of school fees.
Chiefs in Bomet County were once asked during a meeting to ensure that they have his name and contacts in case of emergencies in their locations.
And since March 2013, Mr Ng’otwa, 22, has been called upon to rescue people and recover bodies of those who have drowned.
He single-handedly retrieved the bodies of a mother and her three children who drowned in Tenwek’s Nyongores River in 2015, two Kabianga University students and several others.
Just two weeks ago, his scope expanded to Nakuru, where he has been contracted to be part of the team searching for the bodies of the five people who lost their lives when a helicopter crashed into Lake Nakuru.
“I was called by the assistant director of disaster management at the county, who told me that Deputy Governor Hilary Barchok directed us to go to Nakuru to help retrieve the bodies of the five people who died in the crash,” he said.
Two bodies have so far been retrieved from the waters since the crash that occurred on Saturday, October 21. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said five people were on board the chopper and that none survived the crash.
They were identified as Captain Apollo Malowa, Mr Sam Gitau, Mr John Mapozi and Mr Antony Kipyegon who worked for the media team for Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika. A woman identified as Ms Veronica Muthoni also died in the crash.
“We arrived in Nakuru three days after the accident and we started work immediately. We are conducting the search mission together with the Kenya Navy, police officers from the National Disaster Management Unit and other divers from all over the country,” said Mr Ng’otwa.
He said the mission to recover the bodies from the lake had not been easy because it is expansive and the water table is muddy.
“It’s been a problem navigating inside the water because the lake has a lot of trees and it is very muddy,” he said.
“I feel the body with my hands, to identify the hand, which I hold and swim with it to the river bank,” he said during an interview. Mr Ng’otwa learnt diving at a young age, and had always wanted to work in the Kenya Navy, but he could not complete his studies.
“As young boys, we used to swim a lot in the Nyongores River which is near our home in Kipkeigei, Sigor,” he said, adding that he does the job without specialised equipment.
Deputy Director of Communications at the National Disaster Management Unit, Pius Maasai, said Mr Ng’otwa was among four divers who were brought from Nakuru County to help in the search.
The search team of 31 comprises divers from the Kenya Navy, Livestock ministry, Bomet County government, the Sonko Rescue Team and private divers from Mombasa and Naivasha.
