Alex Kiprotich And Stella Mwangi
6 May 2008
Nairobi — IN the dead of night, Mrs Mary Nyokabi Ndung'u, 56, walked for about 10km to escape death at the height of post-election violence.
Her husband, George Ndung'u Kinuthia, 60, was not so lucky. He was hacked to death by youths in his house in Kiambogo, Molo District.
Four months after the horrifying events, Nyokabi yesterday went back to her farm and was overcome with emotion. She fainted on seeing her husband's grave.
And when she regained consciousness, Nyokabi said life would never be the same again.
"It is difficult. I do not know how I will live with my neighbours who killed my husband," she said.
She said though she had forgiven her assailants, her husband's grave at the corner of their quarter-acre farm was a reminder of the events after election results were announced.
"I have tried to forget, but the sight of the grave makes me bitter," she said amid tears.
Nyokabi said it was not the first time she had encountered election-related violence.
In 1992, she was evicted from Kericho with her 13 children. However, nobody was harmed.
"We settled in Kiambogo in 1993 after my father-in-law gave us this land," she says.
Yesterday, she knelt at the site where their two houses once stood.
"This is what remains of my houses. God will help me start all over again," she said.
During the attack, her four children sneaked out and hid in the maize plantation.
She has not met them but friends have assured her that they will be joining her home because they went to a different camp in Molo.
She says she will not participate in elections again because every time she votes, there is violence.
Nyokabi says she is ready to start life afresh, but is still bitter.
"Yes, I can build another house but can I raise my husband from the dead?" she asks.
A hundred metres away, her neighbour Mrs Jane Njeri Karanja, 60, stands hands akimbo, tears welling in her eyes.
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