
Celine Nyagweso.
Celine Nyagweso had just turned 21.
She had big dreams and her university graduation was beckoning. Ms Nyagweso had also become what her parents had envisaged— a beacon of hope for the family.
However, a normal visit to the latrine, last Friday, ended all that in a blink of an eye.
Ms Nyagweso’s young life was snatched away after the floor of the pit latrine caved in and buried her alive.
The death of the final year Kisii National Polytechnic student has left her family hollow, in deep pain as all their dreams were shattered by her tragic exit.
The incident occurred at Kisii town’s Mwembe estate, where Ms Nyagweso was residing with her boyfriend.
The lovers had just had their supper together. But as they were preparing to retire to bed, Ms Nyangweso felt the urge to visit the latrine located outside the house.
Reports indicate she requested her lover to accompany her since it was already dark and she feared for her safety.
But as the boyfriend (name withheld for privacy reasons) was waiting for her outside the latrine, he heard her screaming for help. As it turned out, the floor of the pit latrine had given way and swallowed her up.
Determined to rescue her, the boyfriend made attempts to get into the collapsed latrine but his efforts were thwarted by the heavy debris and the thick human waste that was covering the hole through which his girlfriend had disappeared.
Not even the neighbours who had responded to their distress calls could help, as their efforts to pull Ms Nyagweso out of the 15-foot pit failed.
They watched helplessly as the youthful woman fought for her life beneath the concrete barrier and the decomposing waste.
When the County Disaster team and police arrived, they drained all the waste but it was too late, as Ms Nyagweso had breathed her last.
Her body was retrieved and taken to Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital (Ktrh) mortuary as friends and relatives came to terms with her passing.
When the Nation.Africa visited Ms Nyagweso’s family at Kenyenya, Bomachoge Borabu Constituency, the home was abuzz with activities as mourners trooped in to console her parents.
Her mother, Everline Nyaboke, narrated the pain of losing her firstborn child, whom she said was set to complete her studies in March this year.

Ms Everline Nyaboke (left) is overwhelmed with emotions at her home in Kenyenya, Kisii County, while narrating the death of her firstborn child-Celine Nyangweso The deceased, who was a final year student at Kisii National Polytechnic, met her untimely death after she fell into a pit latrine, whose floor collapsed when she had gone to respond to a call of nature at Kisii Town's Mwembe Estate.
Ms Nyagweso’s father was however not at home. He had joined other relatives on a trip to Kisii town where a postmortem examination had been scheduled.
The mother of five said death had snatched from her family a promising young person in whom they had invested a lot of hope.
She recounted how challenging it had been to educate the deceased from primary school to the level she had reached only for death to shatter their dreams.
“My husband and I have been doing menial jobs in peoples’ farms to raise her fees. We borrowed money from chamas so that she could complete her studies, but now she has met her death after spending every coin that we had. I do not know where I will go and hide myself. Why has God decided to forsake me?” Ms Nyaboke said amid sobs.
Ms Nyagweso’s grandmother, Teresia Abunga, disclosed that her granddaughter had invited her for her graduation ceremony set for March this year, but regretted that the celebration would no longer happen.
“I had promised her that I would attend her graduation and celebrate her hard work,” Ms Teresia said.
Following the unfortunate incident, several Kenyans sent condolence messages to the family and blamed the relevant authorities for failing to ensure that rental houses were constructed to the required standards.
Ms Linet Nyaboke, the owner of the residential house where Ms Nyangweso lost her life, however defended herself against claims of negligence, saying that the latrine could have collapsed as a result of the recent heavy rains experienced in the region.
“My tenants had not reported to me whether they had noticed any cracks on the floor or wall and that's why I suspect that the collapse could have been caused by the heavy rains,” explained Ms Nyaboke.