Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, Nyeri County.
On September 6, 2024, Kenyans woke up to a shocking incident—the night before, at least 21 boys perished in a dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, Nyeri County.
Three months later, bereaved families are yet to get closure over the incident that left permanent scars on their lives, as they continue living in torment. They sent children to school expecting them to actualise their dreams, but ended up with graves in their homes.
In the words of one parent who lost his Grade Six son, “the world came down tumbling on us ... and today nobody seems to care. We’re on our own”.
Kenyans moved on, leaving them to figure out how to heal. To add salt to injury, nobody has ever been arrested over the fire incident, with detectives remaining tight-lipped regarding progress in their investigation of the matter.
Mr Martin Nyuguto, the homicide director who led a team of detectives in the investigations into the cause of the fire, in an earlier interview, indicated that the probe was still on and a report would be provided to the families.
Pictures of the 21 children who died in the dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy.
The police did not disclose how many people had recorded statements in connection with the tragedy, only saying that the school director, Mr David Kinyua, was collaborating with detectives probing the incident.
In the meantime, parents of the victims say since they buried the charred remains of their children, no one has cared to update them on the progress of investigations.
The Nation set out to find out how parents at Endarasha village, where six families lost their sons, are coping with life after the devastating tragedy that shattered their lives.
Residents said some of the families have turned to fundraising to cover ongoing medical expenses related to mental health struggles.
“Some parents have fallen ill due to mental strain. I know of a mother who was referred to a psychiatrist but cannot afford the treatment,” a resident said.
The struggles are aptly captured by Mr Charles Wachira and Ms Alice Muthoni whose son perished in the tragedy.
When the gates of Hillside Academy reopened for third term, 11-year-old Collins Mureithi reluctantly returned to school.
Charles Wachira and his wife Alice Muthoni, parents of the late Collins Muriithi, speak during an interview at their home in Kabati Village, Nyeri County, on December 9, 2024.
A bright, ambitious Grade Six pupil with dreams of becoming an engineer, Collins was a boarder—but not by choice.
“He cried a lot the night before he reported back to school, pleading to be transferred to another school,” recalls Mr Wachira his father. It wasn’t the first time.
For two consecutive holidays, Collins had begged his parents to transfer him to a new school, with his mother saying she had become concerned. During the August break, she noticed that her son was emaciated, as though they had not been feeding well.
Read: ‘We tried our best to save them’: Rescuers, relatives' horrors in Hillside Endarasha fire tragedy
“I asked if he was eating well, and he hesitantly admitted they weren’t,” she says. “But he pleaded with me not to complain to the school administration since they were warned not to share details of their school life with their parents. But I could tell something was wrong. Today, I wish we had listened to him,” Ms Muthoni says softly, struggling with her emotions.
Just three days after returning to school from the August holidays, Collins became one of the 21 boys who died in the dormitory fire.
A drone footage of Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County with the burnt dormitory at the centre.
Now, sadness cloaks their home in Kabati village, Nyeri County, like a thick fog. Their quarter acre farm, which is their only source of livelihood, lies untended. The will to work is gone.
Ms Muthoni goes on: “We used to be hard-working, but now we lack the strength. What is the point of working hard for a child who will die before us?”
Collins’ absence has left a void that feels insurmountable.
“He was so cheerful and curious,” his mother reminisces. “He loved tinkering with scraps of metal and old electronics, always showing us his creations. Now, whenever we come across his things, we find ourselves crying.”
The family has removed Collins’ photos and belongings from sight in an attempt to heal. For Mr Wachira, the father, the pain is unbearable.
“I have thought about ending my life, but my two surviving children keep me going,” he says. “I don’t know if I will ever heal.”
Parents and relatives stand next to the caskets of the 21 children who died in the dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy during the burial service at Mweiga Stadium, Nyeri County on September 26, 2024.
In October, a court allowed the school to temporarily reopen its doors for 81 Kenya Primary School Education Assessment candidates who were sitting for their national examinations.
But for Mr Wachira and Ms Muthoni, this reopened a wound that had not healed. The sight of the school bus driving just 200 metres from their compound daily was a cruel reminder of their loss.
There is a gnawing loneliness and the family feels abandoned, their cries for help swallowed by indifference.
“The bus was a constant reminder of my son and each time I saw it my heart became heavy. People seem to have moved on. The government’s focus has shifted to improving the school’s conditions and reopening it, what about us?” Collins’ father asks.
The last time they saw a professional counsellor provided by the Kenya Red Cross Society was while at the Narumoru Level 4 Hospital mortuary when families identified their loved ones through DNA testing. The memorial service for the 21 boys was held on September 26, 2024.
The WhatsApp group that once connected parents and the school administration has gone silent. The one that remains active is that for the 21 bereaved families. From it, they draw words of comfort. The group has only physically met once, a meeting Charles describes as being filled with tears.
The cause of the fire remains a mystery.
The last time the family heard from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the school administration was in September last year, when homicide detectives were still assessing the scene.
“Then the school administration called later and asked me to collect my son’s belongings—a mattress and a box. How do those help me? I sent a child to school, not items,” Wachira laments.
He recalls meeting with Mr Kinyua shortly before the school was reopened for the third term.
“We had visited his office and he showed us how he monitored the whole school through CCTV cameras. So why haven’t we seen any footage on the events of that night?” he asks.
In a neighbouring home, about three kilometres away, Ms Beatrice Nyaguthii, an onion farmer, sits outside her house.
The director of Hillside Endarasha Academy, David Kinyua, during the requiem service for the 21 children who died in a dormitory fire at the school.
The noon sun is high. She has been idle for hours. She woke at dawn, intending to till the family farm, but her strength failed. Her second-born son, Bernard Warutere, a Grade Six pupil, died in the tragedy.
“The sight of his grave breaks my heart. He didn’t die of illness. I don’t even have the strength to go near the farm,” she says, her voice heavy with sorrow.
Dreadful night
Since that dreadful night, answers have eluded her, top among them being what caused the fire. It is all a mystery wrapped in rumours.
The events of that night are fresh in her memory.
She had spent the better part of her day attending a friend’s funeral in Othaya and got home at 9pm, around the same time with her husband Peter Ngugi, a preacher who had been leading a church service in the neighbourhood.
Read: ‘We tried our best to save them’: Rescuers, relatives' horrors in Hillside Endarasha fire tragedy
At midnight, a drunken neighbour came knocking, shouting that the school was on fire.
“We ignored him at first,” she says. “By the time we arrived, homicide detectives had secured the scene. His friends said Warutere left the dormitory alive but he never came home.”
Later, she learned that he was sent back to help rescue the trapped pupils and that was how he was caught up in the fire.
She says there were claims that the doors were locked from outside while there were no staff in the school.
The dormitory, built with flammable materials and overcrowded with 161 boys aged between 10 and 14 years, was a death trap. The double-decker beds were wooden, while cardboard partitions separated sleeping areas.
Beds were closely spaced, with 24 double-decker beds near the main entrance accommodating 48 pupils. The proximity of beds and the use of combustible materials like wood and cardboard fuelled the blaze.
Ms Nyaguthii recalls that the school reopened two weeks late after the national reopening of primary schools, raising suspicion as to whether there was a problem the management did not disclose to parents.
According to her, the children disclosed that there was tension on the day the fire broke out.
“We got information that eight pupils were frustrated about returning to school because they were not required to sit for the national exams, they were aware that they would be transitioning to secondary school ... Again, they did not have a good relationship with the younger pupils, which may have contributed to an uncomfortable atmosphere,” she says, adding that all this information has never been confirmed by anybody, not even the detectives, the reason they believe it was the work of an arsonist.
A resident whose home neighbours the school claimed that a garbage pit near the dormitory was reportedly lit every evening including the day of the tragedy with locals, saying it could have been the source of the fire used to burn the dormitory, though a school employee denied this.
An earlier investigation by the Nation revealed that the school was only partially fenced, allowing anyone to access the premises.
Financial support
As the parents struggle to piece their lives together after the tragedy, they say that they have not been financially supported as promised on September 26, 2024 during the memorial service at Mweiga Stadium.
“The last financial government support we received was from President William Ruto’s donation of Sh2 million, which was meant to help the affected families. Each family received Sh100,000 for the funeral expenses,” she says.
Nyeri Woman Representative Rahab Mukami donated Sh700,000 for the bereaved families. But the families say that they never got the funds.
But Ms Nyaguthii is still hopeful that someone will step forward to assist the grieving parents.
“I want justice for my son. If there’s a lawyer willing to help us pro bono, I need them. We cannot let this be forgotten,” she says.
On December 20, 2024, the High Court in Nyeri heard that the school will operate exclusively as a day school starting this year.
During a court session, lawyer Robert Kimunya representing the school owners—Mr Kinyua and Mary Wanjeri—and the board of management told Justice Magare Kizito that the institution would transition to a mixed-day school starting this term.
“My client is no longer interested in boarding facilities. We have applied for and received approval from the county education board to operate as a mixed-day school,” he said.
Parents and relatives stand next to the caskets of the 21 children who died in the dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy during the burial service at Mweiga Stadium, Nyeri County on September 26, 2024.
Lawyer Mumbi Kiarie, representing the county director of education, the county education board, Education Cabinet secretary and the Attorney-General in the suit, confirmed the approval during the proceedings.
The suit stemmed from claims that the school management and the Ministry of Education rushed to reopen the institution on October 9, 2024 without implementing adequate safety measures for the pupils.
The case was filed by two non-governmental organisations—the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Elimu Bora Working Group—alongside activist David Karani.
Today, the school appears to be slowly moving on, with the institution operating as a day school as communicated in court.
