We survived Westgate siege by God's grace

Tawfiq Baya,

Sergeant of Administration Police

He is the official driver of the AP spokesman Masoud Mwinyi.

He was captured on camera carrying a young girl with his left arm while at the same time crunching on an MP5 gun.

The picture shows adults running on his side, probably convinced by his uniform that he was not one of the bad guys and that he would deliver them to safety.

Baya’s bravery cannot be gainsaid because he entered the mall knowing too well that there were armed assailants inside, who were shooting indiscriminately, yet he did not don a bullet proof vest to protect himself.

As an aide to the spokesman, those are duties ordinarily he would never be part of.

When the Nation spoke to his colleagues at Harambee House, his official station, they were surprised.

“We are also asking, how did he get there in the first place?” one of his colleagues wonders.

Another picture shows Sgt Baya in a kneeling position, with the gun pointed at the malls’s entrance as he prepared to get in again, to save more lives.

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Douglas Kiforo, 36,

Blood donor recruiter at Hope Worldwide

His job is to source and encourage eligible blood donors through institutions or the general public. When the Westgate tragedy happened, he was preparing to leave for church, only to receive an alert that there was a tragedy in Westlands.

“One of my key roles is to mobilise persons. I went to Westgate where they had already set up tents to follow closely on the unfolding events,” he said. If need be, they would organise for blood donors in case of any injuries requiring admission to hospital. His role is to ensure they have many blood donors to cater for the needs of those who may need transfusion.

“I pass information on who is eligible to donate blood; one must be between 16 and 65 years, weigh 60 kilogrammes and above and be in general good health,” he says.

They also need to check on the safety and wellness of donors, who are willing, but not eligible to donate due to reasons like expectant or breastfeeding mothers, among other medical conditions that prohibit one to do so.

“Blood donation is a selfless act that binds us together, not only as Kenyans, but as humanity. Men are eligible to donate blood after three months, while women can donate blood after four months,” he said.

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Peter Mwangi, 33

Paramedic with Kenya Red Cross Society

He was in Naivasha at a horticultural fair when he got a call on Saturday afternoon that they were urgently needed in Nairobi to respond to a crisis at the Westgate Mall.

“As a paramedic, one of our key requirements is to establish the extent of injuries of the patient and attend to them immediately.

“This includes controlling any bleeding and securing the patient to ensure that the extent of injuries does not get any worse,” he said.

During such disasters, they manage the patients on the spot before moving them to the nearest hospital for further management.

“On the day of the Westgate incident, we joined another team that had been called to the shopping mall to respond to the disaster, but we had no idea of the magnitude. Our first instinct was to get on site and position ourselves at the closest yet safest location for the management of the patients,” he said.

Paramedics are trained to respond on the spot irrespective of the venue and time of the incident reported.

“Ours is a 24-hour job,” he says.

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Dr Joe Ruturi,

Cardiothoracic surgeon

Though passionate about medicine and having dealt with patients from various traumas, nothing prepared this surgeon for the events of this gloomy Saturday.

He was on his way to buy a birthday present for a family friend at the West Gate Mall around noon when his wife warned him to avoid the upmarket mall.

At almost the same time, Dr Ruturi says he received another call from one of the hospitals that asked he rushes there for an urgent case of a patient who was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound suffered at the West Gate Mall.

The great team of cardiothoracic surgeons included Dr Raj Jutley, who alongside other doctors, operated on survivors, reassuring them of better days ahead despite the horrific events.

The events of that particular afternoon as they brought in patients were “unforgettable and traumatic”, he said, adding: “We chose to focus on managing the patients to stability before dealing with our own emotions.

“It broke my heart that these terrorists shot at children heartlessly. I remember attending to a year-old boy that had been shot in the leg and another nine-year-old boy, who saw the terrorists shoot dead one of his parents,” said Dr Ruturi, who is a father to two boys aged three and six years.

“We couldn’t have done it without the selfless emergency physicians, the registrars, young doctors and the nursing team, not to forget the Emergency Medical Technicians who brought the patients to hospital,” he said.

“Our first duty is to triage the patient to understand the extent of their injuries then we know whom to stabilize first and thus manage them based on this premise,” Dr Ruturi noted.

Most of the patients sustained chest injuries, lower and upper limb fractures, bullet wounds and blast injuries.

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June Koinange,

Counselling psychologist and volunteer with the Kenya Red Cross Society

“When events of this magnitude happen, survivors go into shock and thus need reassurance, which is offered through counselling,” Ms Koinange says.

Persons who have undergone trauma are in shock because they have either lost their livelihoods, sustained injuries or even saw their friends and loved ones injured or even dead.

“Shock is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation, thus requires an understanding person who in this case is a counsellor.

“There is a lot of grief when dealing with such incidents and our key role is to assure them that days will be brighter and more hopeful and bring forth prosperity,” she said.

They set up camp at the Visa Oshwal Centre on the first day to help the injured and families deal with the traumatic events of the day.
“When in shock, this can lead to a person’s withdrawal from routine tasks like eating, socialising and man being a social being, it will affect them,” Ms Koinange explains.

Lack of sleep is another effect that is managed by dealing with the fears by urging the person to talk it out and express his or her emotion.

“After counselling, patients and family are expected to continue interacting in order to achieve full recovery and re-integrate into the social circles,” she says.

Stories by Joy Wanja Muraya [email protected] and Fred Mukinda [email protected]
Photos by Phoebe Okal and Ann Kamoni