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By:
Caroline Wafula & Titus Ominde | |||||||||
| Posted:
Mar,02-2023 02:29:07
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When Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen left Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on November 21, 2022, for Australia, where she was going to pursue further studies, her Kimuchi village, Uasin Gishu county was expectant.
Nothing had prepared the quiet village in Moiben sub-county for the devastating news that would follow about their kin, exactly three months later. That their daughter was no more.
On February 21, 2023, exactly three months after Sharon had departed from Kenya, a distress call would be made to Kenya, breaking the news of Sharon’s sudden demise while swimming in the foreign land, to her family in Moiben.
Just three months earlier, on November 9, 2022, Kimuchi villagers had gathered for special thanksgiving and farewell prayers and a send-off party for their daughter whose international doors had opened, signaling hopes for good things to come in the future.
Family, friends, and neighbors would converge for a mass to send off Sharon, who was heading to Catholic University in North Sydney for her post-graduate degree after securing an opportunity through Options Education, a study placement agency.
A lover of matters IT, Sharon, 28, a Kapsabet Girls alumni secured a study scholarship for her Master’s Degree studies in IT, after graduating from Kenyatta University in 2020 in the same field.
To help with her travel, living, and part of the study expenses, her parents –Francis Kigen and Rael Chepkemboi— had disposed of a piece of land, proceeds that would be added to collections from a fundraiser that had been held to help manage the costs, raising some Sh2.5 million.
On November 21, 12 days after the special send-off prayers, the third-born child of the Kigen family would board her flight at JKIA, to pursue her dreams thousands of miles away.
In high spirits
A video of her parents and two of her sisters who had accompanied her to Nairobi to see her off shows she was in high spirits. They had left their village on November 20 evening, for an overnight journey to arrive at JKIA by 6 am, on time for her 8:40 am flight.
Born on July 26, 1995, it was her first international trip, and she was jovial, as always, and pregnant with dreams for a better future.
She had made it clear that she would return home after her two-year studies, to set up an IT firm, promising her neighbors that she would help them and their children upon return.
She had settled with her relatives in Australia and even secured a part-time job as she waited to start her classes on February 23, her mother said. It was never to be, as she had died five days before.
Distress call
On February 21, 2023, exactly three months after Sharon had departed from Kenya, a distress call would be made to Kenya, the caller seeking to pass an urgent message to Sharon’s family in Moiben.
The message of Sharon’s demise was relayed through a doctor at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and a relative to the family: Sharon was dead. She had died while swimming with friends on a beach.
The doctor would locate Sharon's grandfather- who would then make haste to visit her home, breaking the devastating news to her parents and family.
Digesting the news has not been easy for Sharon’s family – that she died barely three months after she had left Kenya.
“We are shocked that our daughter is no more,” Mr Kigen, her father, said crestfallen, at their Kimuchi home.
Body retrieved
Her daughter’s body was retrieved from River Georges Macquarie by emergency services officers who were called to the scene.
“Officers from The Traffic and Highway Patrol entered the water along with members of the public and commenced with a search in the water where the body was located and brought to the shoreline,” Australian NSW Police said in a statement.
Efforts by NSW Ambulance paramedics to rescue her were futile since she had already died.
Constant touch
Her parents recall that their daughter had kept in constant touch with them since her arrival in Australia, talking on video calls almost daily.
Her mother says she was always jovial, updating her family on her progress in the foreign land.
Until her demise, she had updated her parents on her orientation process preceding the classes that were scheduled to start on February 23. She had informed them that she would find time to continue working as she studied.
According to her mother, her daughter had basic swimming skills learned in school.
“She was a very jovial girl. When she was leaving, we held a mass and called locals and the pastor to come and pray for her. She promised she would never forget relatives and neighbors. She was optimistic she would change her village,” her father, Kigen said.
Her mother said Sharon had been calling almost every morning (Kenyan time).
“We have been in constant communication. She called every morning to update us on what she was up to. She was determined to make it,” she said.
They had talked last on Saturday, February 18, two days before the devastating news of her demise was relayed to her family.
Some of the Kenyans in Australia gather at the spot where Sharon Jepkosgei drowned on February 21, while swimming with friends along River Georges Macquarie, Australia. She was to start her classes at Catholic University in North Sydney on February 23.
Bring the body home
At her home, villagers have been gathering to mourn with Ms Jepkosgei’s family, whose headache now is how to bring Sharon’s body back home.
They need Sh5 million, the family spokesperson Dominic Chepkok told the Nation team when we visited on Tuesday evening.
“We had a big ceremony to send her off in November and she was jovial as always,” the family spokesman added.
A handful of mourners were gathered at her parent’s home when we visited late Tuesday evening.
Sh5million
The family needs Sh5 million to bring her body back home. It has not made much headway and is appealing for financial support to bring Sharon’s body back home, having exhausted the financial resources since her departure three months ago.
A fundraiser is planned for March 5, to help raise the money.
“Our prayer is that wellwishers come to our aid and help us bring Sharon’s body back home for burial,” her grandfather Mr Koech said.
The family has shared the fundraising Paybill number to help them bring Sharon’s body back home.
Paybill NO: 400200
Ac No: 40096824.
Leaders from Uasin Gishu county too have flocked the home to condole with the family for the loss of the young budding life.
The incident happened six months after another Kenyan student drowned in a foreign county while swimming. Hellen Nyabuto, a Kenyan nursing student working in Canada, died while swimming in a swimming pool.
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Source:
Nation Media Group
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