- It is suspected she had a pneumonia attack although doctors and the mother did not reveal her ailment.
- The body will be buried on Friday, next to her father Kaingu Charo’s grave.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Her shrills of hunger caught the attention of the nation, but now she is no more.
Baby Mary Kaingu, the four-month-old daughter of the woman filmed boiling stones as food for her children in Junda, Kisauni, is dead.
Mary died Thursday morning at the Coast General Hospital where she had been admitted after developing stomach and chest complications. It is suspected she had a pneumonia attack although doctors and the mother did not reveal her ailment.
Mary was the reason the fortunes of her mother Peninah Bahati, 36, changed after her story was highlighted on national and international television.
It was her shrill cries, as hunger pangs stung, that made Bahati boil stones to trick her into thinking that food was being prepared so she could sleep with hope.
Her neighbour Prischah Momanyi, who had been giving her food, filmed peninah boiling the stones and posted it on social media.
Journalists picked the story and ran it.
Bahati, a widow, is now left with seven children. Her husband Kaingu Charo was killed last June by thugs in Guruguru.
“It seems Baby Mary was an angel being used by God to help Peninah,” said Momanyi, her voice weak and sad, on the phone.
She said the child started developing stomach pains last Friday.
Bahati and Momanyi took her to a local clinic for several days but her condition only deteriorated.
“On Sunday, we took her to Coast General and came back but she was admitted the next day when we took her back,” Momanyi said.
She said the child had bloody diarrhoea. She also had a fever and was crying constantly.
Women leaders who visited Bahati at her home in Mleji village also visited her at the hospital.
Mombasa Woman Representative Asha Mohammed offered her car to transport the body, the mother and a few other people to Guruguru in Mariakani, where the child will be buried today next to her father's grave.
Muhuri gender and children's officer Topister Juma, County director of children Esther Ingolo and nominated MCA Milka Moraa condoled with Bahati at the hospital.
Juma said they had taken over preparations for the burial to support Momanyi who had been working hard to help Bahati and is now exhausted.
“The body leaves the Coast General Hospital mortuary at 8am [Friday]. Only a few people will travel with the body for burial next to the father’s grave before Bahati is brought back to Mombasa,” Juma said
The children's rights activist said there are plans to conduct mediation between Bahati and her husband’s family.
“There are issues,” she said.
Momanyi said it was Bahati’s wish that Mary be buried next to her father.
“She has gone like an angel. She was the one crying the loudest, which prompted Peninah to boil stones,” she told the Star on the phone.
“God uses angels in a way only He knows. Mary is an angel of God.”
Bahati was too devastated to talk. “She is very weak. We are trying to console her,” Momanyi said.
County social worker Elvina Mzungu was by Thursday evening trying to get the necessary documentation to allow a few people to travel with Bahati to Mariakani to bury her daughter.
Last Friday, Ashu told the Star they had reached an agreement to have Bahati and her immediate family relocated and counselled on how to handle their newfound wealth.
Now, Bahati will need even more counselling to deal with the loss of her baby.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya