FIVE days since the Westgate attack, Joyce Wamaitha from Kabete has visited mortuaries and hospitals in the hope of finding her brother who was at the mall on Saturday.
Wamaitha yesterday said she has developed a thick skin after being exposed to countless bodies of people who succumbed to injuries. She last spoke with her brother, Joseph Ndung’u, at 10.30 am.
“He told me that he was going to pick a few things at the Nakumatt on his way home,” she said. Three hours later, Wamaitha watched a breaking news signal on a local television station saying that gunmen had attacked the shopping mall.
“I did not want to imagine that my brother may have been caught up in the incident, which I at first rubbished as a petty criminal offence,” she said. A tearful but determined Wamaitha described Ndung'u as the family's pillar and source of hope.
The family waited for Ndung'u to return home later that evening, but he did not. Wamaitha said they feared for the worst, but continued to hope as they started to tour hospitals in search of Ndung'u, whose phone has since gone off.
She has visited MP Shah, Aga Khan and Guru Nanak hospitals and their morgues. Wamaitha has visited the Oshwal Centre and City Mortuary but has still not found her brother.
“If anyone has any information that can help us allocate our brother, we will appreciate it. We have registered his name in all centres but no results have been forthcoming,” she said.
“Despite the President (Uhuru Kenyatta) saying that the rescue mission is over, we are still hopeful that we will find our brother, and are sure he is alive somewhere.”
Ndung’u ran an electronic shop at the Kabete shopping centre and is believed to have gone to get more stock for his business when the attack took place. More than 60 people died and several others were injured in the attack.
Pius Musembi said his brother, Joseph, sent him a message telling him he had been shot. “He scribbled some words indicating that he had been shot. My efforts to reach him on phone were futile as it went unanswered,” he said.
Pius was in Spring Valley when he got the news. He
visited various hospitals in search of Joseph, an employee at Westgate’s Art Cafe. Pius found Joseph at MP Shah Hospital, where he is recuperating.