• She always had her computer on her lap whenever she travelled; doing this story or that, even at the expense of bonding with her friends and family.
• She was so passionate about being a scribe that she abandoned her diploma in supply and purchasing course and switched to journalism.
Image: /COURTESY
Carazon Wafula had a burning passion for journalism, but her family believes it did not love her back.
She always had her computer on her lap whenever she travelled; doing this story or that, even at the expense of bonding with her friends and family.
She was so passionate about being a scribe that she abandoned her diploma in supply and purchasing course and switched to journalism.
Winnie Wafula, her twin sister, said it was her childhood dream, even if the passion could not afford her the lifestyle she always wanted.
Cora, as her friends fondly referred to her, succumbed to liver failure due to hypothyroidism, a condition she had battled for a long time. She was 32.
She leaves behind one child. Her body leaves KU mortuary on Friday, September 3 for their family home in Turbo, Eldoret. She'll be buried the following day.
Corazon started her career at Sayari FM in Eldoret as a volunteer before joining the Star as a correspondent, covering the courts.
Though she loved life, she gave her job her all, always careful not to let her private life issues come before her and getting a story for her audience.
“Every time we travelled, Cora always had her laptop on. We’d tell her ‘put away the computer and let's story but she’d say ‘there is this story I’m following, I don’t want it to pass me,'” Winnie said.
"My mum always told her to try something else, even if it is business because her passion was not yielding much but she was adamant."
The sister said the loss of Corazon was a huge blow to their family after the death of their only brother in May. Their father died in 1998 while they were in Class 4.
"My mum is the most affected. She's always believed that we the children will bury her, but it seems she's burying the children one at a time."
Her sister is even more distraught as she believes with better care Corazon would still be alive.
Winnie told the Star that her sister had visited her in Machakos where she stays on the weekend of August 15. She was soon admitted to the hospital with acute tonsillitis, leaving her nanny and Corazon in the house.
On Tuesday when Winnie called Corazon, she could not pick it up. When the nanny picked it up and gave her the phone, she seemed sickly with her eyes appearing pale. She was also incoherent in her speech, the sister said of the report she got while still in the hospital.
She quickly organised to have Corazon taken to Machakos Level 5 Hospital, the sister said, adding that when she was discharged from her treatment to follow up she found that Corazon was not talking and could not do anything on her own.
“The doctor had not done anything on her; no treatment and only had pipes on her for feeding.”
A doctor friend who saw her recommended an urgent ICU admission if her life was to be saved, she said.
“That is when I started making frantic calls to other hospitals, including KNH to see if I could secure a bed. Several calls till 10 pm failed to yield fruits. On Saturday of that week, she passed on. My sister died without any treatment yet she was in a hospital all along. It is so sad,” she said.
The company also helped to look for a hospital bed and one was found on Saturday morning but unfortunately, she passed on.
Her colleagues described her as a jovial team player who was easy to relate with and who formed genuine friendships.
Reporter Gideon Keter said she was "a colleague who was friendly and committed to her work". Hers is a legacy of "hard work, teamwork and compassion", he said.
Luke Awich said her death was a "sad loss for the family and media fraternity."