Catherine Bwire's life for the past 25 years has been a stark reminder of the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi.
She lost her eyesight following the August 7, terrorist attack and this denied her the joy or every mother; seeing the face of the fruit of her womb.
Today, August 7, 2023, Kenyans mark the 25th anniversary of the bomb blast tragedy that shook the nation.
The truck bomb exploded outside the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998 at around 10:30am leaving thousands dead and over 100 Kenyans injured.
Even as the country commemorates the day, victims are yet to be compensated.
On August 5, 2023, a Senate Ad-hoc committee joined the survivors for a prayer session at the memorial park, as compensation is being pushed.
Bwire, a survivor painfully narrated that she has never seen the face of her daughter; neither can she describe how she looks like, as she went blind following the tragedy.
"After the tragedy, I delivered a baby girl in October of that year, I got depressed as life was difficult. I also lost my career and fully depended on people for help and basic needs," Bwire said.
For the past quarter of a century, the victims have knocked on every door pursuing compensation by the American government but their plea has been ignored.
"We have come together to speak in one voice because we have been forgotten, we were not fighting anybody, the Americans were fighting with al-Qaeda and we were caught up in the mix," Caroline Muthoka, a survivor said.
Chairperson of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee Agnes Kavindu has acknowledged that the compensation of the victims has been long overdue. She said the team will soon go to the US and meet the Senate.
"We will be going to meet our colleagues in the United States to ensure they include Kenyans in the fund," she said.
What happened?
On the fateful day of the attack, a truck bomb exploded outside the US embassy in Nairobi, with a twin attack in the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The United States accused then-exiled Saudi-born Osama bin Laden of masterminding the attacks.
Osama, the leader of al-Qaeda, was killed on May 2, 2011, after a 10-year chase by US forces.
This was after he masterminded the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York.
The attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were a series of four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda under Osama's directive.
In the attack, 19 militants hijacked four passenger planes and flew two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.
A third plane hit the Pentagon in Virginia, just outside Washington DC, while the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Almost 3,000 people were killed.
