This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
On May 28, 2020, a wave of protests swept across the United States in the wake of George Floyd's murder at the hands of police officers. Among those who took to the streets was 17-year-old Sharon Morara, a Kenyan student living in Minneapolis.
Sharon was out protesting near the local police station when she was hit by a bullet. She recalls being near a tree, about to turn around, when she felt like she was 'sniped.'
She was rushed to Park Nicollet Hospital and later transferred to Children's Hospital, where she underwent surgery to repair her lip. However, she will need plastic surgery to fully recover and regain her ability to smile.
Sharon's family has created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for her reconstructive surgery, which they estimate will cost around Sh6 million. The page has already raised over Sh1.4 million, with many Kenyans and Americans calling for the incident to be thoroughly investigated and the police officers involved to be arrested and prosecuted.
Sharon's mother, Rose Oboga, told KDRTV that her daughter had accompanied her father to the streets to demand justice for Floyd. Sharon herself described the incident, saying: 'I heard a sharp object pierce through my jaw and before I knew what it was, I lost consciousness and came down tumbling.'
The bullet left Sharon with a cavernous wound on the left side of her mouth, but fortunately, it did not hit her teeth. Her mother is a single parent, and the family is struggling to pay for the medical bills and the upcoming surgery.
Sharon is a student at Hopkins High School in Minnesota, and her parents hail from Bobasi in Kisii County. The fundraiser is aimed at helping her mother pay for the surgery, noting that not all plastic surgeons take their insurance while those that do require a down payment.
