This archive report was first published on 11 July 2019.
Elizabeth Wangoi, an 83-year-old woman, passed away on Saturday at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret. Her death has rekindled memories of the 2007 post-election violence that left a trail of destruction and loss of life in Kenya.
Wangoi's family revealed that she had been in and out of hospital since January 1, 2008, when she survived the fire at the Kenya Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church in Kiambaa, where tens of people had sought shelter during the violence.
According to her nephew Philip Gakuha, Wangoi's house on a half-acre farm in Kiambaa had been burnt by a mob, and she had been raped by the youths. Her son, Kimunya, had also survived the inferno with severe burns that left his arms weak.
Wangoi's family alleged that the government's failure to compensate her for the destruction of property had compounded her woes. They claimed that she had been promised Sh400,000 as compensation but never received it.
The family is now struggling to raise Sh240,000 to settle the hospital bill and give Wangoi a decent burial at her Kiambaa farm.
