This archive report was first published on 11 November 2019.
Published on November 11, 2019, a report by the Santa Clara Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Norah Borus Chelagat, a 24-year-old Kenyan student, died by suicide from poisoning at Stanford University in June 2019.
Chelagat, who joined Stanford University in 2014, was found dead in her room on June 14th. This incident is one of several mysterious deaths involving Kenyan students in the US.
John Omari Hassan, a 26-year-old Kenyan student, drowned mysteriously in a pool in Baltimore, Maryland, in July 2019. Hassan had graduated from Kenyatta University in October 2016 and had left Kenya four months prior to pursue postgraduate studies in the US.
Patricia Miswa, another Kenyan student, was found dead in her room in the US in August 2018. She had left Kenya to pursue a master’s degree in Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota.
Eric Kang’ethe, a Computer Engineering student at the University of Massachusetts, died under unclear circumstances in October 2019. His lifeless body was found by police in a vehicle outside McGuirk Alumni Stadium on the evening of October 30th.
Gift Kamau, a 20-year-old Kenyan student, was found floating in the Mississippi River in May 2017. Before her discovery, Kamau had been reported as missing by her parents. Police believed she committed suicide after a note was found.
Concerned with the deaths involving young Kenyans in the US, Dr. DK Gitau, a Kenyan-born resident of Atlanta, Georgia, has been documenting the cases in the past year. Dr. Gitau has also been mobilizing funds for funeral purposes for the deceased young Kenyans using his vast networks in the US.
Dr. Gitau urged the Kenyan community in the US to find ways of preventing the rising cases of suicide among students. He emphasized the need to openly discuss factors that are causing stress among the community.
Dr. Sam Oginde, a psychology professor at Neumann University in Chester, Pennsylvania, believes that the community can find a solution to this issue. He emphasized the importance of seeking solutions and being willing to open up and candidly discuss what is causing the problem.
According to Dr. Oginde, young adults have become casualties of “mental warfare.” He noted that suicides and premature deaths are most rampant between the ages of 19 to 36.
For those experiencing thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-800-273-8255, providing free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
