This archive report was first published on 11 May 2020.
On Thursday last week, Rahab Nyokabi Mwangi, 40, and her friend were returning home in Moset - Kamukunji village in Kinangop, from the shopping centre in Kitiri. The rains had fallen heavily while they were still stuck at the market, and when the rains stopped, they began trekking back home.
When they arrived at the bridge, where they usually cross, it was already submerged by water, rendering it impassable. Villagers had converged at a narrow section of the river upstream and improvised a makeshift bridge using logs.
Ms Mwangi's son had gone to help her carry the things she had gone to buy and was on the other side of the river, helping people to cross. When it was her turn, a neighbour, Stephen Njomo, stretched out his hand and she stepped on the log placed across the river as she held onto a tree branch.
However, while she was crossing and trying to get hold of Njomo's hand, she slipped. She held onto a broken branch, but the waters were flowing at a very high speed and the volume was overwhelming, so she let go of the branch and started swimming.
Ms Mwangi said that as onlookers screamed, she swam from bank to bank in zig zag motion even though she made very little progress. She refused to panic and made silent prayers, telling God that she still wanted to take care of her children.
Mr Njomo had dashed ahead and handed her a long rod, asking her to hold tight onto it. Ms Mwangi says at that moment, she knew that was the only chance for her to redeem herself, and so although she had taken in a lot of water, she held on tight and Mr Njomo pulled her out.
Ms Mwangi does not want to watch the clip of her ordeal, which went viral on social media last week. She says it captures the worst day in her life - the day she came closest to death.
