Here is what Nairobi Chapel is doing to help

Pastor of church in which 30 died honoured for courage

Story by MICHAEL MUGWANG’A and DENNIS ODUNGA Publication Date: 3/17/2008

A pastor of a church in which over 30 children were burnt to death at the height of the post-election violence was Sunday honoured by a Nairobi church for his courage and sacrifice.
Pastor Janet Mutinda of the Nairobi Chapel announced the decision to honour Pastor Stephen Mburu of the Eldoret-based Kenya Assemblies of God church that was torched on New Year’s Day with 35 people inside.

Pastor Mburu also received a Sh400,000 cash token to help him “pick up the pieces of his life”.
According to Ms Mutinda, the cash will help Mr Mburu build himself a house as efforts to rebuild the church continue.

The Nairobi Chapel also plans to have Mr Mburu fitted with dentures at a South African hospital. He lost eight teeth when he was attacked as he tried to rescue the children from the burning church.

The screams

In a moving testimony at Nairobi Chapel Sunday, Mr Mburu recounted how the screams of children moved him to try and save them. He vividly recalled how he had to watch as a female child burnt to death because he could not reach her in time. “I saw the children crying as the fire engulfed the church, and as much as my life was in great danger, I could not run away,” the pastor said. He managed to pull out five children alive, he told the congregation.

Meanwhile, displaced children from Sugoi Children’s Home in Eldoret are not willing to return to the home even though normalcy has returned to the town. They instead want Eldoret Presbytery, which manages the home, to find an alternative location. The children spoke to the Nation Sunday at PCEA Ayub Kinyua parish where they were relocated. “We are still afraid of the place given that we would stay next to people who showed us no mercy as orphans and former street children,” said John Kamau a Form Two student at the home. Rev Geoffrey Mwihandi, the moderator of the Eldoret presbytery, said that 130 children were relocated after their farm and houses were destroyed.


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