When the two beautiful young women walked into the Versatile
Model and Talent offices on Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue one Wednesday,
photographer Godfrey Ohutso was struck by their dignified manner.
Jedida Kariuki, 21, and her sister Joan, 19, were inseparable.
The two Kenyatta University students loved fashion
and wanted to become models so they decided to take the first step
towards fulfilling their dream.
They left their Thika home early on Friday, April
13, ready for their photo shoot. Their aunt dropped them at Versatile’s
offices at 11 am.
“They were very excited and changed quickly into outfits for the photos,” Mr Ohutso recalled.
By the time the shoot was done, the sisters felt it
was too late for them to travel back home so they stayed at their
aunt’s house.
On Sunday, at about 3 pm, they phoned their parents Robert and Tabitha Kariuki to tell them they were on their way home.
“We sat waiting for them, but they never arrived.
We called their numbers, but their phones were not working. We asked
neighbours and friends, but no one had heard from them,” Mr Kariuki told
the Sunday Nation
Early the morning of Monday April 16 the parents arrived at Kasarani police station to report their daughters missing.
By this time, they were aware there had been an
accident the previous day on the superhighway that had once been Thika
Road, but they did not want to believe that their children were among
the victims.
When the police informed them what had happened, Mr
Kariuki broke down for hours over the loss of the “pillars of his
family”, his eldest children in a family of four.
Instead of seeing the girls modelling dream
blossom, the family will use the images from the photoshoot at their
funeral this Wednesday.
Jedida and Joan were two of the six people who died in the
April 15 accident
at about 4 pm when the matatu in which they were travelling rammed
into a construction truck parked crosswise to prevent vehicles from
using a section of the superhighway.
Fifty-four people have died in accidents on the
highway between January and March this year, 40 of them pedestrians,
according to Traffic Commandant Joseph ole Tito.
At Kenyatta University, the sisters’ tragic deaths have left a community shocked and in mourning.
The student union led a delegation to console the
family last Friday, while hundreds of students have posted their
condolences on the popular Facebook page,
It’s only in KU.
According to her friends, Jedida, who was a final
year Bachelor of Commerce student, was an outgoing, jovial and
adventurous lady who loved music.
“Joan (a second year tourism and hospitality
student) loved everything in life. She taught me how to be happy,” her
close friend Cate Wambui said.
The tragic loss of the sisters is reminiscent of a
September 2002 accident in which 22-year-old twins Carol Murugi and
Florence Kathambi, both students of Moi University, died in a road crash
in Eldoret.
Like Joan and Jedida, the Moi University twins had
days before their deaths, taken a photo together that became a reminder
of lives lost too soon
By NYAMBEGA GISESA ngisesa@ke.nationmedia.com
