Kenya bus attack: Primary school head teacher plays dead to escape slaughter by Islamic extremists

SUMMARY:

The director of a primary school, explains how he saved his life acting like a dead during a slaughter in Kenya, where some terrorists set off the bus 28 passengers for not being Muslims.

Douglas Ochwodho , the survivor, said that all the people who weren’t from Somalia or who weren’t Muslims, were separated from the others and they had to lie on the ground because the terrorist had to kill them. One after another, until it was his turn. They weren’t sure if Douglas was dead or not, but when they see that he was lying with the other bodies, they thought that someone already shot it.

When Al-Shabab escaped from the crime scene, Douglas got up and went to the road for help. A truck stopped and took him to his school, which is located in Mandera. He said that he was on that bus heading for his home because the school had closed for Christmas holidays.

Ochwodho’s brother explains that Douglas was very lucky. The radical group didn’t shot him because the confusion was the blood that was in his body, which was not his: it was of the bodies he had next to him.

Al Shabab, to stop the bus through several bullets, but the driver resisted. Then, terrorists launched a grenade and finally, they controlled the bus. Once uploaded, they told to the 60 passengers to recite the Shahada, a religious creed, and if they didn’t know how to read it or say it, they had to die.

Among the 28 deaths, 19 were men and 9 women. 17 were teachers.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I support the right of freedom. All the freedoms that a person can have. Each person decides to be, in this case, believer or not. And if you decide to be a believer, only you can chose what religion you want to practice. Personally, I am a Muslim and I respect all the religions around me. So, I think honestly, that it’s extreme and inhuman what those people did. I think above all, we are all humans. And the first thing that should exist between us, is the respect. I think this "war of religions" is useless. It’s just that, a war, and according to what I know, none of them have anything good.

VOCABULARY:

-Hijacked: segrestat

-The killing spree: l’onada d’assassinats

-Slaughter: massacre