The voices on the other end were frantic. He had seen a couple of tweets about a bank robbery in progress somewhere on Riverside Drive but had not paid much attention to it, this is Nairobi. These things happen. The first call was from a friend who works at one of the companies on 14 Riverside Drive.

“Ogolla please come and help us we are under attack, there has been a huge blast and now there are gunshots everywhere,” said the friend.

But as he was still speaking on phone to this particular friend someone else was calling asking for his help in finding out if her husband who worked at the Dusit Complex was okay. She could not reach him on his phone. Then there was a journalist friend who called seeking help in tracing several other people.

This was all within ten minutes since the attack began and Ogola was still in his house. No, it was, in fact, a terrorist attack and not a bank robbery. But why were these people calling him and how was he supposed to help?

He is not known as a digital humanitarian for no reason. Ogola has on several occasions used his digital skills for public good in cases of crisis such as accidents, disasters, and even terror attacks – in September 2013, he was among the first people to arrive at Westgate Shopping mall during a terror attack setting up a digital command center that would help link those trapped inside the building with rescue teams and their families. The attack lasted more than three days and when the guns became silent Ogola went through a difficult psychological breakdown.

More than five years later Ogola was being called back to action and as a good ‘digital soldier’ he did not think twice about it. Armed only with a laptop, a phone and charging cables for both he drove to the nearest Red Cross office, parked his car and jumped onto an ambulance headed to ‘ground zero.’

Ogola is a former Red Cross employee where he used to work with the digital communications team. His understanding of the organization’s processes and their familiarity with his work made it easier for him to volunteer his services to the rescue mission.

While in the ambulance driving towards the site of the attack, Ogola decided to set up a Whatsapp group. This group had the people who were sending him contacts of their loved ones they wanted information on, Red Cross staff, police officers involved in the rescue mission and people trapped inside the building whose contacts they had verified.

READ: HOW LESSONS FROM THE PAST HELPED SAVE LIVES IN TUESDAY’S TERROR ATTACK

Ogola said the first thing he did when reaching ground zero was to set up a digital command center where he would filter social media posts about the attack and relay relevant information to the rescue teams.

“I have a digital tool which I used to filter all social media posts that were coming from this location. People trapped in the building were terrified and they were sharing posts asking for help. Most of them were even oblivious of the kind of danger they were exposing themselves to because even the terrorists could use that information and harm them. I identified those posts and communicated back to them through direct messages. I introduced myself to them to gain their trust as I sought to find more information about where they were and relay the same to the rescue teams,” explains Ogola.

He says he added up to 124 people in the Whatsapp group he created through the contacts he was getting from his communication with those who were asking for help on Twitter and Facebook.

“Most of these people were in groups of between ten to thirty. We would get all their contacts and add a couple to the Whatsapp group. We advised them to switch off their phones and only leave a few so that at any given time we would have someone to talk to. When one person was running low on battery someone else who had their phone turned off would be asked to switch theirs on,” he continued.

Through the Whatsapp group, Ogola would also update friends and relatives of those trapped on their status.

“They told us exactly where they were in the group and how many they are. We also gave them advice on things to do as the rescue teams worked on getting them out. At times when there were blasts or gunshots, we would explain to them exactly what was happening – whether it was police officers detonating grenades laid by the attackers or officers engaging the attackers.”

The night was a long one, but each time a group was rescued it gave him and the other teams more drive to continue until the last person was out.

“It was stressing, at times families would be asking for information about their loved ones and you are still not in a position to locate them or deliver the information they are hoping for. When we had groups of those rescued coming out and thanking us or giving us a hug it encouraged me to press on.”

He says the hardest part of the night was breaking to those following up with him for information on their loved ones that the people they were looking for did not make it.

“Not all the people we were trying to trace made it out alive,” he says then pauses for a couple of seconds.

I could hear his breath on the other side of the phone line getting heavier, you could tell from his voice that he was struggling to control his emotions. I apologize for making him relive this moment.

“I remember there was one woman who kept asking about her son. I had known by then that he had died but I did not know how to break it to them so I bought time, sending them round in circles till morning when I directed them to the psychosocial support team. I did not know how to break it to them.”

That though would not save him from dealing with them after.

“The guy was Luo and I think the mum recognized my last name and knew I was Luo to. She came back to me and spoke in Luo asking me how come we could not save his son. I have never felt so helpless,” he says.

Ogola spent more than 18 hours at the site, by the time he was done his feet were swollen, he could not wear his shoes anymore. He was exhausted both physically and mentally. He was also hungry – all this while he had not had a proper meal. He says he had to walk to Chiromo Funeral Home to get an ambulance that could take him back to the Red Cross office to pick his car and go get something to eat.

When I first reached out to him on Friday about this story Ogola was on his way to a therapy session. It would be the third one since Wednesday. He had decided to go for therapy this time after experiencing a breakdown following his involvement in the rescue mission at Westgate. He says he sunk into depression, drunk too much and even became suicidal.

“I would scream in the middle of the night. I had dreams of gunshots and explosions. At times I smelled blood and dead bodies. I could not drive for weeks. I did not want to go through that experience again, that’s why I am for therapy.”

Ogola is happy that many people were rescued this time around and appreciates the response from the police and emergency crews. He, however, believes that authorities should also include a digital response strategy having seen firsthand how effective it is as a tool for both information dissemination and rescue efforts coordination is as a tool.

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This though was not the first time that Kenya was coming under attack from the al-Shabaab militant group (which claimed responsibility of the attack). In September 2013, 67 people were killed in an attack that lasted over three days at the Westgate shopping mall also located in the Westlands area of Nairobi. In April 2015 the group would stage another attack at Garissa University in Kenya’s Eastern region killing 148 students.

In both attacks, security agencies were faulted for among other things slow response and lack of coordination between the responding agencies leading to high fatalities and injuries.

That was however not the case with the Dusit Complex attack on Tuesday. Just eight minutes after the gunmen gained entry to the premise, police officers drawn from the flying squad unit arrived at the scene and started engaging the attackers as they rescued civilians from the building. Another two minutes later would see the arrival of emergency services such as ambulances from different organizations and fire engines.

By 4.00 PM the country’s head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations arrived at the scene and began coordinating police activities. Ten minutes later the elite Recce Company officers drawn from the General Service Unit (GSU) of the Kenya Police who are specially trained in close quarters battle (CQB) and the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) Special Forces arrived at the scene. By this time all the security agencies involved in the operation were put under a single command of a GSU Commandant.

Unlike the Westgate attack six years ago where there was alleged confusion occasioned by the multi-agency response teams, everything seemed to be moving smoothly as officers and volunteers combed through the floors and buildings in the complex saving dozens of civilians by the hour.

The level of coordination would be seen even through the regular updates on the situation at the ground by the country’s police boss and the minister in charge of Security.

Hospitals throughout Nairobi that were receiving victims were on standby at all times ready to attend to victims within the quickest time, citizens overwhelmingly heeded to calls to donate blood. At about 9.00 PM in the night, some of the hospitals were urging Kenyans to suspend blood donations to the following day.

This was definitely not a fluke – there seems to have been crucial lessons learned from previous attacks. President Kenyatta on his address to the nation acknowledged this.

I want to commend the quick and effective response by our elite fighting teams for neutralizing all the terrorists involved in the attacks. We have dealt with the threat decisively, and shown our enemies and the world that we are ready to deal with any threat to our nation.

-President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The president was however not the only one commending the responding teams, opposition leader Raila Odinga also lauded the teams for their swift action that saved hundreds of lives.

We commend our security forces for the robust, rapid and coordinated response to this evil that saw lives saved and the country reassured. We commend our citizens for being each other’s keeper and responding to appeals for blood donations and we appreciate the professionalism of our caregivers and first responders.

-Raila Odinga, Opposition Leader.

This though is not just a government narrative, ordinary Kenyan citizens were commending the response as soon as the attacks began even as they held their breaths and hoped for a speedy conclusion of the siege.

700 civilians were evacuated from 14 Riverside. Let me just say that again, 700!

That is not an easy operation. We can’t thank you enough, all the security forces & civilians too, who rushed to help/ assist #WeShallOvercome

— Captain Ozwald () (@VinieO) January 16, 2019

Let us all appreciate the GSU commandant Douglas Kirocho Kanja who was the operation commander at riverside.

God bless you sir.#WeShallOvercome#KenyaUnbowed#RiversideAttack pic.twitter.com/rSJsIQBQTH

— Road Alerts (@RoadAlertsKE) January 16, 2019

I salute Kenyan Doctors, Nurses and medical workers who have volunteered in our hospitals. Medical students have also turned up in large numbers. Terror cannot beat us. We are Kenyan.#WeShallOvercome pic.twitter.com/NahhZ1myWR

— Dennis Itumbi, HSC (@OleItumbi) January 15, 2019

Even as we commend the agencies for the prompt response, 21 lives were lost. Even a single life lost to terror is one too many. It’s time to also ask the tough questions. The main perpetrator of the attack lived in the outskirts of the city for more than seven months and visited the complex they finally attacked at least four times according to those who worked at the establishment, how was this possible? Where was the lapse?

A local news outlet reported in October about intelligence that six al-Shabaab operatives were plotting an attack in Nairobi during the festive season, how come this information was not taken seriously, did someone sleep on the job and will we see heads roll?

This article was originally written for www.africablogging.org

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In less than two weeks, Pope Francis will kick off his maiden tour of the African continent when his plane lands at Jommo Kenyatta International Airport on 27^th November.

This visit is not only significant to the 12 million Kenyan Catholics but to the entire population of Kenya (The Pope will also be visiting Uganda and the Central African Republic).

The Pope’s visit comes at a time when the country is suffering economic turmoil brought about by the near collapse of the tourism industry following increased travel advisory by key tourist source markets as a result of the ever present Al-Shabaab terror threats.

Tourism

A visit by the leader of the world’s largest Christian Church coming hot on the heels of another visit by “The leader of the free world” is nothing short of a stamp of approval that “It is safe to visit Kenya.”

The high profile visits which culminate with that of British Prime Minister David Cameron early 2016 will go a long way in returning confidence among tourists. Frequent terror attacks in Nairobi, Mombasa and most recently Garissa University where 147 people lost their lives significantly drove down Kenya’s earnings from the sector which was for a long time the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.

It is my hope that the Pope will use this visit to remind the world that terror is a problem in Africa just like it is in the Western world where hundreds of lives have also been lost.

France, one of the world’s top tourist destinations has been a victim not once, but several times with the last being this weekend where 128 people were killed in six different locations in Paris.

Throughout his visits outside Vatican, his message has always been consistent – mankind’s duty to help the poor and less privileged. This is a message he needs to remind the West of, that it does more harm issuing travel restrictions to victims of terror like Kenya while not doing the same when Western Nations face equal or even worse terror threats. 

Unity

This visit comes at a time when religious tensions between Christians and Muslims are at an all-time high following increase in terrorism activities. Unlike his predecessors, the Pope is known for pushing a conciliatory agenda and visiting a region with a significant population of Muslims should provide him with an opportunity to reach out to Muslims and set the stone rolling for a process of inter-religious unity in the fight against extremism.

This approach will go a long way in defeating the Al-Shabaab propaganda that has been aimed at creating tension between Christian and Muslims. This I hope will be a key message during his public mass to be held at The University of Nairobi.

Religious unity though is the least of Kenya’s problems, this country is now far more divided along ethnic lines than it were in 2007 when hundreds died as a result of post-election violence. Today “leaders” have perfected the art of spreading hate messages at public gatherings – even doing so in the name of God.

Social media has been used to divide this country along two major ethnic/political blocks. The prosecutions going on at the ICC and the arrest and prosecution of hate-mongers locally has done little to deter people from engaging in spreading hate messages.

Across our borders, ethnic cleansing is rife in Burundi even as the world turns a blind eye the same way it did two decades ago. It is my hope that “the people’s Pope” will use this visit to call on world leaders to stop the violence before it grows out of proportion.

Tolerance

The biggest problem facing the world today is tolerance to divergent opinion which has given rise to religious extremism, ethnicity and human right abuses.

Even though the Catholic Church does not accept homosexuality in its doctrines, Pope Francis has widely been seen to be accommodative to the LGBT community compared to his predecessors – this has even ruffled some feathers in the Church.

“If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” – Pope Francis.

While we do not expect him to push for the legalization of homosexuality, Pope Francis will almost definitely encourage African governments to deal with homosexuals in more a humane manner. The Pope is on the record acknowledging that criminalizing homosexuality is extreme.

Disappointment 

I am however disappointed that the Pope will not be visiting West African countries that have fought and defeated Ebola. This was a good time to show solidarity with that part of the continent and appreciate the men and women who volunteered – risking their own lives to save others.

Africa needed him to show compassion with the victims we lost to Ebola, their families and those who got infected but fought and defeated the deadly disease. I hope it’s not too late to change his schedule.

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