When ten-year –old Shawn Victor Were, a Grade 5 pupil at Red Hill Baraka School in Gachie, left for school on the morning of Friday, February 21, 2025, little did his parents and relatives know that it would be they’d see him alive.

That afternoon, a few minutes before 3pm, Shawn’s mother Irene Karimi received a call from the school informing her that her son was unwell and speaking incoherently.

Out of panic, she immediately contacted the school’s director, asking why her son could not be rushed to the hospital. She was informed that there was no available vehicle. Alarmed, she rushed to the school together with the boy’s father Moses Ochieng and a neighbour.

Once in school the trio found Shawn lying on a mattress, surrounded by teachers. According to them, there was no explanation as to why he had become incoherent or how his condition had worsened.

Alarmed, the parents quickly took him to a hospital in Kikuyu, where doctors attempted to save him. However, there were problems with the hospital equipment and after a lot of switching, the doctors determined that Shawn was no longer breathing.

They attempted to use defibrillators, but during the process, Shawn began vomiting undigested food—rice and watermelon. His mother immediately called the school to confirm if Shawn had been given food but the person she talked to denied it.

Unfortunately, it was too late, and Shawn passed away. Later, a teacher would admit to giving the child watermelon in an attempt to revive him.

When Shawn’s father asked the doctor for an assessment, he learned that his son had likely suffered a convulsion. While in the midst of this medical emergency, he had been fed rice and watermelon, which caused him to choke and block his airway.

According to various accounts, the teachers had not fully disclosed the events to the parents.

Class monitor
One account has it that on that day, the class was going for swimming lessons, which Shawn’s parents had opted out of. As a result, Shawn, along with some other children, remained in the classroom.

The teacher had given Shawn the responsibility of monitoring the noisy students in the classroom. When the teacher heard noise, and returned, he decided to punish six boys, including Shawn.

The punishment was to go outside and run. It is while running that Shawn collapsed and began convulsing.

According to Kawira Mwongera, the family spokesperson, when the other children returned, Shawn’s twin sister asked about her brother and was told that he had been left behind.

“Moments later, two teachers arrived, carrying Shawn back to the school,” Kawira told journalists outside SDA Gachie hospital where Shawn’s post-mortem was being conducted.

The matter has since been reported at Kihara DCI.

After the shocking death, Shawn’s mother is said to have confronted the school about the rice and watermelon. Here, there seems to be two varying accounts. According to Kawira, the school at that time denied that Shawn was ever given anything to eat.

However, when a school delegation that visited the family’s residence in Ruaka, they apparently acknowledged that they had indeed given the boy some rice and watermelon in a bid to resuscitate him.

We independently sought comment on this account from the school but they declined to speak to the press. Instead they referred journalists to the institution’s co-director Ms Mary Mukami.

When reached on phone, Ms Mukami simply said the matter was being addressed between Shawn’s parents and the school before hanging up.

The family spokesperson is having none of it however.

“The school had failed to take immediate action or provide proper care when Shawn began convulsing. By the time his parents arrived, his oxygen levels had dropped significantly, leading to his incoherence and eventual death,” Kawira alleges.

More intriguing, according to Kawira, when Shawn’s mother informed the school of his passing on, the school sent a van full of teachers to the hospital. The same vehicles that had been unavailable to take Shawn to the hospital earlier.

“They offered no real explanation or apology. One teacher casually remarked, ‘It is done, Mama Shawn’,” Kawira adds.

Disturbing trend
According to Kawira, the school was now suddenly willing to offer to assist with taking his body to the morgue. The family, understandably, rejected the offer.

There has been a growing disturbing trend of otherwise perfectly normal and healthy children dying in schools across the country recently. Less than two weeks ago a Form Two student was found dead in the school’s swimming pool in Makindu, merely days after another one just collapsed and died in Kericho.

For many parents, this raises many uncomfortable but pertinent questions; do our schools have basic first aid or medical interventions?

Are there trained staff to handle medical emergencies?

With millions of children in schools across the country, does the Ministry of Education have a policy and guideline on their safety?

And in the case of such tragedy as Shawn’s do the relevant stakeholders have a mechanism to review, recommend and create better practices for enhanced student safety in future?