IVAN OKELLO KDF SOLDIER MARRIES MAUREEN MAYENGO -GARISSA CAMPUS STUDENT SERVIVOR

A former Garissa University student married a soldier who came to her rescue during the Al Shabaab attack on the campus that killed 148 people. Maureen Mayengo considers Ivan Okello, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldier she married four months after the Garissa University College massacre her “shield and defender”. On the day of the attack, the 21-year-old student hid in a closet unaware that brave Okello was among the soldiers who had stormed the dormitory where the gunmen were holed up. Mayengo lives in Lanet with her husband who is currently deployed in Somalia where KDF is battling the Al Shabaab militants under AMISOM. Mayengo is still too traumatised from the Garissa incident — loud noises such moving vehicles or raised voices still scare her. The student is eagerly waiting for her husband’s return from the Somalia mission and hopes they can solemnise their marriage with a grand wedding after she graduates. On Saturday, Kenyans marked one year since the attack which was the deadliest since the 1998 Unites States Embassy bombing in Nairobi.