Father returns son back to village after surviving Huruma tragedy

A father has decided to take his son back to the village to protect him from the misfortunes of the city. The boy miraculously survived the collapsed Huruma building.

Calvin Odhiambo said he was not willing to let his son spend another night in Nairobi, probably in one of the cursed city buildings.

Despite having seven other relatives still stuck in the rubble, with his 11-year-old son Griffins Otieno being the only survivor, Mr Odhiambo said he would not wait for his boy to suffer again.

"I am travelling to Migori in the evening with Griffins. What I have seen is enough and I do not want my son to experience more," he said.

This is the second tragedy Odhiambo is surviving. In 2004, his wife vanished seven months after giving birth to Griffins.

"I cried to myself all day and night seeking answers why a mother would just turn away from her baby. I had to stop attending to my business to take care of him, and that proved very difficult," he said.

Of all the nine members of the family who had rented three rooms on the first floor of the collapsed building, only Griffins and one of his uncles survived.

At the time of the collapse, the uncle was out searching for another house to rent after the building developed cracks.

Griffins, a Standard Five pupil at Haidemarie Primary School in Mathare North, survived the incident by jumping into the adjacent Nairobi River; sustaining only bruises on his hands and neck.

At the time of the incident, he was with his aunt, Ruth Auma, in the house watching the famous Titanic movie when he paused to go and answer a nature call.

"That was when I saw cracks in the washroom and an earthquake-like vibration sound set in. It was frightening and I screamed that there was an earthquake," he recalled.

However, it was not a lucky day for his aunt who has played the role of mother since he was seven months old. Ms Auma and her other six relatives are still stuck under the rubble.