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   Obituary - Kaaria W. Mbaya

  

Kaaria W. Mbaya

House: Baringo (Hawke)
Year: 1975-1978

On 21st April 2005, Webmaster received an e-mail message from a friend of Kaaria:

    "I want to pay tribute to a classmate and a very dear friend who passed away on September 11th 2001, in the Twin Towers terrorist attack in New York. We were both day boys and belonged to Hawke/Baringo house. Here is the story as reported in the Daily Nation on 18th Sept 2001"
Image of Kaaria Mbaya


Daily Nation - 18th Sept 2001

Kenyan died in terror raid against New York

By DENNIS ONYANGO

At least one Kenyan died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, it was confirmed yesterday.

The body of Mr Kaaria Mbaya has been recovered from the rubble of the WTC his mother, Prof Verstistine Mbaya, said.

Mr Mbaya, 38, worked as a senior computer analyst with a company on one of the towers of the WTC. His office was on the 105th floor.

He is the son of a former MP for Meru South, Mr Simon Mbaya, who died in a road accident about 25 years ago.

"This is terrible news," his mother said yesterday. "But it offers some relief. It is better than going to New York only to find that the search has ended and the place sealed off and your son is still missing."

Mr Mbaya was one of at least 5,000 people who died or are still missing following the terrorist attack, in which two planes were crashed into the twin WTC towers and third into the US military headquarters in Washington.

A fourth plane hijacked by the same band of extremists crashed in Pennyslvania, killing more than 100 people.

Mr Mbaya went to St George's School in Nairobi for his primary eduction and Nairobi School for 'O' Levels. He then proceeded to Villanova and St Joseph's Universities in Pennsylvania, USA, respectively for undergraduate and graduate studies in computer science and engineering.

He was one of five children, who included two sisters and two brothers, also living in the US. All were born in Kenya and took their early education in the country.

Funeral arrangements are expected to begin today.

"We will be meeting to figure out how to go about this. Now we have at least the body to talk about," Prof Mbaya said.

Mr Mbaya lived close to the World Trade Centre and usually walked to work.

Prof Mbaya was upset by the fact that the Kenyan embassy in Washington had declared that no Kenyan died in the attack even as she was still looking for her son.

"I am undergoing the usual emotional response of grief, anger and fury that my son could have been the target of a missile attack while he was in his office. I do feel that the perpetrators be pursued to the ends of the earth,"she said.