August 7, 1998 will forever remain etched in the minds of Kenyans. On that black Friday a terrorist bomb tore apart the American Embassy in Nairobi leaving more than 200 people dead. The pain, the loss and the feeling of vulnerability are still deeply rooted in the minds of everyone who was there, heard it over the radio or watched it on T.V.

However, the triumph of a people's spirit over tragedy is not just about forgetting the past, it is about remembering the dreadful events that changed their lives and by so doing honoring those who perished or were maimed. Anthony and Mary Mwanza, disciples in the Eastleigh Sector of Nairobi's Metro Region remember that fateful day as if it were just yesterday. For Mary it began just like any other day when she arrived at her 21st floor Cooperative Bank house building office, adjacent to the place that now holds what was the American Embassy.

A few minutes to 10:00 a.m. a sister who was working in the same building visited to check on her. Mary, ever keen on detail noticed that the sister's blouse had a stain and she advised her to wash it off. In the middle of their conversation, Mary got a call from another sister and as soon as she hung up, there was a loud bang. Curious, she rushed to the window to check what the problem was but as soon as she came back to her seat the bomb went off displacing her.

(Picture: The hollow shell of Co-operative Bank, left, next to the US Embassy Building, right, in the aftermath of the bomb blast)

Then began the dreadful and terrifying effort to get out of the building. She does not remember seeing anyone then and tried calling the sister and her boss but no one answered. "For a few minutes I lost consciousness but when I recovered I started looking for my way out," she says. Mary says at first she thought it was a fire and even attempted to pull the fire extinguisher to put it out. "The extinguisher failed to come out and I had to proceed with the journey," says the mother of three.

As she hit the stairs Mary, who for once thought her end had come, remembered her family. "I thought about dying as I took the stairs and thought, 'like this is my last day, what will become of my husband and children?' My adrenaline must have been very high when I reached the street," adds Mary. On her way down the only people she met were two bodyguards of a former Education minister who was also working in the same building since most people had opted to use the stairs on the opposite side of the building just near where the bomb had gone off. The two bodyguards were trying to show out another person caught up in the melee that followed the blast. There was also a man half-covered in rubble who was screaming for someone to help him up. Moved by the man's cries Mary oblivious of the danger she was putting herself in by delaying, tried to pull him out but he was too heavy for her and she had to proceed.

Reaching the second floor where the banking hall was situated, she saw a rope dangling from it to help people out but it was too high for her and she decided to proceed to the ground floor. She remembers seeing a lady submerged in rubble in the banking hall and screaming for help. Confused, scared and bleeding, the first thing she noticed when outside was that people were running away from her. She decided to run towards the National Bank of Kenya building and luckily a good Samaritan pulled her hand to a waiting pickup car that rushed her to hospital where she was treated for face, head and hand injuries. She also suffered trauma, high blood pressure and a miscarriage one and a half months after conceiving.

But in all this Mary has come through with gratitude to God for sparing her life. "After the whole episode, I have been through so much in and out of hospital but I I am grateful that God has been with me in all this. She has also learnt that life is short and the need to be prepared all the time.

For her husband, Anthony, who was out of town when it happened, it was a most agonizing time and an event he would love to forget in a hurry. "I was in Mombasa on official duty and did not know about it until 12 hours after it had happened," he says. But he thanks God for not letting him know about it as it saved him 'sorrow upon sorrow.' "I don't know what I would have done had I known earlier. It would have made the journey from Mombassa to Nairobi days and hours longer,' quips Anthony.

He says on that day he finished his business in the Coastal town by ten o'clock since he was leaving a couple of hours later. Despite two stop on his trip back to Nairobi, he never got an inkling of what was going on. He had tried to call his office and his wife while on transit but the phones went unanswered in both places. This did not raise any suspicions. On reaching Nairobi, he saw cars being diverted and thought it was normal. Soon he was on his way home but realized that there were an unusually high number of policemen downtown. Glass was also strewn all over the place. "That is when I asked the person next to me what had happened. He looked at me and as though I was out of my mind. 'Where are you from,' he asked," says Anthony? Upon replying that Anthony had been in Mombasa and was not aware of what was going on, the man told him that the Cooperative Bank building had been bombed and everyone who was inside killed.

Knowing it was where his wife worked, Anthony was shell shocked and resigned himself to the fact that his wife was no more. " At some point the matatu (public taxi) I was in broke down and I decided just to walk home despite pleas from fellow passengers that the place was dangerous. I was numb and don't even know how I managed to carry the heavy luggage along," explains Anthony. Luckily he was soon picked up by the matatu and on reaching home he found people discussing the events of the day in low tones. "This just discouraged me further, especially when I heard the voice of my wife's sister speaking from our house. It confirmed my fears that something terrible must have happened to Mary since it was not usual for her sister to be at our house so late," he continues.

Anthony still does not remember who opened the door for him or whether he knocked but as soon as the door was opened the first person he saw was his bandaged wife sitting on her favorite seat in their living room. "I ran to her, hugged and kissed her. It was such a relief!" he concludes.

The lasting lesson for him is never to take life for granted. He has also learnt to trust God, confidently aware that he can never allow anything to happen to him that he cannot handle.

- Gilbert Otieno

Editor - Mary has, since that horrifying day, defied the odds and experienced the hand of God as she has given birth to a son, continued to stand out at work, where she was once nominated on a popular radio station as the best secretary in Nairobi, and testified courageously at events about the lessons she learnt through what she went through on and after the 7th of August 1998. Athony and Mary lead the Eastleigh sector of the Nairobi Christian Church.

Life will throw crises at us, but God will always throw a lifeline. Let us always trust him. As David shares in Psalm 23, let us fear no evil - or challenge - even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, because we know that God is with us and comforts us.