For 40-year-old Rahab Nyokabi Mwangi, her near-death experience last week is a sad reminder of the worst day of her life.
Nyokabi slipped into the raging waters of a river in Kinangop as she tried to cross with the help of her neighbours.
Unfortunately, the delicate balancing act of walking on a thin soggy log to get to other side was too much of a challenge and the next thing she remembers was fighting for her life.
“The rains had fallen heavily while we were still stuck at the market. When the rains stopped, we began trekking back home. When we arrived at the bridge, where we usually cross, it was already submerged by water, rendering it impassable. Villagers had converged at a narrow section of the river upstream and improvised a makeshift bridge using logs,” she said.
She says that she had used this same spot again and was decided to use it once more leaving his son on the banks of the river to find his way home through an alternative route.
“My son crossed over, took the luggage and went upstream to look for alternative ways home. I preferred to use this spot because I had used it before,” she said.
She recalls getting help from a neighbour, Stephen Njomo to cross to the other side of the river.
“When it was my turn, Njomo stretched out his hand and I stepped on the log placed across the river as I held onto a tree branch. But while I was crossing and trying to get hold of Njomo’s hand, I slipped.”
“I held onto a broken branch, but the waters were flowing at a very high speed and the volume was overwhelming, so I let go of the branch and started swimming. I am not a good swimmer, but I have seen people swim before and I knew this was the only way to save my life,” she said.
However, even as he fought hard to stay alive, she did not panic at all and she thanks God that she was helped by neigbours who sprung to action upon seeing what had happened.
John Kariuki who recorded the whole incident said he has been recording this for a while and posting it on social media in the hope of getting leaders to act on the matter.
“When the unfortunate incident happened, I wanted to take a video clip of the submerged bridge and share it on Facebook,” Mr Kariuki said.
For Nyokabi though, she does not want to watch the clip that is still the saddest day of her life.
“I do not want to watch it. I am already traumatized,” she says.