GILGIL, Kenya: Kenyan families were overwhelmed with grief at a mass Friday for 16 girls killed in a suspected arson attack on their school — part of a string of pupil protests that have unnerved the country.
Kenya has seen 47 fires at schools this year as pupils protest a range of issues including exam stress, corruption and conditions at boarding schools that are very common in the east African country.
“Why, why God have you gone?” a girl cried over the coffin of one of the children killed at Utumishi Girls Academy in Nakuru County on May 28.
Children were trapped in the burning dormitory after a fire began in the middle of the night.
Sixteen children aged 15 to 18 died, and 132 were injured, according to the Red Cross.
