By Courtesy/ Gabriel Oguda via Facebook
The story goes like this.
Joyce Ongombe, a UoN-Kikuyu campus-trained high school teacher who specialized in Mathematics and Accounting, taught for a short time before opting to venture into business. Joyce was married to George Ooko a former mathematics teacher at Alliance Girls High School, and later Hillcrest International School at the time of his death.
In April 2010, Joyce’s husband George, and his two children Angela (4) and John (2), while driving from Migori to Nairobi were swept away by the infamous Narok flash floods, leaving Joyce with their three months old Georgina. Barely eight months after the loss of her husband and two children, Joyce lost her father and mother three days apart, burying them the same day only months following the burial of her husband and two children.
Having lost all her immediate family, the bond between Joyce and her dear daughter Georgina became stronger. Joyce found family in a community of believers at Lavington Seventh Day Adventist Church who walked with her during this difficult time of grief, she would later become an active deaconess in the church. She raised her daughter Georgina in the church to become a brilliant, active pathfinder involved in various church activities including drama and music.
Georgina would later pass her primary national examinations with flying colors and distinction earning her a place in one of the most coveted and prestigious high school in Kenya – Alliance Girls High School, where her late father once taught mathematics. With her Christian grounding, leadership skills at a young age, and rising academic star, Georgina was set for great things – a possible future leader. But as fate would have it, calamity struck again!
Tragedy after tragedy
During the last Christmas festivities, Joyce and her daughter Georgina went to Mombasa for a crossover vacation, where they booked an apartment. Sadly, while preparing breakfast on 31 December 2024, the water boiler is reported to have exploded, throwing them to the ground and burning them severely! Joyce suffered 53% burns, and the little girl burn was 60%.
They were rushed to Premier Hospital in Nyali, and later air evacuated on 1st January to Kenyatta National Hospital Burns Unit in Nairobi. A team of doctors and plastic surgeons began to administer treatment. Unfortunately, Georgina succumbed to her injuries two weeks later on 14 January 2025, and in an instant, Joyce’s world crumbled!
The pain and the loss have been unbearable. Georgina was buried on 11 April 2025 in Kakrao Village-Migori County, side by side next to her late father and two siblings.
Joyce remains hospitalized with excruciating pain, following the prolonged hospitalization and the nature of the burns suffered, significant resources have been used yet her recovery is far from over. To fully heal, Joyce is currently receiving specialized treatment at FORTIS Hospital in New Delhi, India, with an immediate need of Ksh. 7 million to cover her current treatment costs and possibly change the traction of her healing.
A major fundraising has been planned for tomorrow, Thursday 5th June 2025 from 5pm at Nairobi Central SDA Church, off Milimani Road. Those who will not make it to support Joyce can extend their compassion using the Medical Fund Paybill number:
PAYBIL: 5480284
A/C: Your Name
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been used without the permission of the author(s) but with the interest of the ailing widow, Joyce at heart.
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