On Wednesday, November 3, 2021, the family of Beryl Jerop, a 16-year-old student who was found dead in her bed at St Teresa of Avila Girls secondary school, would receive a series of phone calls that would change their lives forever.
The first call, dialed by a teacher to Jerop's uncle, informed the family that the student had fallen ill.
Before he could get to the school, another phone call came in. This time, the teacher stated they had rushed the student to hospital and asked that he meet them there.
The third phone call, however, would inform him that Jerop had passed on and her body had already been taken to the mortuary.
The school management explained that Jerop had fallen ill during school hours and was rushed to hospital for treatment. However, her uncle did not believe the story.
Further, the family lamented that the school had left incorrect details with the mortuary attendants.
A eulogy written by Jerop's brothers and sisters in her name, indicated that she was a joyful, disciplined and Christ-loving girl, who was elated when she got an admission at the St Teresa of Avila Secondary School in Ndalat.
She narrated her story in a bid to reach school administrators and committees.
"I fell sick, I cried alone. Day in, day out. But they told me nivumilie (persevere). To stop pretending, but that headache my God, so so painful. In the dorm alone I thought a lot.
"The blistering headache, the fever, the stiffness of neck! So so painful, I asked my friend to tie my head with a leso. I asked her to take me back to hospital. I was Shivering, but the nurse said I should have one blanket to keep me warm," reads an excerpt of the eulogy.
Jerop added that she was left alone in the dormitory, in a school she had reported just three weeks before.
"But gone I am gone. You will not see me again in that dorm, class and assembly. No, you won't. The headache, so painful. The fever. The imbalance. Stiff neck...all that conspired and took me away.
"Treatable it was but where am I now? In my memory, no one's child should go through what I went through. It starts with teachers, matrons and nurses treating me like that own child they have at home," her eulogy continued to read.
The family is appealing to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to get to the bottom of the matter and unravel the mystery surrounding her death.
