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Garissa University Survivor Marries KDF Soldier Who Rescued Her Life
A former Garissa University student married a soldier who came to her rescue during the Al Shabaab attack on the campus that killed 148 people.
21-year-old Maureen Mayengo had been hidding in a closet for 12 hours when a contigent of the Kenya Defence Forces troops found her.
Among the soldiers was 25-year-old Ivan Okello based at Lanet, who married Ms Mayengo four months after the attack.
The two had met before but decided to tie the knot after the horrifying incident. Manyengo revealed to the Standard that she lovingly refers to her husband as her ‘shield and defender’.
The Garissa survivor has since transferred to Moi University alongside other affected students and hopes to formalise their marriage after her graduation in a church wedding.
Mayengo lives in Lanet with her husband who is currently deployed in Somalia where KDF is battling the Al shabaab militants under AMISOM.
In the interview, Mayengo divuldged that she was still traumatized by the events of that fateful Thursday morning and vowed never to step foot in Garissa University college.
On April 2nd 2015 armed gunmen stormed Garissa University College shooting randomly at students before members of the elite RECCE squad neutralised the attackers.
On Saturday, Kenyans marked one year since the attack which was the deadliest since the 1998 United States Embassy bombing in Nairobi.
