Feature: Kenyan students hope terror-hit varsity will reclaim lost glory

Students at the Garissa University College are hopeful that the institution will reclaim its lost glory following the April 2, 2015 terror attack in which 148 people were killed, mainly their colleagues.

Abdi Mohamed, a second year privately sponsored student who is studying business management and was at the institution when the incident occurred last year, said the attack badly disrupted their studies.

But what pained him most was not his studies being disrupted, but losing his colleagues, some of whom he said were very close friends.

"I will never forget the happenings of that fateful day. A colleague who was a regular student called me at 6 a.m., telling me gunmen had entered the college and were shooting people," he told Xinhua at the college.

"From his voice he sounded terrified. I inquired where he was and he told me he was hiding in a nearby toilet. After close to 30 minutes, when I called him again his phone went unanswered. I feared for the worst, only for the same to be confirmed to me a few hours later. He had been killed by the terrorists," he added.

Mohamed said even though it will be difficult to forget his colleagues, who were killed in the unfortunate attack, life must still go on.

He has since gone back to the institution to continue with his studies. All the students at the college currently are self-sponsored with those being funded by the government having transferred.

Fredrick Owino, a third year student, said he has memories of some of his friends who were killed by the Al-Shabaab terrorists and he is still traumatized by the events that led to the closure of the institution.

The privately sponsored student who is also studying business management said he is happy to have the institution back even though he has lost time since he could have completed his studies sometime back.

"As a student, I'm happy for the reopening of the university, this shows that they have not killed our spirit because we are back to pursue our dream careers. We have been here before and we will remain in Garissa University College," he said.

Munira Abdullahi, a new student studying Information Technology, said that she still has fear of an attack because she is learning in an environment that their colleagues were killed in cold blood.

"This university being the only higher learning institution in the region and which is closer home, we have no otherwise than to make sure we pursue our career dreams here," said Munira, who hails from Mandera County.

Professor Ahmed Warfa, the principal, said the college has so far managed to register 118 privately sponsored students, adding that out of the 60 self-sponsored students, 40 had so far come back.

He noted that intake for 700 regular students will be done in September. Endit