Residents in terror-prone areas of Lamu County have identified Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers and other security officers deployed in the multi-agency’s Operation Linda Boni as their 2018 heroes. Besides fighting off Al-Shabaab militants hiding in Boni Forest, the KDF soldiers have gone out of their way to provide humanitarian assistance to the locals.
In 2018, KDF provided free medical camps to over 3,000 locals within the operation area. Recently, the soldiers saved the life of a pregnant woman from Mangai village by airlifting her to the King Fahad County Hospital where she delivered twins.
The soldiers have also been distributing water to the locals and have dug several boreholes. Their efforts have thus won the hearts and minds of the locals, who are key in the fight against the Al-Shabaab militants. On Christmas Eve, Mwananua Mahazi had experienced labour pains for four consecutive days without any help. Her hopes for a successful delivery were fading and she knew it would be difficult to get aid in her remote Mangai village, which is deep inside Boni Forest, Lamu East.
After learning of her ordeal, the soldiers flew to the remote village and airlifted her to King Fahad County Hospital in Lamu Town. There she safely delivered healthy twins soon after her arrival. Mwananua is now a happy woman.
She said: “I am more than humbled to have been assisted by the KDF soldiers who managed to bring me here at King Fahad County Hospital. If it were not for them taking me to hospital in their chopper, we would be talking another story. In fact, I would probably have died considering how severe my situation was. Surely, they are more than friends.” Her story is among many that have cheered the hearts of hundreds of locals, particularly those living within the security operation area. Locals, most of them from Boni community, have little access to appropriate medical care, schools and other key amenities.
On August 29 this year, five KDF soldiers were killed and 10 others injured when their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device suspected to have been planted by Al-Shabaab militants at Sankuri on the Kiunga-Hindi road. The soldiers were on a mission to distribute water to the residents in the area when the attack occurred.
