The fateful Wednesday night when Solai Dam burst its banks

At around 8 pm on Wednesday 9th, May 2018 a dam in Solai Nakuru County broke its banks, the water flowing with speed and fury rumbled downhill clearing everything along its way. The small and quiet villages of Kwa Energy and Nyakinywa which were preparing to go to bed were thrown into confusion, nobody knew what was happening, they did not know what they were running from. It brought devastation of a magnitude that had never been experienced in that area. In minutes almost everything was flattened.

In total 48 people, mainly women and children were killed, many were maimed and property worth millions of shillings was destroyed. It's now 8 months since the tragedy happened, still fresh in many people’s minds. The owner of the dam, his manager and five other government officers have been charged with 48 counts of manslaughter.

As a photographer, this tragedy is one of the saddest moments of my life, at some times when I took pictures I wept.