Sylvia Cheptowot, 16, was yesterday hailed and honored as one of the country’s youngest heroes after saving 140 lives during a banditry attack on her school buses.
Sylvia was among the 230 national heroes recognized on Mashujaa Day after the heroic act when bandits ambushed Tot High School three buses in Elgeyo Marakwet County earlier this year as they returned to school from a field trip.
Speaking to Citizen Tv, the young heroine said she was in one of the three buses that were attacked by bandits who opened fire, killing the driver, injuring fifteen students and two teachers.
It is during the commotion that she heard the bandits speak in her native language and their plan to kill them and she pleaded with them not to end their lives.
“I opened my mouth and spoke in Pokot. I screamed and told them, ‘we are students from Tot High School, do not kill us,'” she said.
It from her plea the bandits decided to abandon their mission, saving her and the rest of the people in the two buses.
Sylvia who was shot on both legs and broke one, spent three months in hospital and another four at home recuperating, after she underwent surgery to fix a metal plate in her broken leg.
Leave a Reply