On the day of the Ethiopian Airline Crash #ET302

On 10th March, 2019, mid morning(EAT), news flooded various social media apps about an Ethiopian airlines plane crash , that was headed to Nairobi from Addis Ababa. On twitter the official Ethiopian airlines handle had not sent out an official communication about the incident by 10:00am, but on Facebook a Sky news article was already circulating. On WhatsApp groups there was some news on a group of Kenyan rotarians who were in a meeting in Addis Ababa and were expected to travel on the very day of the plane crash.

The possibility of Rotarians being on board , was the beginning of my mixed feelings and shock about what the outcome of this plane crash could mean. In fact that WhatsApp message was my first interaction with the news of the crash. I have some friends in Rotary, and really it could be any of them in that meeting, boarding that flight. I was paralyzed. Then I quickly remembered about a friend from Ethiopia I had met late last year who had just settled in Nairobi. I knew she shuttles the route often. I debated for close to 20 minutes about texting her.

I was in Nancy’s house for a sleepover, we had already woken up but we were still sluggish, a usual Sunday morning vibe. We immediately thought about BA, he is a rotarian alright, even more a president of one of the Nairobi clubs, Nancy debated calling him and in a split second she did make the dreaded call. On the last ring he picked. We sighed heavily, we looked at each other with relief. In that short moment our hearts were pounding. BA on the other side of the phone learnt about the crash from Nancy and immediately worried about Jeff, a fellow rotarian who was in Addis. He hang up to check on Jeff.

I scrolled my Whatsapp contacts, and texted Berhan.

“Hey Berhan. Just seen the news on Ethiopian airlines…this doesn’t make sense(checking on you here) but wanted to check if you are well…”

2 minutes later, she replied. My already tensed body was a bit relieved. But she added that there’s someone she was meeting on Monday who she thinks could be on that flight and that she also came back on Saturday with the same flight.

I lacked words. I only wished her courage to handle the outcome.

It’s now 11:00 am, the official confirmation of the crash from the airlines has been sent out, via Facebook and Twitter. Still no news of survivors, casualties, fatalities. Just information on possible numbers on board, 149 passengers, 8 crew members.

1:46 pm

The airline confirms there are no survivors.

I am sad. I am not certain I know where to place the emotions, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the last time, May 6th, 2018, when I flew the same route, Addis-Nairobi on ET 302 but on a different aircraft model.

Leshan’s Birthday Party

I had slept over at Nancy’s because we had a buzz full of activities this weekend. Saturday afternoon we were attending Banjie’s baby shower and we later took her for a dance night out.

On that Sunday afternoon, we were to go for Leshan’s birthday party. Leshan was turning one and I had never seen him since he was born.

5:00 pm, Still no news amongst our circles on who could have been in the plane. As it is always the case with fatal airplane crashes, news keep streaming in bits. I wasn’t truly immersed in the party, as I should have, in part because my body and mind was still with the horrific nature of a plane crash.

I dislike take-offs. They send me to panic mode. Flying from Nairobi to Addis for the first time, on April 28th, 2018 wasn’t a good experience. There was so much turbulence as we approached Addis, It lasted about 5 minutes but it felt like a whole lifetime. I ended up holding onto my seat mate. He then assured me that this is common because of the mountainous region. I thought about this turbulence on this day. My stomach was wobbly. I was hungry and the party food was amazing, but I could not get myself to enjoy the food as I had anticipated.

In the middle of the party, my mum calls and informs me that one of my dad’s cousin, Doreen, was badly injured in a bus accident on their way to bury their cousin. In her words, her intestines were outside the body and she hadn’t gotten the emergency care she needed since yesterday in the Kisumu County referral hospital.

Sunday’s are generally easy, but this one, was extremely chaotic for my liking.

BA called Nancy back, the rotary members were scheduled for a later flight.

On Monday and Tuesday, I begin to see several WhatsApp status and facebook posts about the victims of the fateful plane crash. My colleague Lilian mourned a brother in law , Abonyo a high school mate lost a family friend who was also a lecturer at Kenyatta University, my friend Vero mourned a fellow dedicated Kenyan girl guide , African scholars mourned Prof Pius Adesenami, Kenyan doctors mourned a colleague, the person Berhan was to meet didn’t make it either…

I obsessively counter checked which aircraft model I used , one year ago, as if to convince myself, that I was lucky. But death isn’t about luck. Death is death.

#ET302