Teen injured in Kenya now in Canada
Members of the Kenyan and Somali communities here bond in support of victims
A Toronto-born teenager who was critically wounded in the deadly siege at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall is back in Canada and recovering in hospital.
Fardowsa Abdi, 17, flew from Kenya to Toronto with her father and almost immediately went into surgery at Sunnybrook Hospital after she arrived Sunday, said Mohamed Dubet, a friend of the family who has known Fardowsa since she was a child.
He saw her Sunday night after she got out of surgery and described her leg as “shattered,” but said the family was relieved she was back in Toronto.
Fardowsa and her 16-year-old sister Dheeman were hurt by the bullets and explosions at the mall when it was stormed by gunmen on Sept. 21.
The teenagers’ aunt, Hodan Hassan, earlier told the Star that Fardowsa’s injuries were so severe she may never walk again.
“She has a long way to go if she’s even going to walk again. . . . There’s just bone in some parts of her legs,” Hassan told the Star’s Alex Ballingall.
The girls were born in Toronto, but moved to Kenya with their parents two years ago.
They had been grocery shopping at the Nairobi mall when the terror attack began.
Meanwhile, close to 200 people from the Canadian Kenyan and So- mali communities came together Sunday at Toronto’s Metro Hall to show unity and support for the victims of the Nairobi attack.
Amid song, speeches and prayer, a simple message, handwritten by Wilfred Pande in the official colours of Kenya and Canada, summed up the feelings in the room.
“We are one! Kenyadians. To hell with terrorism.”
Those at the gathering also made a plea to countries issuing travel advisories.
“I think by doing so, they’re simply saying that the terrorists have won” said Pande, a Toronto resident who works in corporate risk management.
“We should actually be doing the opposite — encouraging tourists to go to these places to show the tourists that life can still go on, despite the heinous acts.” The U.S. has re-issued a warning. Canada has not issued a nationwide warning but there are regional warnings and, since the Sept. 21attack, has reminded Canadians to be “highly vigilant” in public spaces. Pande had very close friends — a mother and her two children — who were in the mall and were rescued by commandos, just before the Kenyan army went into the building. They hid in a bathroom, and were able to make a phone call to arrange a rescue, said Pande. The Somalia-based and Al Qaedaaligned Al Shabab claimed responsi- bility for the attack, In a passionate speech, Ben Ondoro, president of Kenyan Community in Ontario, called for unity amongst Christians and Muslims and all religions. “I’m sure, in time, we will get out of this thing much stronger, and united,” said Ondoro. “We cannot allow terrorists to divide the Kenyan nation along religious lines — no way.” Mohamed Omar and Amina Noor, social workers at Midaynta Community Services, a Somali-Canadian charity, came to show solidarity. “I came here just to be with my brothers and sisters from Kenya to support them and also we just want to pray for everyone who died and anyone who was injured,” said Noor. “We want to show them that we are together in this, and we all stand together as Canadians. We condemn this in the strongest way possible.” Kenya’s security services made another arrest Sunday, a top official said, but declined to say how authorities believe the person was involved in the siege. Kenya has arrested 12 people but three have been freed, Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said during a press conference. He declined to say if any of those arrested had been in the mall during the attack. Investigators have also identified a car used by the gunmen, and found in it “an assortment of illegal weapons,” said Lenku. The four-day siege left 67 people dead, according to officials. With files from Alex Ballingall and Star wire services