Narrated by Susan Njeri
My name is Susan Njeri, the mother of Boniface 'Boni' Kariuki.
At just 22 years old, my son was a hardworking hawker trying to earn an honest living. On June 25,2025 during the nationwide protests, Boni believed he could make a little extra money by selling masks to protesters in Nairobi.
Boni was incredibly diligent. He was always thinking of ways to improve his life and support our family. He sold different items depending on what would help him survive, and he approached every opportunity with determination and hope.
I was at home in Kangema when my younger daughter told me that Boni had been shot.
At first, I refused to believe it.
Why would anyone attack my son? Boni was peaceful. He kept to himself and focused only on his work. He was not confrontational. He was simply trying to earn a living.
Then I started seeing videos and photographs circulating on social media.
Soon after, journalists began calling me and coming to my home. That is when the painful truth finally sank in, my son had been shot.
Boni worked closely with his father, my husband John Kariuki. While still in Form Two, he joined his father in Nairobi and learned the trade from him. Over the years, he became responsible and ambitious far beyond his age.
He would often tell me, “Mom, when I become successful, I will build you a big house and start a dairy farming project for you.”
At only 20 years old, he bought me a calf worth Sh15,000.
As a mother struggling to provide for four children still in school, I later sold the calf at a profit and bought another one. That money helped us pay school fees and survive difficult times. Boni understood our struggles and always did everything he could to ease the burden.
We spoke often, even if not every single day. He always checked in on me.
After he was shot, our lives changed forever.
We spent days camped at the hospital, praying and hoping he would recover. We held onto every small sign of hope until the day he finally passed away.
The pain devastated our family.
After the burial, his father could not return to work immediately because the trauma was overwhelming. When he finally gathered the strength to go back to Nairobi, he found his home in the Industrial Area had been broken into and all his belongings stolen.
He returned home defeated.
Now he mostly works on our small farm because he can no longer find casual jobs. People assume that because he lived in the city, he cannot do manual labour, which is not true.
Life has become unbearably difficult.
Today, our family survives mainly on my earnings from doing casual work in people’s farms, washing clothes, and taking on any small jobs I can find. Before Boni died, we combined our earnings and somehow managed to survive together. Now everything feels heavier.
His sisters are still struggling to accept that he is gone.
As the festive season approaches, the emptiness in our home becomes even more painful because Boni loved spending Christmas with his siblings. He brought life and joy into this family.
Despite his young age, he helped educate and feed his siblings using the little he earned. He had such a bright future ahead of him. I truly believe he would have become something great in life.
He made me proud every single day.
His death shook our family to the core, and the grief has been unbearable. For a long time, I could not even bring myself to hang his photograph in our sitting room. I only recently found the courage to do it.
Now, all our hopes rest on the justice system.
We want accountability for the people who shot my son. No family should have to endure this pain.
Even so, I remain hopeful because the case is finally progressing in court.
