The family of Rodgers Kipruto, a Kenyan student who committed suicide in Finland, is facing a race against time to raise Sh4 million needed to bring his body back home for burial.
Kipruto was among 202 students from Uasin Gishu County who travelled to Finland for a study programme deal between the county government of Uasin Gishu and three universities. However, the deal was hit by controversy when the institutions demanded payment of fees or the students would be deported.
Kipruto had been depressed and physically unwell since last October and complained about hardship in Finland after leaving Kenya on October 30, 2022. He was a student at Laurea University, studying for a degree in nursing after quitting his job as a nurse at a Nakuru Level Five Hospital.
Kipruto’s father, Mr Jonathan Kosgey, told Nation.Africa that the family was unable to bring back his body for burial and has organized a fundraiser to appeal for help from well-wishers. The family needs to raise the funds urgently as they have been given a notification within 21 days to collect Kipruto’s body, failure to which police will dispose of it according to Finnish laws.
Ferrying the body requires up to Sh3 million, and as the family had already exhausted all the resources to send him to study in Finland, they are pleading with Kenyans of goodwill to help them give him a decent send-off.
The Kenyan embassy in Finland has reached out to the family and is aiding in addressing logistical issues to ensure the body is brought on time. The distraught father urged other parents whose children are still studying in Finland to monitor their well-being to avert tragedies.
Following Kipruto’s death, leaders in Uasin Gishu are piling pressure on the administration to address the airlift programme, saying it has subjected the more than 200 students to untold suffering. They called for a solution to avert more loss of life.
The programme was created as an impermeable storyline of education cum employment package that made the opportunity look like a journey to the land of milk and honey, according to Kiprop Bundotich alias Buzeki, who unsuccessfully contested for the Uasin Gishu gubernatorial seat in the 2022 election.
Buzeki called for a commission of inquiry to be set up urgently to expose the filth before another youth is lost.
