Eldoret: The Death of an Athlete

With the situation in Kenya getting even more tense, you realise that it will be awhile before the country recovers. Sadly, when a life is lost, there is a hole left gaping in the hearts of family, friends and even a whole nation.

*Sat in on an interview with Martin Keino of Keino Sports Marketing and Tim of Reuters. Martin had just come back from a meeting to make arrangements for the funeral of Lukas Sang. The funeral will be next saturday the 12th at Kuinet farm. This post is based on the information from the interview.

Lukas Sang was an olympic sprinter who represented Kenya in the olympics in 1988 and 1992, he retired in 1995. He was a tall imposing man, well known in Eldoret for his role in Administration of Athletics as an official, and also as an influential member of the cereal growers association.
What Happened: He was in a car with other people when they went to help a colleague. He was caught up in the rioting that was reported yesterday, and he was hit by a rock on the head. His driver was badly hurt but managed to get away, and later Lukas’s body was found in a slum – Burned. Part of how they were able to identify that it was indeed him was a piece of his tracksuit on the ground. Even worse, is the fact that a dog partly ate his arm.
With the fracas happening at night, no one knows who is who, and it appears he may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The deaths of people around the country is senseless. Its costs are inumerable and the sooner the leaders resolve this crisis, the better. When Kenya loses an athlete, we lose a piece of our face to the world.

Any message of condolences left on this post will be forwarded to the family. Thank you.

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Posted in: Kenya

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 am and is filed under Kenya. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “Eldoret: The Death of an Athlete”

Pr Kenyan January 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 pm

My heartfelt condolences for Mr Sang and his family. I will keep them and all other families in my prayers. We pray for this country.

TS January 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm

Thanks for your work on this blog – the information is really appreciated.

I wonder if you or anyone else could post information about where donations should be given (though things seem still very uncertain and chaotic now, let’s hope things will settle down so that the red cross and others can get to displaced). The kenyan redcross website does seem to be equipped for online credit card donations. Does anyone know of organizations which can take donations online so that we can start circulating email appeals and the like in the U.S.

Maende Makokha January 4th, 2008 at 9:33 am

I send my sincere condolences to the family of Lukas Sang. As a Kenyan abroad, I have always taken pride in our athletes. They represent us very well and have put Kenya on the World Map in the most positive way. It is very unfortunate that Mr. Sang had to lose his life during this chaos. What is happening in Kenya is unnecessary especially so when the person responsible for all these bloodbath should step down and respect the democractic right of Kenyans. I pray for comfort at this difficult time for the family of Lukas Sang and many other Kenyans who are continuing to lose their lives due to selfish, power-hungry and unpatriotic characters. May God have mercy on Kenya

Nii Simmonds January 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am

Hi Solar Power,

I’m praying for you please keep the spirits alive. I believe the democratic process in Kenya is alive, I think this uproar of the election will make Kenya a stronger country at the end of the day.

Nubian Cheetah

http://nubiancheetah.blogspot.com/

msaniixl January 4th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

My heartfelt condolences to the Sang family, will keep him in my prayers….

Great job Afro and Keep safe.

mshairi January 4th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

My heartfelt condolences to Luke Sang’s family and may his departed soul rest in peace. May God give his family hope, courage and strength to overcome these difficult times.

Whispering Inn January 4th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

My heartfelt condolences to the Sang family and to all those killed in these senseless electoral mayhem.

And my heart goes out to those who have been displaced and lost property — those whose lives have been irreversibly changed (ruined!) and who continue to suffer through no fault of their own.

Thank you so much, my friend, for your diligence in updating and informing us.

I strongly believe that this, too, shall pass. At what cost, I cannot even begin to comprehend, but our country is Great, and our people are Great, and we shall heal and prosper.

Liv January 5th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Lukas Sang is a neighbour of ours in Teresia and it was with utter shock to hear about this. My condolences to his family and i pray for strength for his family at this sad time. We have demonstrated in Oslo today and made sure the media and government got engaged. We have promises of an intervention from the Norwegian government especially in consideration to the humanitarian need which is arising. We have passed a clear message that we want peace and democracy to prevail.

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