Hero matatu driver helps passenger deliver baby

Can anything good come out of the matatu industry? Well, a Githurai matatu crew has proven sceptics wrong after assisting a pregnant passenger to deliver a baby boy.

The driver of the matatu, George Kariuki, and his conductor, Richard, were going through their usual business on the Githurai 44- Nairobi route when a startling turn of events changed their morning routine. One of their passengers was experiencing labour pains.

“After the conductor had collected bus fare he came and told me that one of the passengers looks sick and she wants to alight near Neema Hospital. I told him to ask her whether she could wait a little bit for us to drop the passengers then rush her to hospital,” George narrated.

It was raining heavily and they could not drop her at Alsops, the two deciding to drive her to Neema Hospital near Kasarani stadium on their return journey.

“When we got near Rosters area my water broke,” said the woman.

As Richard struggled to get help from women at Roysambu, George kept watch over Philomena Mbithi.

Things soon got out of hand, and he had to help her deliver the baby.

“When I turned to look around I saw the baby’s head. I was scared but God gave me strength…  I stretched out my hands and held the baby which was almost falling down,” said George.

What could have been a tragic situation ended up in joy.

The woman delivered her baby boy at the entrance of the bus, just outside the hospital.

“In the bus is where the umbilical cord was cut and the placenta removed before the nurses moved me into the ward,” said the woman.

The baby aptly named Raymond Kyalo meaning he was born while his father was travelling, the incident revealing the brighter side of the much-maligned matatu industry.