Man on The Streets: Westgate Mall Re-opens, are you planning to go back?
Come next month, July 2015, the Westgate Mall re-opens. UP finds out whether Nairobi is ready for the re-opening.
September 21st remains a dark day in the annals of Kenyan history, especially for Nairobi residents. In 2014, the world looked on as al-Shabab gunmen stormed the popular Westgate Mall on September 21 in a brazen attack.
The attack, al-Shabab would later come to point out was in retaliation to Kenya’s invasion of Somalia. 67 people dead and 200 injured, contradicting reports and an NYPD report that tipped an escape by the attackers, little information has leaked to the public that is substantive.
Over the last couple of months, the once premier capital shopping mall has been undergoing construction and the once terror zone is slowly being re-worked and set to be re-opened in July 2015.
Are Nairobi residents really ready to walk into the once popular mall again? UP went in search of the answers.
Anna Keber, Journalist and an expat living in Nairobi
I never really spent much time at the mall as a hangout spot but if I was on my way and needed to pick something up, then I definitely will pop in at Westgate Mall.
Nick Ndeda, Radio Personality
I do not see why not. No one really knows when or where the next attack is going to happen, and that does not mean that you have to live your life locked up in the house. I will still go to Westgate Mall.
Mkamzee Mwatela, Actress
I will go back to Westgate Mall any day because moving forward is the point.
Ian Arunga, Writer and Graphics Designer
I have never really thought about it. I have no clue what to feel about it actually. I have driven past the entrance about three times since the attack and my heart sunk every single time. My mind would place bodies in cars and blood all over the stairs as I drove by. My mind would replay people run out of the entrance in fear. My mind would replay screams and gunshots. My mind would force me to go through the whole thing in the few seconds it took me to drive by… Then thoughts of the same would cloud my mind from then on. All this by just driving by! I am not sure how I would feel walking on the very ground I knew blood poured and lifeless bodies littered. I wouldn’t know. I am not sure I would be strong enough to.
Arjun Kohli, Filmmaker
I plan to go back because it is important for terrorism not to change our way of life.
