Extraordinary nurse awarded Jubilee Insurance Samaritan Award

Nairobi, January 25 – Ms Alice Wanjiru, a nurse at Maragua District Hospital, is last year’s winner of Jubilee Insurance Samaritan Award (JISA). Ms Wanjiru, 30, was honoured as the Quarter 4, 2011 JISA winner by Jubilee Insurance for risking her own life to save the lives of near child-bearing women at the hospital’s maternity ward.

The JISA award seeks to reward outstanding and selfless deeds carried out by humble individuals. It encourages Kenyans to be mindful of the welfare of the less fortunate members of the society.

Ms Wanjiru was recuperating in her bed at Maragua District Hospital after giving birth when thugs struck locking up all medical personnel on duty. Despite the pain of child-bearing, she kept aside her newborn baby and helped the mothers deliver.

The incident on April 7, 2011 remains fresh in Ms Wanjiru’s mind. The hospital was in chaos as the thugs terrorised patients, robbing them of phones and cash. The women were crying for help.

“Although in pain, I dragged myself to them as they desperately needed help. I started helping them with delivery one by one. It seemed like a miracle as I didn’t want to know whether there were thugs around or whether I was in pain. There was even no time to prepare myself,” says Ms Wanjiru.

She had to keep aside her own new born child to attend to the call of duty. Two women delivered boys and the other a girl.

“I did not mind the commotion of the thugs but the pain of the mothers. I also forgot that I was in pain and even about my baby, and saw only the mothers who needed urgent attention,” said Ms Wanjiru who has been a nurse at the hospital for 11 years.

She later, after the thugs had left, went into the room where the other nurses has been locked up and untied them.

While presenting her with the award, Jubilee Insurance Kenya CEO Patrick Tumbo commented Ms Wanjiru’s selflessness which moved her to risk her own life for the sake of others.

“It is not every day that we see such extraordinary concern for others to a point of risking one’s life,” said Mr Tumbo. “Jubilee appreciates Ms Wanjiru and by awarding her hopes to inspire the same values of courage and compassion in others.”

The JISA panel of judges found Ms Wanjiru’s big heart as demonstrated by her actions, a rare and remarkable virtue worth of recognition. “Ms Wanjiru makes us stop to think about our dedication to other human beings,” said Catherine Gicheru a member of the JISA panel of judges. “She could barely move, everybody else feared for their lives, she could have got hurt, and thank God she was not because today we have a hero to celebrate and inspire others,”

Ms. Wanjru was picked by the JISA panel of judges which comprise of six high ranking media practitioners. The panel picks deserving individuals from stories their media houses receive or use their journalist networks to identify individuals who meet the criteria. The entries are presented and deliberated by the panel of judges every quarter.

About JISA

Established in 2006, the Jubilee Insurance Samaritan Award (JISA) seeks to reward outstanding and selfless deeds carried out by humble individuals. It encourages Kenyans to be mindful of the welfare of the less fortunate members of the society.

The birth of this initiative, which is one of Jubilee’s initiatives, sprung from a vision by Jubilee to recognize members of society passionate about the welfare of those around them.

JISA is executed through partnership with key media practitioners in Kenya, who from the nature of their work are able to identify humble and philanthropic members of the society, and act as judges for the award.

The JISA Panel of judges include Macharia Gaitho of the Nation Media Group, Catherine Gicheru of The Star, Jeff Koinange of K24, Ezekiel Mutua the Information Secretary, Mercy Oburu of Royal Media Services and Ben Agina of The Standard Group.