China aids victims of Kenyan university terror attack

The Chinese Embassy in Kenya handed a donation of more than 6 million Kenyan shillings ($64,092) to Moi University on Tuesday to help the families of students killed and survivors of a terrorist attack in the university's subsidiary Garissa University College.

The money was raised by the Kenya China Economic and Trade Association, Kenya Overseas Chinese Association, the China General Chamber of Commerce in East Africa and the Chinese Embassy in Kenya.

Representatives from Moi University in Eldoret accepted the donation from Chinese ambassador Liu Xianfa.

"Many ordinary Chinese showed their condolences and support to the Kenyan people through the Internet. The message they want to convey is very clear, ‘We stand with you'," said Liu.

“Chinese nationals living in Kenya, who breathe the same air and drink the same water as the fellow Kenyans, felt the pain as of themselves,” he said.

"It is obviously only one of the many actions that the Chinese community has taken, is taking and will take. In the future, the people of China and Kenya will continue to face all challenges together, stand side by side and shoulder by shoulder."

"We are Chinese and we are also Kenyans. Kenya is our second home. We should make an effort to help," said Gao Wei, the vice chairman of the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association.

One of the donors is Huang Jinhui who has been in Kenya for eight years. "I am a Kenyan as well, we should do something," he said.

The Chinese community in Kenya has also been active in helping family members of the victims.

Earlier this month ambassador Liu and members of the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association council visited the Chiromo Funeral Parlour in Nairobi where family members of the deceased students had claimed the bodies of their loved ones, bringing family members food and bottled water.

The terrorist attack at Garissa University College in Kenya's Northeastern town of Garissa on April 2 saw 148 lives lost, including 142 students. The attack also injured dozens of others.

Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said fighters from the Somalia-based extremist group were responsible. The al-Qaida-linked group has launched a series of attacks in Kenya, including the one at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013 which claimed 67 lives.