The cult where people starved themselves “to get to heaven”

In the middle of a forest not far from the coast of Kenyayou can see mounds of fresh dirt topped with crucifixes awaiting the attention of forensic experts.

Some 14 mass graves have been unearthed so far and Hussein Khalid has spent the last four days watching people exhume dozens of bodies.

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“The stench is unbearable” he tells the BBC.

The dead, who now number more than 80, are believed to have been members of the International Church of Good News.

It is believed that they were persuaded to starve themselves to heaven before what they were told would be the end of the world.

Khalid runs the human rights organization Haki Africa, which led authorities to their graves late last week after some locals tipped him off.

The location is “quite hidden” within the Shakahola forest and Khalid explains that he and his team needed to cut down bushes and bushes in order to drive there.

Bigger number

Until Tuesday 89 bodies have been exhumedBut police estimate the death toll could be much higher, including some who were rescued dying while receiving treatment.

The final tally could be much higher, since, according to the Red Cross, there are 112 missing people.

Khalid estimates that there are around 60 mass graves in the area and only a quarter of these have been examined.

As of Tuesday, 89 bodies have been exhumed. (REUTERS).

Police say 29 survivors have been found so far, but it seems that not all wanted to be rescued as they were convinced by what they were told about the end of the world.

On Sunday, Khalid encountered a woman in her 20s who “appeared extremely frail” with sunken eyes. But she didn’t want help.

“When we tried to administer first aid to give her sips of glucose water with a spoon, she completely refused. She closed her mouth and was implying she didn’t want help,” Khalid says.

He adds that the woman was taken to the hospital for treatment.

He also came across a man in his 40s who was indeed able to speak.

“He said he didn’t need to be saved, he was in his right mind, he knew what he was doing and we should leave him alone. He even He said we were enemies of him going to heaven”.

That man was also taken to the hospital.

also children

Victor Kaudo of the Malindi Community Human Rights Centre, which is helping to exhume the bodies, says he believes there are about 150 bodies.

He explains that his organization was contacted by an informant who wanted help to rescue his three children.

“It was quite unfortunate because we only rescued one that we found in a house, tied up with a rope,” he told the BBC.

“And we believe that This boy is six years old. But his sister and brother were already dead and had been buried the day before we got there.”

Detectives and forensic experts began examining the site on Friday. (EPA).

Beyond the forest, the entire country is shocked at how dozens of people could have voluntarily starved.

Kenya is a deeply religious country, where 85% of the population identifies as Christian.

President William Ruto, who is also a devout man, described the leader of the International Church of Good News, Pastor Makenzie Nthenge, as someone who “He did not belong to any religion.”

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki described what happened as a “massacre”.

Last month, Nthenge was charged in connection with the deaths of two children whose parents had joined his church.

He was released on bail, but now he is back in police custody.

Senate President Amason Kingi asked how “an evil of such staggering magnitude [podría] take place without being detected”.

There is also the question of why anyone would be willing to starve to death.

Dr James Kipsang Barngetuny, a theologian and psychologist, told the BBC there was a problem in Kenya with the proliferation of many small churches They are not properly regulated.

He points out that unscrupulous leaders are capable of brainwashing people and taking advantage of their desire to find a solution to their problems.

In the forest, which covers some 325 hectares, Khalid was told there is a place further inland where people would gather to pray and he has urged the authorities to intensify the search and rescue operation.

Local people are starting to arrive at the place where the graves are to inform the authorities about their missing relatives.

A man told Khalid that his brother had taken his three children, ages 21, 17 and 14, to join the church.

He fears that now they are all dead.

Source: Elcomercio