Strange Illness at Kenyan Catholic School: What Really Happened?

To explain what happened at the Catholic school, Fr. Kibaki shared a detailed report of how signs of the strange illness had been noticed at the school, about two months prior to the internet storm.

The report that was compiled by Jackline Judith Itubo, the Principal of the school, shows that it all started towards the end of July when a student at the school started complaining of pain in her leg.

“A student reported to school from Nairobi in second term and started complaining of pain in one leg. Despite management by pain killers in the school, it was noticed that the pain was progressing and the school had the girl picked by her parents on July 30, 2023 for further management,” Ms. Itubo said.

She said that the student’s pain persisted even after she was brought back to school and that her parents had to pick her up again.

On September 22, another student at the school is said to have started complaining of difficulties in walking and was admitted to hospital. This was followed by the third girl in Form 2 who complained of a similar illness to the school nurse and had her parents take her to one of the leading hospitals in western Kenya.

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On September 30, a group of girls are said to have complained of pain in their knees and were taken to hospital, treated and brought back to school in good health, the school principal says.

But on October 1, things took a turn for the worse when 13 girls said that they too were sick and were taken to hospital. “They were treated and brought back to school,” Itubo says, and adds, “On Monday, 65 cases were taken to various hospitals… under the supervision of government health officials.”

She says that as of October 4, some 22 girls had been admitted at Iguhu Sub county hospital; 12 at Shibwe Sub County; 41 at St Elizabeth Mukumu Hospital and 13 at Kakamega General Hospital. In total, 106 students had been admitted.

Medical officers had concluded that the children were suffering from panic attacks after the tests ruled out infections. Of the 106 students who were admitted, at least 46 were reportedly discharged while the rest were in stable conditions and were being monitored.

Ms Itubo said that the school, which remains closed, is working with parents and guardians to plan for its reopening.

In the Friday interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Kibaki, who sits on the board of the school, told ACI Africa that a meeting had been scheduled later in the day to plan for next week’s return of the students.

Fr. Kibaki said he was mulling over the idea to organize a spiritual retreat for the students, noting that what they suffered was psychological.

“We have a meeting later today where I plan to propose professional counseling and a psychospiritual support program for the students. We will hopefully organize a recollection to pray for the students and to give them confessions. What they suffer is psychological because they believe that they have been attacked by demons,” he said.

The Kenyan Priest said that the incident at St. Theresa’s Eregi Girls High School wasn't the first that he had seen in western African Catholic schools. “The same illness happened at Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School, and we addressed it by prayers. It happened again at St. Cecilia Girls High School, Misikhu in the Diocese of Bungoma, and some 10 years ago, at Eregi Primary School.”

“We have been looking into all these incidents and discovered that they were all addressed by prayers and professional counseling,” Fr. Kibaki said.

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Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.