Family Speaks on Kenyan Student’s Suicide in Finland
The family of the Kenyan student who died while studying in Finland has not yet accepted their son’s death.
The deceased’s father, Kipkosgei Chirchir, reports that his 28-year-old son, Rodgers Kipruto, committed suicide, shocking his family.
The 28-year-old left Nakuru Level Five Hospital’s nursing program and joined Laurea University’s Tikkurila campus.
According to reports, his body was discovered hanging in his room days after his family reported him missing.
The father described the final moments he spent with his son before he passed to Citizen Digital.
“I spoke with my son three days before he passed away. My son complained several times about the difficulties he encountered there. We knew he was having a difficult time there, but we had no idea it was this severe,” he explained.
Chirchir noted that the county government’s fees dispute with the universities it had partnered with caused his son’s frustrations abroad.
Under the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education program, the student was airlifted to Finland. Parents were required to pay school fees through a trust account, with the county government acting as guarantor.
“We believed this opportunity would open doors for him and our family, and the thought of him returning home in a casket is unbearable; my son was a people-person who enjoyed attending church,” the father said.
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The father claimed that after paying the first installment of school fees, his son would get a job and help pay for the rest.
The father stated that they lacked a fee structure or anything else that would serve as a guide.
“We were asked to deposit Ksh.950,000, but we were not told if it was for fees, lodging, or tickets. “I beseech the county government to assist us in recovering our son so that we may give him a proper farewell,” he said.
“We were duped into paying 70% of the fees, or Ksh.950,000 out of Ksh.1.2 million, and were told that the remaining 30% would be paid by students who will be studying and working simultaneously. How were they to pay the remaining balance if they were unable to secure employment and classes were full-time?
Leah Kosgey, the mother of the deceased, pleaded with the government to intervene so that all students participating in the program in Finland would be returned to their families alive, not as her son had been.
“Before he left the country, he promised his neighbors that he would do everything in his power to assist them upon his return; he wanted to make a difference in the community. Let my son be the last person to endure and perish in this manner. “He complained a lot, but said that the team was struggling as a whole,” she explained.
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