During the tragedy that was the Westgate Mall massacre in Nairobi last year, one mother did something so brave, the world will never forget it. Her name is Faith Wambua-Luedeling. She was with her young son and daughter when the gunmen began open firing at the shoppers.
She pressed her children to the ground in the mall, helping them play “dead,” even as gunshots continued to ring out.
(H/T HuffPost)
“We were just lying there — there would be shooting going on, then it would stop,” she told NBC News. “There were times I could hear the bullet casing dropping on the floor near us. We could smell the gunpowder and we would really be scared.”
Even though Faith was terrified herself, she did what she could to keep her children safe. New York Times photojournalist Tyler Hicks captured the iconic photograph of Faith protecting her children.
More than 60 people were killed that day by Al Shabaab, a militant Islamist group based in Somalia. Faith and her two children hid for over 5 hours, lying on the floor. She sweetly sang to her son and daughter along to the wordless mall music, just to keep them quiet.
What this mother did for them was incredible, and her bravery deserves to be shared.