Chanel Mangu, 22, spoke to her police officer husband Shadrack Mangu around 2pm on February 15, 2023 while he was on patrol duties from Lokichar to Kainuk in Turkana.
"Just pray for me," he told her in a hushed tone as he ended the brief call.
Bandits were marauding in the area. It was increasingly dangerous. Chanel could sense some fear in his voice but an officer must be strong.
At 7:15pm, the young wife called again, this time while the man was in the heat of an exchange of fire with the bad guys.
He asked for more urgent prayer because things had gone worse.
"He told me to continue praying for him because the bad guys had already shot his leg and he was bleeding. I could hear gun shots in the background," she said.
She hanged up and when she called again a few minutes later, no one picked. That was the last time she spoke with her husband.
"I just felt I was no more as well. He was the only one with the job taking care of us. Now, I'm jobless with two kids and was only expecting to receive his casket. I was very deflated," she said.
Mangu was to turn 30 in two days at the time of his death. The couple married in 2018 just days after Mangu got the police job that year.
Chanel's story is similar to that of Eunice Naiserian, a mother of two in her mid-twenties who buried her husband in January this year.
Even when her husband was a live, her kids never knew what it felt like to be home with their daddy on the Christmas Day. It was a sacrifice they were willing to live with for their country, but not being without him forever.
Early in January, Naiserian said, she got the dreaded call. Her husband had been shot on the chest while on duty in Mandera, dying on the spot.
"I wish my husband was wearing on a bullet proof vest. He could be alive with us today, helping me to raise our kids. But he was not provided with one," she said.
Naiserian, who spoke on behalf of the families during the annual memorial service of joint security forces killed in line of duty this year, said her husband always told her about the danger he faced in Mandera and that he would die any time.
"Instead of receiving my husband home in the New Year to see his children and make merry, I was called to receive his casket on January 7. It is the saddest memory of my life," she said.
The event was a somber affair as the young women, mostly in their early or mid 20s expressed grief at being widowed early and staring at a bleak future.
They pleaded for state help to raise their children and make life since most of them are jobless and depended solely on the husband's pay.
The officers drawn from Kenya Police, Administration Police, DCI, and Prison Service were remembered as heroes who laid down their lives on behalf of their country.
It also emerged that majority of the officers died at the hands of bandits up north and terrorists in the frontier counties.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki assured the officers that the state was making radical investment in their safety and was modernising their equipment and machines to better fend off criminals and terrorists and protect themselves.
He however said that the death of the officers was an act of heroism that should not instil fear among the surviving ones who are still serving.
"We will not be cowed. We are putting the criminals on notice because our officers are better trained and positioned to protect our country, including during this festive season."
Kindiki also announced that all contingency measures for security during the festivities have been finalised and that officers will not be on leave, remaining vigilant to protect the public.
He said the number of dead officers in the year declined from 56 last year to 37 this year, meaning that the efforts to protect them are working.
"We are working to bring this number to zero," he said.
Kindiki announced the establishment of an endowment fund for children of fallen officers as scholarship and for medical needs.
"The policy framework for the fund is ready for my approval and we will roll it out in this financial year because we have got the seed money needed," the CS said.
Police IG Japheth Koome said that it was a badge of honour to be injured or fall in the line of duty because it was a show of patriotism and pride in country.
"I know it's a sad occasion but as officers we know it's a personal choice. We took up this job knowing all its consequences and the risks involved. We will not be cowed or intimidated," he said.
"I remember I went to the field in Meru pleading with the recruiting officer not to leave me. I knew the dangers involved, including death," Koome said, urging officers to use their weapons to protect themselves.
"That gun you have is bought by taxpayers' money. You didn't buy it. You are given to protect yourself. If you are slow, you will go. If you are quick to use it a head of the enemy, you will live."
