Salah Farah
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Salah Abdow Farah was a Kenyan teacher who lost his life after defending his fellow passengers on a bus. He survived the December 2015 attack but died on January 18, 2016, from complications after a surgery to remove a bullet lodged in his hip. His story of courage inspired the short film Watu Wote by Katja Benrath. At the time of his death, Farah was the Deputy Headteacher of Mandera Township Primary School.
On 20 December 2015, Farah was in a bus bound for the town of Mandera in northern Kenya. The bus was attacked by suspected Al-Shabaab militants. In a similar attack the year before, the attackers had separated passengers according to faith. Those who could prove they were Muslim, by reciting passages from the Quran, were spared. Those who couldn't were lined up and shot. 28 people were killed, with the only person, Douglas Ochwodho, surviving by a stroke of luck.[1]
Farah's bus was stopped near the town of El-Wak on the Kenya–Somali border. Knowing what would happen, female Muslim passengers gave their head scarves to the non-Muslims on the bus. Then Farah and other passengers refused to be separated, telling the attackers to "...kill all of us or leave us alone."[2]
Death
For his act of defiance, he was shot in the hand and hip. Two other male passengers were fatally shot, as well as an off-duty policeman who happened to be in a different car. The militants then escaped, leaving Farah critically injured. He was airlifted to Nairobi for specialised treatment where he died one month later during surgery. His body was airlifted by a police helicopter to his home, where he was buried in a quiet ceremony.[3]