JINHA

NEWS CENTER – People in Kenya remembered the victims of the Garissa massacre and protested the state's insufficient action to protect the more than 147 students lost in the attack.

More than 147 students, many of whose identities are still not confirmed, were brutally slaughtered in a small group of El Shabab fighters' attack on Garissa University, which went without opposition from security forces in the northeastern Kenyan city for hours. Thousands of students have protested the government's insufficient action in both Garissa and Nairobi in recent days, with marchers refusing to leave the presidential residence until the office officially received their petition.

Yesterday evening, people in Nairobi gathered in Uhu Park bearing roses and candles for a memorial ceremony. In the shadow of the photographs of 32 students, organizers read the names of those killing in the attack one by one. Memorial organizer Doreen Areri said that the memorial intended to ensure the students were not just a number.

The hashtag #147notjustanumber, started by Kenyan woman OryOkollohMwangi, has provided a space for sharing the faces and stories of the students, the majority of whom were likely women.Because Kenya's university system places students in universities based on a quota system from every village, the hashtag provides a portrait of the young women who were the hopes of their villages in Kenya. Women like first-year education student Ruth Jeptoo, Miss Garissa Mary MuchiriShee and HaliChiromo, whose mother sold the families' two cows to send her to university, are having their life stories told on Twitter.

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