AUGUST 7TH MEMORIAL PARK TOURS

Why The memorial park was built

A memorial to the innocent people who lost their lives as a result of the 1998 bombing. A garden of solace, offering comfort , strength and hope in an environment of relative peace and serenity both to the victims’ families, those who survived and also the general public for those directly affected by the tragedy. A tribute to the courage of those who have coped with injuries sustained and /or the loss of a loved one. A condemnation of terrorism. The park makes a statement on the futility of terrorism and that the virtue of humanity will prevail.

The Management and ownership of August 7th Memorial Park

The memorial park and visitors centre is owned and maintained by a not-for-profit organization called the August 7th Memorial Trust. The trust was conceived in February 1999 with the objective of building and maintaining a memorial park on the site of the former US Embassy building in downtown Nairobi, destroyed by the terrorist attack on August 7th 1998.The land on which the park stands was kindly donated to the August 7th Memorial Trust by the Government of the United Stated of America. The trust’s responsibility is to maintain the sanctity of the park as a quiet refuge for victims, their families and the general public

Brief History of August 7th 1998

On 7th August 1998, a terrorist bomb attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi took the lives of 218 innocent people and injured several thousand others, many permanently. Others may also have perished on that fateful day, although they were never identified. The terrorists carried their deadly cargo in a pick-up truck, and would have donated the bomb in the US Embassy basement had it not been for a Kenyan security guard who raised alarm. Despite a grenade and firearms attack the brave Kenyan guards and the US marine stood firm and prevented access to the building. The terrorists then set off the bomb in the open right gate of the Embassy. The explosion was heard throughout the city centre and the reverberations were felt in most parts of Nairobi. Within the hour , local TV stations had transmitted images of the terrible devastation : whole buses a flame, the injured stumbling on sidewalks bleeding and incoherent , the wailing sirens of the ambulances, and most unforgettable of all the enormous mass of rubble, and the cloud of smoke above it all as black as it turned out to be in Kenya’s history.

For five days Kenya’s Emergency services assisted first by a very helpful public, and then by teams of international experts, laboured around the clock to remove the rubble and rescue those who were still alive; centers were set up for food, water, medicines and other necessities that were donated, volunteers ferried the injured to hospitals and manned tents next to the site providing food and drink to the rescuers; people donated blood; rescuers removed the rubble with their bare hands. Nairobians from all walks of life came together in a tremendous show of solidarity, rallying behind those that needed their help. Had it not been for their Herculean efforts the number of lives lost would have exceeded 218.

Fact file

• August 7th 1998 a bomb explodes at US embassy in Nairobi Kenya
• February 3rd 2000 the idea of the august 7th memorial trust was set up, taking over of ownership of the former US embassy site and assuming responsibility for ensuring the creation construction of the memorial park.
• April 6th 2000 Fund raising was started in earnest when H.E President Daniel ARAP Moi, then president of Kenya, presided over a ground breaking ceremony.
• August 7th 2001 -The Memorial Park was opened on the site where the explosion, and much devastation, took place.
• In 2002 the Trust received a grant from USAID for the construction of Visitors Centre on the former Ufundi House, adjacent to the Memorial Park.
• In 2004, the Visitors Centre is completed.

Excursion Price

The Park has since become a tourist attraction in Nairobi