Kenya Bombing Survivors Share Experiences at Museum

Ellen Karas, who was working in the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, when al-Qaeda bombed the facility in 1998, shared her experiences during a talk at the 9/11 Memorial Museum on Feb. 6, 2015.

Karas, who was blinded in the bombing, was joined by her stepdaughter Pam McNett, as well as 20 Kenyan survivors of the attack and family members, some of whom also spoke to the audience. 

Karas testified in one of the trials of the alleged conspirators and authored a book about her experiences titled “Miss Gloria: A Survivor of Terrorism,” which was published in 2011.

After the talk, curators led the group on a tour of the Museum. They viewed a painting of a Maasai cow flag, commemorating a gift that a tribe in Kenya gave the U.S. after 9/11, as well as photographs and video footage of the embassy bombing that they survived.

By Jordan Friedman, 9/11 Memorial Research and Digital Projects Associate