TheCrocodile
JF-Expert Member
- May 31, 2021
- 1,864
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Norah Borus Chelagat (born June 7, 1995) was an exceptionally brilliant Kenyan computer scientist and academic prodigy, who hailed from Moiben, Uasin Gishu County.
Before 2019, she had achieved national celebrity status in Kenya due to her academic excellence.
Norah was the last-born child of highly accomplished professionals. Her father, Professor Peter Borus, is a prominent polio specialist and researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Her mother, Dr. Dinah J. Borus, is a graduate-educated agronomist who worked with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Chelagat attended Precious Blood Girls High School, Riruta, one of Kenya's top-performing national schools, and in the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, she emerged as the best-performing female candidate in Nairobi County and was ranked 4th overall nationally.
Following her spectacular results, she joined the prestigious Equity Bank African Leadership Programme in 2014, a selective pipeline designed to mentor Kenya's brightest minds for global impact.
While her excellent national grades traditionally would have directed her toward a medical degree in Kenya, Norah chose to follow her passion for technology and secured a scholarship to Stanford University in California, entering in late 2015.
At Stanford, she proved her academic capability by enrolling in a demanding co-terminal program, which allowed her to fast-track her studies, graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Engineering while simultaneously finishing a Master’s Degree in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Norah was heavily involved in tech-for-good initiatives, collaborating with Stanford's CS + Social Good group to build an SMS platform for Sanergy, a company scaling hygienic sanitation solutions in Kenyan informal settlements.
Aside from programming, she was an active vocalist, part of the Stanford Center for African Studies, and loved mentoring youth by teaching nine-week coding camps in Nairobi during her summer breaks.
In June 2019, a video emerged online that Norah had recorded detailing her life abroad. In it, she spoke candidly about feeling deeply disconnected in the United States.
"Before Stanford, I had never gone out of Kenya," she expressed.
She mentioned that while people on campus were nice, she deeply missed Kenya, the food, and the distinct warmth of the people. She remarked on a unique feeling of security she felt back home that was missing in the U.S.: "There is a certain feeling you get while in Kenya... like people are waiting for you."
Few days before Friday, June 14, 2019, Norah uncharacteristically dropped out of touch.
Because Norah was a highly active student, she was a vocalist, a mentor, and heavily involved with the African Studies Center. Dropping out of contact or missing planned gatherings completely during Commencement (Graduation) Weekend, when campus life was intensely social, immediately raised red flags for those close to her.
As an international student who relied heavily on messaging apps (like WhatsApp) to stay connected with both her campus friend groups and families back home in Kenya, suddenly going "dark" and failing to respond to repeated texts, phone calls, or knocks on a dormitory door gave a primary reason her friends to contact residential advisors, and campus police.
The Stanford University Police Department entered Norah Borus's room on Friday afternoon, June 14, 2019, for a
welfare check.
Following protocol when an occupant does not respond to repeated knocks, university officials and police officers utilized a master key to enter her private residence hall room at Kimball Hall.
Inside her room, officers discovered the 24-year-old Norah lying completely lifeless, and deceased after consuming poison.
The physical state of the room immediately ruled out any form of external break-in, physical assault, or struggle. Police quickly determined there was no threat to the campus community, pointing to a self-contained tragedy.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office later processed the toxicological findings and officially concluded that she died from poisoning by suicide.
To everyone around her, Norah appeared to be thriving. She was a vocalist, a mentor, and ran coding camps for youth back in Nairobi during her vacations.
During her requiem service at the Africa Inland Church in Lang'ata and her final send-off in Uasin Gishu County in late June 2019, the tributes from family, friends, and university peers painted a picture of an exceptionally multitalented, generous, and spiritual young woman.
Her father, Dr. Peter Borus, found an open Bible on her desk in Kimball Hall, taking comfort in the belief that she was praying. Her mother, Dr. Dinah Borus, tearfully recalled their last phone conversation and expressed the heartbreak of an unexpected final goodbye.
During the grieving period, her mother, Dr. Dinah Borus, tearfully revisited their very last phone call. Her exact words reflected the profound longing to have held onto that moment longer. She stated:
"If only I knew that that was the last time I would see your smile and hear your voice, I would have hung on the phone."
#chelaa 😩
Before 2019, she had achieved national celebrity status in Kenya due to her academic excellence.
Norah was the last-born child of highly accomplished professionals. Her father, Professor Peter Borus, is a prominent polio specialist and researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Her mother, Dr. Dinah J. Borus, is a graduate-educated agronomist who worked with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Chelagat attended Precious Blood Girls High School, Riruta, one of Kenya's top-performing national schools, and in the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, she emerged as the best-performing female candidate in Nairobi County and was ranked 4th overall nationally.
Following her spectacular results, she joined the prestigious Equity Bank African Leadership Programme in 2014, a selective pipeline designed to mentor Kenya's brightest minds for global impact.
While her excellent national grades traditionally would have directed her toward a medical degree in Kenya, Norah chose to follow her passion for technology and secured a scholarship to Stanford University in California, entering in late 2015.
At Stanford, she proved her academic capability by enrolling in a demanding co-terminal program, which allowed her to fast-track her studies, graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Engineering while simultaneously finishing a Master’s Degree in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Norah was heavily involved in tech-for-good initiatives, collaborating with Stanford's CS + Social Good group to build an SMS platform for Sanergy, a company scaling hygienic sanitation solutions in Kenyan informal settlements.
Aside from programming, she was an active vocalist, part of the Stanford Center for African Studies, and loved mentoring youth by teaching nine-week coding camps in Nairobi during her summer breaks.
In June 2019, a video emerged online that Norah had recorded detailing her life abroad. In it, she spoke candidly about feeling deeply disconnected in the United States.
"Before Stanford, I had never gone out of Kenya," she expressed.
She mentioned that while people on campus were nice, she deeply missed Kenya, the food, and the distinct warmth of the people. She remarked on a unique feeling of security she felt back home that was missing in the U.S.: "There is a certain feeling you get while in Kenya... like people are waiting for you."
Few days before Friday, June 14, 2019, Norah uncharacteristically dropped out of touch.
Because Norah was a highly active student, she was a vocalist, a mentor, and heavily involved with the African Studies Center. Dropping out of contact or missing planned gatherings completely during Commencement (Graduation) Weekend, when campus life was intensely social, immediately raised red flags for those close to her.
As an international student who relied heavily on messaging apps (like WhatsApp) to stay connected with both her campus friend groups and families back home in Kenya, suddenly going "dark" and failing to respond to repeated texts, phone calls, or knocks on a dormitory door gave a primary reason her friends to contact residential advisors, and campus police.
The Stanford University Police Department entered Norah Borus's room on Friday afternoon, June 14, 2019, for a
welfare check.
Following protocol when an occupant does not respond to repeated knocks, university officials and police officers utilized a master key to enter her private residence hall room at Kimball Hall.
Inside her room, officers discovered the 24-year-old Norah lying completely lifeless, and deceased after consuming poison.
The physical state of the room immediately ruled out any form of external break-in, physical assault, or struggle. Police quickly determined there was no threat to the campus community, pointing to a self-contained tragedy.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office later processed the toxicological findings and officially concluded that she died from poisoning by suicide.
To everyone around her, Norah appeared to be thriving. She was a vocalist, a mentor, and ran coding camps for youth back in Nairobi during her vacations.
During her requiem service at the Africa Inland Church in Lang'ata and her final send-off in Uasin Gishu County in late June 2019, the tributes from family, friends, and university peers painted a picture of an exceptionally multitalented, generous, and spiritual young woman.
Her father, Dr. Peter Borus, found an open Bible on her desk in Kimball Hall, taking comfort in the belief that she was praying. Her mother, Dr. Dinah Borus, tearfully recalled their last phone conversation and expressed the heartbreak of an unexpected final goodbye.
During the grieving period, her mother, Dr. Dinah Borus, tearfully revisited their very last phone call. Her exact words reflected the profound longing to have held onto that moment longer. She stated:
"If only I knew that that was the last time I would see your smile and hear your voice, I would have hung on the phone."
#chelaa 😩
