Mercy Omondi was on her way to a funeral for a friend when she was tragically killed in a seven-car pileup during last week’s blizzard conditions across much of southern Manitoba.
“It’s still hard talking about her in the past tense,” said Maureen Musiro, Omondi’s cousin, Friday afternoon.
Family and friends are remembering the 30-year-old as a compassionate, community-oriented spirit.
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Mercy Omondi was killed in a seven-car pile-up during last week’s blizzard.
Omondi was caught in near-whiteout conditions when her vehicle was involved in a collision near Fermor Avenue and Symington Road on the morning of Jan. 17.
Whiteout conditions on highways and roads contributed to multiple collisions and all-day responses from RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service. Several highways, including the Perimeter, were shut down most of the day.
After the collision, Omondi exited her vehicle and was struck by another driver.
“She called a friend, she was panicking, and the friend tried to calm her down, telling her to take deep breaths, and let the police know that she’s been hit,” Musiro said. “She had come out of the car to go around her car. So we are assuming she had gone to check on the damage at the back of the car.”
Omondi was pronounced dead at the scene, RCMP said at the time.
Omondi worked as a nursing assistant at a retirement home by day and a youth support worker at night — a testament to her kind, loving heart, Musiro and the woman’s colleague, Manu Allieu, said.
“She cared for the people that she worked for,” said Allieu, who worked with Omondi as a support worker. “If I was to call her regarding whatever it was, if she was able to help, she would definitely come and help.”
Manitoba’s Emergency Management Organization issued its first mobile alert for hazardous road conditions that day. RCMP estimated there were at least 50 crashes, including a six-vehicle pileup on Highway 3, south of Highway 23.
Health Sciences Centre issued an alert at 10:45 a.m. that advised staff to prepare for the possibility a “code orange” could be issued. It is made when a hospital responds to a potential sudden influx of patients.
Omondi was working toward getting into nursing school and was heavily involved in Winnipeg’s Kenyan community, having come to the city from the African country as a child.
The funeral she was planning to attend was for a woman in the Kenyan community.
“She was more of a giver than a receiver,” Musiro said. “She was a people person.”
Omondi had just returned from Africa where she was visiting family.
Though working two jobs made for long days, Allieu and Musiro said Omondi made time for the things she loved, like music, travel and her faith.
“She was literally the life of the party,” Allieu said.
“She was one of a kind.”
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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