For the love of Kenny <3

Kenny Cordova Espinosa is a 26 years old registered nurse from the city of Iloilo in the Philippines. Kenny is the 2nd of the four children of Teresita and Benny Espinosa. Kenny lost his father at the age of 11. Together with his 2 younger siblings, they grew up with the courage and hard work of their loving mother. He finished his Bachelors of Science in Nursing last 2012. And became a registered nurse nine months after finishing his degree. In 2013, he lost his mother due to heart failure. Ken considered it as the toughest obstacle in his life.

During that time, Kenny was working at the city hall of Iloilo as a company nurse and luckily with the help of her sister they were able to manage their funds to sustain their daily needs. Kenny considered the loss of his mother as the most tragic event in his life. This event then made Kenny realised that he will carry the responsibility to take care and provide for his siblings.

In 2015, he went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a registered nurse for 2 years. After his contract expired last 2017, Kenny and his girlfriend Brigette (currently working in Singapore as a registered nurse) decided to pursue their nursing career in New Zealand. However, Brigette was able to extend her contract in Singapore before their plans to go to New Zealand were finalized. They decided that Kenny should go first in New Zealand and flew last March 2018 to take up a Diploma in Health Care Management. Before his demise, he was already processing his CAP course for nursing.

Last January 11, 2019, Kenny and his workmates took a road trip to Whangarei to have their summer outing and was very happy according to his friends. After visiting the popular mermaid pool in Matapouri, they then headed to Whangarei falls which is one of the most beautiful attraction in the country. Kenny got excited and told his friend to come and swim with him. His classmate Benjamin was with him during the trip. He told Kenny that he is too exhausted to swim but gave in to Kenny’s request to acxompany him. When they reached the falls, they went for a swim but after a few minutes Benjamin told him that he had enough as he is too tired. Kenny on the other hand swam further and when he reached the middle of the falls, Benjamin saw him gasping for air and drowned. Tourists on site were helping each other to look for Kenny. Unfortunately, they too got exhausted and sadly gave up. Kenny’s body was retrieved the following day after a professional team of rescue divers from Wellington were called to help in the retrieval.

His remains now lie in Auckland Funeral Services and will be cremated as soon as members of his family from the Philippines and his girlfriend arrives in New Zealand.