( CNN ) -- Joseph Mathenge had n't planned to be at Westgate Mall in Nairobi , Kenya in September 2013 , when gunmen -- now associated with Islamist terror group Al Shabaab -- infiltrated the shopping center and started shooting en masse in a blitz that resulted in 67 deaths . The Kenyan photojournalist , who last month won African Journalist of the Year at the 2014 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards , was with his son , Geoff Kihote , en route to take photos at a wedding . Geoff had been diagnosed with bone cancer , and the assignment was to help pay for his treatment in India . It was at that moment that Mathenge got a call from a friend inside the mall . `` I happened to be in a dilemma , because a friend of mine just called , '' he recalls . `` She was trapped in Westgate , held hostage by terrorists , and here is my son . I had to actually think about it. `` It was his son who told him they had to go . When they arrived , they found chaos . People were streaming out of the mall , ducking for cover , at a time when they were trying to find a way in . `` There were gun shots being fired all over as we tried to look for access into the building , '' recalls Mathenge . Once inside , Mathenge and his son took turns taking photos and helping injured hostages . They also communicated with security and police forces to direct them around the mall . `` I told ( my son ) to be cautious and to be focused , because any minute we could be shot , '' says Mathenge . With security , they located the friend who 'd originally called , and moved them out of the mall . At that point , they left the scene . The father and son pair spent about eight hours in the mall . `` We went to the car , transmitted our pictures to newsrooms , and then we went to a restaurant where we sat down and had coffee without talking to anybody . That was our way of actually settling down our minds , '' says Mathenge . `` It was important for me to take pictures , to show the world exactly what was happening , to document the moment so that future generations could know exactly what happened . '' The series , entitled `` Images of Terror '' , first appeared in the Kenyan daily newspaper The Standard . Exposing corruption . Mathenge was one of several African journalists honored at the awards , held in Dar el Salaam , Tanzania last month . Other winners included South African journalists Susan Comrie and Joy Summers , for TV network Carte Blanche , who uncovered corruption in a solar geyser installment scheme in South Africa 's townships . Their undercover reporting won them the G-E Energy and Infrastructure Award . `` It 's a story of big money , and promises to the poor that they were going to get hot water , '' says Summers . `` ( The solar geysers ) were going to save the city a huge amount of electricity . They were supposed to be locally manufactured , they were supposed to create jobs . I do n't think they did any of what was supposed to happen . '' 'Voice to the voiceless ' Rashid Ibrahim , a cameraman for Kenyan network Citizen TV , won the News Impact Award for `` Veiled Justice '' , about the rapes of very young girls within a secretive Somali clan in northern Kenya . `` As cameramen , we like to hide ourselves behind the lens . Sometimes , you just put on your headsets , you focus and then you let the story flow , '' says Ibrahim . This time , however , he says the story got to him . `` The child ( we interviewed ) was six years old . When I was looking at her , I just felt like crying , '' he recalls . The awards , which were launched in 1995 , are a joint venture between CNN and the South Africa-based satellite television service MultiChoice Africa . `` You can see how the awards have expanded over time . It continues to grow from strength to strength , '' says Nico Meyer , CEO of MultiChoice Africa . `` It 's actually giving voice to the voiceless . ''
Kenyan journalist Joseph Mathenge won CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards . Mathenge risked his life during the Westgate Mall attack last year . TL;DR The U.S. State Department has warned Americans to avoid travel to Kenya and other countries in East Africa because of a recent spate of deadly attacks by Al-Shabaab.