Missing boy frustrates family

The last time 15-year-old Joseph Omondi, a Standard Seven pupil at Rapogi Primary School in Seme Kisumu County was seen, he was fighting over a memory card with his elder brother.

That was on June 18 at 9pm. Since then, no one has heard from or seen him again, and his disappearance remains a mystery that endures to this day.

What happened to Omondi that night?

There had been nothing unusual about his behaviour before he vanished, and there were no signs that he had had a problem at school or with authorities.

Five month’s later, life for Omondi’s family has been hellish.

They have struggled to trace him with little success.

‘’My son used to wake up at 6am, but that morning it was a different story. We waited for him to come have breakfast as usual but he never showed up. When we went to his room to check on him, he wasn’t there,’’ explains Simon Ochieng’, the boy’s father.

Wondering where Ochieng’ was, the family patiently waited for about two hours.

Since nothing was forthcoming, they decided to visit the school to confirm whether he decided to leave home on an empty stomach.

‘’But he was not in school. Neither his close friends nor his teachers had information about his whereabouts,’’ says Ochieng’.

The relentless search then began.

‘’We first reported the matter to the police. Later, we loaded our phones with airtime and started calling relatives. But none had information and we were becoming wearier after every call,’’ says Ochieng’.

Four days later, after the family aired the matter on a local radio station, Ochieng’ received a phone call from a man purporting to be a taxi driver who had driven Omondi and two women from Kisumu to Chabera in Kisii.

But when Ochieng’ approached the ‘taxi driver’, he demanded Sh7,000 to aid the poor family trace their lost son.

‘’We were ready to pay anything as long as we found our son.’’

‘’But ‘taxi man’ insisted on a down payment of Sh2, 000, which we declined.’’

What worries the boy’s family most is that the school going pupil had never visited any big town nor had he gone past Kombewa which is just five kilometres away.

Visiting friends and relatives have not been helpful in the search.

‘’Some say the boy may have walked away due to frustration and would return days later. Others however, say the boy may have been trafficked and taken to another country. Whenever I hear of the latter, I am terrified,’’ says Ochieng’.

‘’Since the boy disappeared, we have been busy looking for him. We never sleep in our houses. I have gone to many places including Chabera, Kisii and Kisumu. Sometimes I just walk aimlessly on the streets hoping to meet my son.’’

Across the village, people are living in fear following the vanishing. The villagers say it is not the first time such an incident has occurred.

‘’In December last year, a vehicle was seen roaming the village luring people for a free ride. It later emerged that they managed to trap one boy who was later found dead,” says Eunice Awino, a villager.

When contacted about the lost boy, the police said they have intensified the search to find him.