Witchcraft fails to trace lost teacher

By Mangoa Mosota

Driven by desperation, a family has now been forced to consult sorcerers to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of its kin 10 years ago.

However, the family of Zephaniah Otieno, a teacher who went missing on December 14, 1998, aged 31 years, ended up losing more money to the greedy sorcerers.

Edwina Odongo Yieko, the mother of Zephania Otieno (left) with the his children. Otieno’s wife deserted the children leaving the grandmother to shoulder the burden of bringing them up. Photo: James Keyi/Standard

His late father, Samuel Yieko, spent all the retirement benefits searching for him across the country including neighbouring Tanzania.

"My father retired as a teacher in 1997. He received Sh400,000 in benefits the following year, a few months after my brother went missing," Otieno’s brother Josiah Okumu narrates. "He used all the money in the search for my brother."

Otieno’s father, later succumbed to diabetes in 2005, which was a painful experience. The family says the old man’s sickness was aggravated by his son’s disappearance.

His mother, Edwina Odongo Yieko struggles to explain the circumstances under which her son disappeared. The elderly woman looks forlorn. The pain of her lost firstborn is visible in her stride and voice.

Wife deserts

Yieko says: "We have visited several Jokoro (sorcerers). They all promise that my son is alive and could soon resurface."

In the process of visiting sorcerers, they have parted with a lot of money.

Yieko reveals that in 2005, they paid a jakoro in Siaya Sh6,000 who promised them that upon returning home they would find Otieno.

"Our hope was raised but it turned out to be a hoax. We had been conned," she says sadly.

The burden of taking care of his four children was too much forcing the old woman, a retired teacher, to return to work to raise money to support them.

"I started teaching at a pre-unit school nearby three years ago. This was after their mother deserted them," the 58-year-old woman says. The children are aged between 10 and 18 years. One of them sat for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations last year. The rest are in primary school.

Otieno’s wife left three years ago and reportedly re-married.

Last year, she met the children’s mother at a funeral and unsuccessfully beseeched her to return home.

"I have pleaded with her to return and take care of the children in vain," she laments.

Okumu says a neighbour had once threatened that his brother would one day go missing.

"In 1996, one of our neighbours told my father that Otieno could one day disappear without a trace," says Okumu, adding that the man had differences with his father.

However, Yieko reportedly took the threat lightly and even when his son went missing, he did not report to the police.

Yieko says she has cried and prayed for the return of her son.

On the day he went missing, Otieno had informed the family that he was going to Bondo town — about 20km away — to collect his salary.

"My father, brother Zakayo, Otieno and myself had been in the farm ploughing from 6am to 10am," Okumu recalls.

"As we took breakfast after work, Otieno informed us that he was going to Bondo to get his money. That was the last time I saw him," he explains.

Elders seek ritual

Otieno did not return home that evening but they were not worried because they thought he had spent the night at Thim Primary School in Bondo where he taught.

"When he did not show up for the second day, we got worried. My husband felt we should check if he had decided to spend some days at Thim," says Yieko.

"My sons went to look for him in school but fellow teachers said he had been there on his way to the bank but had not returned," recalls Yieko.

The following day, Yieko went to Asembo Bay township, seven kilometres away to make calls as she searched for him.

She called Bondo District Hospital to check whether he had been involved in a road accident and probably admitted at the facility. She then called Bondo Police Station just in case he had been arrested.

"When it became apparent that the police had not arrested my son, we decided to check with an uncle in Bondo town," remembers Yieko.

The uncle, Samuel Olang’o, who repairs bicycles, told them that Otieno had left his bicycle for repair and did not return.

"Olang’o told us Otieno had left some items he had purchased and took a stroll. That was the last time he saw him," says Okumu.

When the bicycle was brought home, Yieko thought thugs had killed Otieno and hidden his body.

Yieko says that about three years after the disappearance, some elders suggested that rituals be carried out to allow the wife to be inherited.

"This involves burying a banana stalk. But my husband declined, saying that he believed our son was still alive," she says.

Now Yieko says that the responsibility of taking care of his son’s children is overwhelming. The family is in deep pain as hope of finding him diminishes.

She believes her son will one day walk back into their homestead.

"I look at his pictures and they give me hope that he is still alive somewhere," she says.

 

 

Read all about: Missing Person Samuel Yieko

 

 

---