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Nothing is as painful as watching your child die - Ida Odinga

County_Nairobi
 News of the death of Fidel Odinga,hit the nation like a thunderbolt.

News of the death of Fidel Odinga, the first born child of Raila and Ida Odinga, hit the nation like a thunderbolt. The grieving parents spoke exclusively to KTN’s Sophia Wanuna about their loss and how they have coped in an interview transcribed by Irvin Jalang’o

Mama Ida, tell us what happened the day your son, Fidel, passed on...

It happened in the morning. I had just woken up at 4am for my morning devotion. I had devoted that day to pray for my children. In my prayer, I concentrated on Fidel for a long time. I received a call from Rosemary asking where I was. She was calling from Bondo. After asking if I was with their father, she told me she had received a call from Lwam telling her that Fidel was not breathing.

I got up and screamed. Raila who was just from the gym asked me what was wrong, then I told him Fidel was dead. I hurriedly grabbed whatever was near me. I chose to drive. We got to Fidel’s house. There was an empty ambulance outside the house. I found paramedics trying to resuscitate him. We thought it would work as he seemed  okay. It was very heart-breaking. There is nothing as bad and painful as watching your child die. It is very hard. You can’t compare it to anything else.

When the paremedics told us he was no more, we had to call a family doctor to certify that. But we could not tell Dr Olunya because he also had some problem. I called Dr Ogolla of Avenue Hospital. He was far, but he sent us a doctor. I tried to reach our children then took to Twitter where I posted that we had lost Fidel. Robert Alai called me immediately and that is how the news got out.

The world came to a standstill and I just went blank. I sat there a whole day hoping he would wake up, but that didn’t happen. The news hit each of my children very hard. Each of them was looking up to him, he was close to everyone in the family. Junior was badly affected. Each one of them is trying to see how they can fill the gap, but they are all badly affected.

About 500 women came to say pole the other day. I’ve been able to meet and share with mothers who have lost their children. Now I understand what they have gone through. One of the people I have shared with is Patricia Radull, the mother of Carol Radull.  Her child George Radull, whom I lived with years ago, died at the age of 15 two decades ago. Looking at Patricia who has lost two children, I get some hope. She takes me through this.

I have shared with a former student of mine called Jane Oloo who lost her 21-year-old daughter. The parents of a Garissa University College student who died in second year during the attack have inspired me. They have 10 children and the child who died was the sixth child.

I thank God for the life and times of Fidel. His spirit still lives. When I look at Fidel’s son Alai, I get a lot of hope. When he comes here, I know he has arrived because he comes in screaming. He looks exactly like Fidel.

Hon Raila, what did this mean to you?

It was like a thunderbolt. Ida jumped and I knew everything was wrong. I was in my gym clothes so I had to change. She told me Fidel was dead. We got there, and there he was. After several attempts, the paramedics gave up. I could see their faces, and I knew we had lost him. The first person I thought of informing was Oburu, but he was not answering. I realised that Sunday mornings are very bad for anyone to die. Most phones were off. My sister-in-law was so pleased when I called her...but lost herself when I told her the news.

So how did you cope with the loss?

Relatives and friends came, and ultimately there was an avalanche of people. We were overwhelmed by the demonstration of compassion and friendship that surpassed our imagination. It made the load much easier to bear. They took charge of all the arrangements.

The government was also very helpful. The President and his deputy came and helped with transportation. Our close friends organised a committee. Friends from all over the world sent messages and others even visited. It helped in lessening the load and easing the pain of losing Fidel. We laid him to rest and people still come to say pole. This is usually a process in our tradition. Luos call it duogo e liel.

Has the cause of Fidel’s death been established? There was a lot of speculation...

We appealed to people not to speculate and allow the authorities to investigate his death. I’m happy that this has happened and there hasn’t been too much speculation. Police have been carrying out investigations. We are told they are almost through, but they have not shared their findings with us yet. We hope it will happen soon.

Will you make the findings public?

We will have to make it public once we are informed. It cannot be kept a secret. Fidel was a public figure.

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