Come back home son, distraught mum pleads

A portrait of 39 years old Edward Maina who left to Tanzania the year 2015 and since then nobody has his whereabouts. He left six children at their rural home. BY CHRISPEN SECHERE.

In July last year, Edward Omani Maina, 39, left his home in Eshambula village, Kakamega County for greener pastures in Tanzania. He was in the company of an in-law.

He stayed there for one month and went back to the village but after a week, he received a call that the wife of his in-law was sick and left immediately. In September 2015, Omani called his mother saying he was sick and in hospital.

Ever since, no one back home has heard from him. To date, none of his family member knows his whereabouts.

His mother, Catherine Maina, now lives in agony as she tries to figure out what might have happened to his son and whether he indeed got a job in Tanzania where he had gone to try his luck after failing to get one in Kenya.

“I told him to tell me how I could help since he was very far. I sent him money to cater for his travel costs but he never called back or came home. A few days later, the in-law called me saying the last time he heard from Omani was that he was not feeling well and that he was not answering his calls either. He was also not at his place,” she says.

The mother says Omani has six children who wonder why their father left them.

She recalls: “There is a day he called me at midnight, he didn’t talk but I just heard strange voices of people quarrelling and fighting. I was very worried and I couldn’t sleep that night. I later called him but he answered rudely that I stop disturbing him and said he would call me later, which he never did.”

His friends and family describe him as a polite, hardworking and reserved person.

“He used to work as a barber. He didn’t like people who would annoy him and if there was any disagreement, he would rather be silent than find himself in trouble. I don’t know what happened to him since he left home because even his behaviour and the way he talked to people changed,” she says. She has reported the matter to the assistant chief and police in Kakamega but is yet to get any helpful information.

“I have asked relatives, his friends and even gone for prayers, but I am yet to get any concrete information about my son. I am still hoping that wherever he is, he will come back to his senses and come back to his family. This is a trying moment but I am not giving up. I believe that God will do miracles and my son will return home,” she says amid sobs.

Her plea is for his son to come back home and take care of his children since she is ageing.

“Children need to be educated in order for them to take away the curse of poverty which has befallen our family. I am also not getting any younger. I do not have the strength to continue working for people,” she says.

She says she is hopeful her son is still alive and they will re-unite soon.