‘Help me find my child,’ Kakamega mother pleads

Sheila Mwenje Omondi the, 13-year old who got lost on April 4, 2016. PHOTO: BENJAMIN SAKWA

A family at Ewamakhumbi village, Kakamega county is in distress after their 13-year-old daughter went missing on April 4, 2016 at 6pm.

“My daughter told me she was going to look for money she had hidden under a stone and never returned,” said Caroline Ingavi recounting the last words her child, Sheila Mwenje, uttered.

Although the mother of five cannot comprehend what could have befallen her first born child, she remains optimistic that Mwenje is still alive and well.

“I am hopeful that Mwenje is still alive. I miss her and know she also misses me but has no means to reach me,” she says.

Recalling the circumstances that led to Mwenje’s disappearance, Ingavi says that — unknown to her — her daughter had borrowed money from a neighbour.

“It was on Sunday around 5pm when a neighbour paid me a visit and told me he needed the money I had sent Mwenje to borrow. I was shocked and told him I had not sent her to ask for money from anyone. I nonetheless promised to reimburse him since she is my child,” Ingavi says.

After the neighbour left, she interrogated Mwenje who admitted to having borrowed the money saying it was for a chama she had formed with her friends in school.

“She told me she has a friend at school who has a lot of money and who had requested her and other girls to form a chama where they’d be contributing Sh50 each week. Mwenje then told me she’d hidden the money under a rock and asked me to accompany her so she could go retrieve it,” Ingavi explains.

The mother dissuaded her daughter from going then since it was already late advising her to instead pick up the money on her way to school the next morning. But Mwenje still left and has not been heard from since.

After searching for the missing girl for days, with the only lead being that she was last seen at her friend’s home, the family eventually reported the matter at Kakamega Police Station on April 8, 2016.

“Mwenje’s disappearance has take a toll on me and I cannot understand why she is not home. Sometimes, while I am walking on the road I forget where I am and I was almost knocked down by a vehicle. I still hope she is alive and pray she comes back home soon,” she says.

The distraught mother describes Mwenje as an obedient, hardworking child who abides by regulations, never comes home late and would help her with household chores.

“Her disappearance pains me and brings back painful memories. I gave birth to her while I was still a minor and had to drop out of school in order to fend for her. My dream was to see her complete her studies, get a job, be successful and help her family. I do not want her to go through the same difficulties that I have gone through,” Ingavi says.

She hinted that a mother to her daughter’s friend had called her some days after Mwenje went missing to tell her that the girl lost money and needed some help.

“After hearing all this, I am convinced the woman might have taken my child somewhere to work as a maid and she is not telling me,” Ingavi says amid sobs.

The distraught mother says she has been going for prayers to various churches in the area in hopes that her child will return.

“I am still keeping her books hoping the person who is holding my daughter will allow her to come back home so she can continue with her education,” Ingavi says.