For Josephine Ngoya, every unanswered phone call is a painful reminder of a son whose fate remains uncertain.
The 55-year-old mother from Mukuyu Sub-location, Lugari Sub-County, Kakamega, has spent months waiting for one thing from the government: the truth about what happened to her son, Erastus Mundia.
The question that continues to torment her is whether her son was killed while fighting for Russia against Ukraine, as the family has been told, or whether he is still alive somewhere far from home.
For Mrs Ngoya, either answer would bring closure, an end to the agonising uncertainty.
“If he is alive, I will thank God. If they tell me he is no more, I will also thank God because life is in God’s hands. What I want is the truth from the Kenyan government,” says Ngoya.
She remains a grandmother who cannot associate with her grandchildren, which doubles her pain. Mundia’s wife left Mombasa, where she was living with him, and moved back to her parents’ home in Mumias, taking her children with her.
Ngoya says her son’s wife has since blocked her and she suspects she may have moved on.
“She (Mundia’s wife) took everything my son had in Mombasa and I was told she went back to her parents’ home in Mumias. I have been unable to reach her because her phone is not going through. I heard that she has moved on. It is painful because I have not set eyes on my grandchildren,” says Ngoya.
For Ngoya, the disappearance has therefore robbed the family not only of a son but also of a father, provider and pillar of support.
“I want the Government to help me. If there is compensation or anything that can help me, they should assist me,” she says.
Mundia, a 38-year-old father of three, left Kenya in September last year (2025) after telling his mother that he had secured an opportunity in Russia.
He had previously lived in the United States in 2017 for about a year, where he trained in sales and marketing.
According to Ngoya, he largely lived in Mombasa, although he regularly returned to the family home in Kakamega.
Before his departure, Mundia told his mother he had secured a trip and would reveal his destination once he arrived.
When he eventually reached Russia, he told her he was in Moscow and said he had travelled there for work related to business.
Ngoya did not immediately suspect that anything was wrong. Then came a phone call from Mundia that would change everything.
“When I asked him where he was, he told me, ‘Where I am is not where I expected to be.’ I asked him what was happening, and he told me the only thing he needed was prayers,” she recalls.
That was the last meaningful conversation she had with her son in November last year.
“He told me, ‘I need prayers.’ From that time, whenever I called him, I could not reach him,” says Ngoya.
The family later learnt that Mundia may have ended up in the Russian military. According to Ngoya, a person identified by the family as Douglas, whom they understood to be a soldier and Mundia’s friend, was involved in arranging Mundia’s journey.
The family says it was later informed in January this year by Douglas that Mundia had gone to a conflict zone as a soldier and was believed to be among those who had died.
But months later, there is still no body, official death certificate or definitive government communication confirming his fate.
Ngoya says the person who had been communicating with the family about Mundia eventually switched off his phone.
“We tried to follow up, but that person switched off his phone. Until now, we do not know where he is,” she says.
Her uncertainty was deepened when her sister sent her photographs of Mundia wearing what appeared to be a military uniform.
“I was shocked. When I saw him in that uniform, I immediately thought of the war because at that time the fighting had intensified,” she says.
Mundia had spoken to his family about three times while in Russia, but never disclosed to his mother what he was doing there.
“Maybe he thought if he told me, I would be shocked. He did not explain it to me,” Ngoya says.
Beyond the unanswered questions, Mundia’s disappearance has left a huge financial and emotional hole in the family.
Ngoya says her son was her main source of support.
“He was my breadwinner. He was supporting the family in everything. Since he left, my life has gone back to zero,” she says.
Her son had started building a house after purchasing land in Likuyani, but the project has since stalled.
He also supported his three children — a boy and two girls — who lived with their mother in Mombasa.
His eldest child is currently in Form Three and is expected to join Form Four next year. But her immediate demand is simple.
“If they can make an effort to find my son, I want to know whether he died. I have no proof that he is alive. The problem is that I no longer speak to him and I cannot see him. That is what gives me stress every day.”
The family says its efforts to establish Mundia’s fate have so far yielded little. In July, relatives based in Mombasa and Nairobi visited the Russian Embassy but were told to go to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations offices in Nairobi to make a formal report.
They did so and were promised they would be updated on the progress of investigations. The family now says no such update has been received to date.
Since then, according to Ngoya, they have repeatedly been told that investigations are ongoing.
“When we went to the embassy, we were told to first go to the DCI so that we could get a complete report. We went there, but up to now we have not received any information,” she says.
Other members of the community have attempted to seek help from government offices, including the office of Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua and that of Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, but the family says it has not received a definitive answer.
Mudavadi travelled to Moscow in March as part of the government’s efforts to obtain assurances over the recruitment of Kenyans into Russia’s military.
