Busian family in distress after teenage son goes missing

A family from Centre B village in Nambale sub-county is living in fear and agony after their 13-year-old son went missing early this month.

Godfrey Hellena was last spotted in Nambale town, according to his mother Rebecca Ajune.

“A neighbour told us he saw him in Nambale town. We, however, have not been able to find him while information about his whereabouts remains scanty,” Ajune said.

She says overcoming the fear or emotional distress that has come upon the entire family has not been easy. “We have started counting weeks since his disappearance and this has taken a huge toll on family members who fear something bad may have happened to Godfrey,” she says.

When Godfrey was last seen, he was wearing his favourite white and black shorts, a black t-shirt, black jacket and white slippers.

Ajune says her son’s disappearance continues to baffle her because he was his usual jovial self on the day he disappeared.

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She said she had left her son with his older siblings shortly after breakfast on the fateful morning.

She went to the farm to do some weeding and only discovered Godfrey was missing after returning hours later to prepare lunch for the children.

“After I prepared the meal, I sent one of the children to get Godfrey from his grandmother’s house where I assumed he must have gone,” Ajune says.

But, Godfrey was nowhere to be seen and the now alarmed Ajune hurriedly walked around the neighbourhood looking for her son.

“Godfrey rarely leaves the compound. He likes playing with his siblings and will rarely venture outside the compound unless accompanying us,” she says.

Ajune has since informed police and local county administrators about their missing son.

“The chiefs and assistant chiefs are assisting us in making announcements about Godfrey’s disappearance at public barazas and funeral gatherings,” she says.

His father, Friday Ekeya, is equally perturbed at the turn of events and said his son had not attended school for a couple of days after coming down with malaria.

“He fell sick while in school and had just recovered when he went missing,” Friday says.

He says they have also reached out to their relatives and friends to see if their son could have gone there but so far there has been no one with information about their son.

With no idea where to begin or go, the family is baffled over their son’s possible whereabouts. This is especially because nobody is offering useful information that may lead them to where Godfrey might be living.

The riddle of Godfrey’s missing has also left police baffled because they have not been able to get any useful leads that could pinpoint the boy’s whereabouts.

Godfrey’s family wait every day to see their son walk into the compound and open up about his mysterious disappearance.

“We are hopeful he will come back and help us understand why he left and where he went,” the distraught mother said.

The family is calling upon anyone who has seen the boy or may come across him anywhere to report the matter at the nearest police station or get in touch with us via email: [email protected].