Dear Mr President, please help bring my daddy home

By PHILIP MWAKIO

"There is no Christmas without my dad around me,’’ 14-year-old Javan James Yavesa says nonchalantly, then stares stonily ahead.

"Please tell President Kibaki to make direct contact with Somali traditional leaders to secure the release of my father from captivity,’’ Javan pleads.

At his age, he should have been planning Christmas decorations together with his siblings, as they have always done. But this year is different; Javan’s father is among the 43 sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates last October.

Javan, who is due to join Standard Eight next year, made the appeal together with his mother, Elizabeth Molly, at their Mishomoroni home in Mombasa.

- Master Javan Yavesa, with his mother and siblings. The family is agonising of a Christmas without the regular presence of their father and breadwinner, James Yavesa, in pirates’ custody since October 9. [PHOTOS: PHILIP MWAKIO/STANDARD]

Mwangura added that many have been held captive for several months, often in the most appalling of conditions, by armed and violent criminals who tend to be unpredictable.

Mwangura adds that for merchant seafarers, too often it’s out of sight, out of mind.

PERILOUS SEAS

"It is vital that the international community and Kenya, focus on the plight of those held in Somalia, as well as the tens of thousands of crew who continue to traverse perilous seas to supply goods and services that keep the world functioning," says Mwangura.