80-Year-Old Grandmother appeals to bring granddaughter's body home from Lebanon

An 80-year-old grandmother from Ndenderu-Kianjogu in Kiambu County is appealing for KSh675,000 to repatriate the body of her granddaughter, Lucy Wanjiru Nduta, from Lebanon.

For more than two decades, Mama Margaret Mumbi Waweru has raised her three orphaned grandchildren following the death of her daughter in 2005. Today, she is appealing to the public to help bring home the body of one of those grandchildren.

Lucy, the second-born in a family of three, travelled to Lebanon in June 2023 in search of better opportunities. According to her family, she hoped to improve her life and support the grandmother who had sacrificed much to raise her.

“Lucy was simple but the best. She went in search of greener pastures. The main goal was to go and change her life,” says Margaret Mumbi Nduta, Lucy’s eldest sister and a family representative.

The family says Lucy died in a hit-and-run accident in Lebanon on May 17 while working there.

Nduta says that the family initially struggled to establish what had happened to Lucy.

“She went missing because her friends had not seen her for 24 hours. They were later told to go to a mortuary to identify her,” she says.

The news devastated the family, especially Mama Waweru, who had raised Lucy and her two siblings after their mother’s death.

 For more than 20 years, the elderly grandmother has provided the children with food, shelter and parental care despite having no regular source of income.

Relatives say that she raised them with the hope that they would build better lives for themselves. Lucy’s decision to travel to Lebanon was part of that hope.

Instead of returning home to fulfil those plans, Lucy’s family is now trying to raise money to bring her body back to Kenya.

The KSh675,000 required covers the cost of repatriation, including international transportation, documentation, embalming and related procedures.

It doesn’t include funeral expenses, burial arrangements, transportation in Kenya or other costs the family will incur.

“It has been tough, tougher than tough. We don't have the ability to raise the amount, and not much has been collected,” Nduta says.

The family says it was given 45 days to raise the required amount after receiving the quotation in mid-June. They are now trying to secure the funds needed to bring Lucy home.

Nduta says that the circumstances surrounding Lucy’s death have also complicated the repatriation process.

The family has formally petitioned the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs to intervene. In a letter addressed to the principal secretary, the family is seeking urgent government assistance to facilitate Lucy’s repatriation through the Kenyan diplomatic mission responsible for Lebanon.

The family is asking the ministry to consider providing financial assistance or connecting it to available emergency support programmes, facilitate coordination with relevant authorities in Lebanon, and guide the family through the legal and administrative procedures required to bring Lucy home.

So far, Nduta says, the family hasn’t received a response to its appeal. The family says it has exhausted its available resources and is now turning to the public for help. Nduta says that her grandmother wants to receive the granddaughter she raised, mourn her alongside family members and give her a dignified burial.

To help meet the repatriation costs, the family has opened a public fundraising campaign through Paybill Number 4325445, using the account name “Your Name – Lucy Wanjiru Send Off".

Nduta says that every contribution, regardless of the amount, will help bring Lucy closer to home.