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Actress and comedienne Jacky ‘Awinja’ Vike on Saturday, December 12, warmed hearts after she shared photos of her visit to Samia, Busia County, the home of the late much-loved Kenyan thespian Charles Bukeko, fondly known as Papa Shirandula.
Checking on Papa Shirandula’s family four months after his passing at the Karen Hospital where he had been receiving treatment since July 13 for Covid-19, Awinja introduced Kenyans to Clement, the younger brother to her on-screen father and mentor. "With Papa’s younger brother Clement," she captioned.
Read Also: Why Charles Bukeko was perfectly fit for the role of Papa Shirandula
Clement’s striking resemblance to the deceased, according to thousands of her followers who trooped to her Instagram account to pay tribute, invoked memories of the late actor’s decades-long pomp.
“In my opinion, he should be okay to take his brother's mantle and proceed,” said Terrence Creative. "You are a beautiful soul to have remembered the family. We forget very fast. God bless," added another. A third said: "They resemble so much. I miss Papa." So did one user who posted: "Jackie you are one in a million, we forget the family immediately after the burial, you have made it back to them, be Blessed."
Opening up about how he moulded her career and changed her life forever, Awinja in July 2020 revealed to her over 700,000 followers that she had auditioned for a different character in the Citizen TV show, but Papa Shirandula insisted, rightly so, that she best suited the role of Awinja, the househelp. A change that defined her career and made a household name alongside the show bigwigs Jacquey Nyaminde aka Wilbroda and Kenneth Gichoya alias Njoroge, among others.
Read Also: We met in 2004 – Papa Shirandula's widow Beatrice Andega on love, marriage
“This man, Charles Bukeko, #PapaShirandula, the first time he called me for the role #Awinja I remember I told him “No I am not good with accents but I know someone who can bring out the Luhya accent really well” and I went ahead and gave him my friend’s number, Eh! A month later he called me saying “Manze Vike I believe you can bring out this role really well, acha kufikiria accent sana, kuja tufanye kazi” so I went zile za Ah! acha niende tu I carry it as a challenge, and guys the rest is history,” she stated.
Read Also: 'Papa what have you done!' Cries Wilbroda in moving tribute to Shirandula
Adding: “My life changed because of that opportunity Bukeko gave me. I am so much at peace because I always told him how grateful I always was, this has been said over and over, but allow me to repeat this, tell people how you feel about them when they are still alive, it gives you so much peace knowing you told them how you love, cared or even thanked them when they were with us here."
“Anyhu, we started out as colleagues, but in no time we became family and we were working on other different things together not only the show Papa. His last days, he was so happy, he brought people together and offered opportunities to so many people the young and old in the industry.... it hurts so bad because the passion, drive and the future plans he had Yani....anyway Wahh hii ni ten nil... Rest easy my Ango you will forever be in my heart. Thank you all for the love, I have received your DM’s can’t reply to all but thank you thank you all so much,” she went on.
