Woman exhumes daughter’s body, prays for resurrection

Residents of Karati village in Naivasha were treated to a bizarre incident after a group of worshippers from an evangelical church led by two pastors exhumed the body of a one-year-old girl who was buried on Boxing Day last year after suffering a short illness.

On December 23, Esther Waceke died in an accident.

The death of the one-year-old girl hit her family hard but they appeared to accept the painful reality and Waceke was buried on Boxing Day.

The girl’s mother, however, could not come to terms with the demise of her third-born daughter. In her deep pain, she met with two self-professed men of God and a shocking plan was hatched.

On Wednesday 9th January, the residents of Karati village in Naivasha woke to a bizarre spectacle where the woman and her two helpers hired a local youth to exhume Waceke’s body.

As word spread and the number of bewildered spectators swelled, the exhumer continued to work undeterred as the mother wailed uncontrollably.

When the coffin was finally pulled free from the earth and opened, the mother reached in and removed her daughter’s body. The two men stepped closer and the three of them started praying for Waceke’s resurrection.

Alarmed residents

By this time some of the alarmed residents had already alerted the authorities. Chief Samuel Ng’ang’a arrived in the company of police officers who arrested the woman, her sister and the two men.

The woman, who tried to keep her face hidden and refused to answer questions from the media, said she believed her daughter did not die and that she was ‘mistakenly’ buried.

She said her faith would bring her child back to life and wondered why the crowd was watching instead of praying with her.

“Stop asking me questions and instead join me at the grave as we pray for my daughter to wake up so that we can go home together,” she said.

Mr Ng’ang’a said the exhumation was illegal and that police were handling the matter. He added that Waceke’s body was taken to Naivasha Hospital mortuary.

“The woman is yet to come to terms with the loss of her daughter. Some men who claim to be religious leaders have taken advantage of the situation,” the chief said.

Peter Kimani, a resident, described the incident as bizarre and added that they had never heard of anybody being brought back to life in the area.

Mr Kimani said it was possible the woman was suffering from depression and that she would require counselling to accept that her child had died and had been buried.

“These are some churches that are misleading their followers that they can raise someone who has died. This is wrong,” he said.

This is not the first time that grieving relatives have attempted to resurrect their loved ones.

In March 2017, Robinson Karumba and seven members of his Eagles Wings Prophetic Ministry in Embu turned up at a morgue and requested to pray for a ‘sleeping’ woman to wake up.

The woman was Karumba’s wife, Pollyrose Ng’endo, who had died while receiving treatment for tuberculosis at a hospital in Kirinyaga.

They locked themselves inside Gakwegori mortuary and prayed for Ng’endo’s resurrection from 11am as they poured anointing oil on the body.

“We don’t believe in what they are doing but we have allowed them to proceed with their prayers. They have been praying for the past three hours and they seem indefatigable,” said Gladys Murugi, one of the morgue attendants.

And in 2010, worshippers at the Kingdom Seekers Fellowship Church in Nakuru held daylong prayers for the resurrection of two pastors who had perished in a road accident on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

“We shall not bury them. We need them back to keep the church strong. Their work here on earth is not yet done,” said one of the pastors, John Kimani.