TRACING KENYAN ROOTS: Spain-born Ismail at CD Las Palmas open to Stars call-up

Ismail Said Athuman Gonzalez, Spain-born Kenya footballer at CD Las Palmas. [PHOTO: COURTESY]

His father, Said Ali Athuman, left port of Mombasa in 1989 and set foot on the Gran Canaria, the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, Spain. His sojourn was meant to escape the harsh economic realities of his country Kenya.

Yet in a twist of fate, his son Ismail Said Athuman Gonzalez, though born to a Spanish mother in the Canary Island on February 1, 1995 and cannot speak Kiswahili, is now egging his father to connect him to his Kenyan roots.