Missing son reaches out to family

Last year November 9, we highlighted the story of Felix Chweya, a form one student at Masongo Secondary School, who had disappeared from home.

After the story run, Felix’s mother - Jane Nyaboke said she received a phone call from an unknown number and when she answered it, it was her son on the line.

“My son told us not be troubled anymore since he was doing well. He told us he was living and working in Mombasa where he, and a friend, had gone to look for ways of earning a living,” she said.

This put an end to the seven month puzzle that caused the family sleepless nights as they tried to find their 15-year-old son.

Felix told us a friend prevailed upon him to make the call after seeing the story in the newspaper saying it was important for his parents to know that he was alive and well.

“My son was very remorseful over the phone and even broke down as we spoke.

He apologised for all the sorrow he has caused us and promised to come back home and resume his studies. He even sent us pictures on whatsapp and we are happy to see that he is okay,” she said.

Nyaboke said their son was staying in Ukunda, Mombasa after being influenced by a schoolmate to ditch school and instead go in search of money. She said this is however, all in the past and the family is now looking forward to receiving their son back home.

“We have really missed you and are ready to receive you back home.

We forgive you and what has happened is in the past - we want to move on with you,” she said.

His father, Charles Chweya, said while he is happy his son has been found alive his greatest concern is the kind of life his child has been living.

“We have since recorded this turn of events with the police and would appeal to officers in Mombasa to trace these boys and ensure they come back home,” he said.

Nyaboke said before Felix disappeared, one of his teachers had told her he had been boycotting classes for a week.

She said when she asked Felix whether what the teacher said was true, he claimed the teachers punished him yet he had not done any mistake. He claimed he had some differences with the teacher.

She said Felix woke up early as usual the following day and prepared for school. She wanted to accompany him to school to go and talk to his teacher, but was unable to because she was unwell.

“That evening, Felix came back home looking unhappy. He went straight to his room, changed into home cloths, took a glass of water and walked away without uttering a word,” she said.

It was getting late into the night and Felix was nowhere to be seen. But Nyaboke was not disturbed because Felix used to study with his friends until late at night, sometimes coming back home as late as 10pm.

“My son never showed up but I had hope he would get back home the following day since he had so many friends around,” she said.

She however, started getting worried after a day passed without her son coming back home and started looking for him.

“At first, I went to his school, talked to his teachers about his changing character and indiscipline,” she said.

The teachers told her that Felix had started going to school late, hardly did assignments and spoke rudely to teachers and fellow students.

She reported her son’s disappearance to the area chief. She also asked his best friend about his recent behaviour change, but the boy said they hardly talked about anything beyond class work.

After two days, she called her relatives to inform them about the matter and to also ask whether they had seen him.

When it emerged that no one seemed to know where he was, his father reported the matter to the police station and they started making announcements in churches and schools.