When thirty-six-year-old Dorine Wangare bade her family goodbye to travel to Qatar in November last year, she knew her dream of helping her poor mother and siblings had finally come true.
The mother of two was excited at the prospect of working in the Middle East country according to her follower brother, Reinhard Mwangi.
Little did Dorine know that that was her last goodbye to her family.
Dorine was optimistic the job she had landed in Qatar would earn her enough money to help her support her son, 14 and daughter 8, who are in Form Two and class three respectively.
“She was the family breadwinner and would come to our rescue whenever the landlord locked us out due to accumulated rent arrears,” said Mable Masitsa, the deceased’s mother.
According to Ms Masitsa, her daughter never thought her journey to the Middle East would be her last with family.
Dorine died in Qatar on Tuesday night moments after she had a long chat with her mother and the brother leaving her family with many unanswered questions even as they await a postmortem report.
“Dorine called inquiring about school fees for her two children and other items required in school so that she could budget for them. The news of her death came as a shock. I cannot believe my daughter left us in such a mysterious way,” said Ms Masitsa.
A somber mood engulfed their home at Shitawa in the outskirts of Kakamega town with family, friends and church members condoling with Ms Masitsa.
“I talked to my sister until late into the night. She told me it was too cold in Qatar and she had been forced to put on two sweaters and a pair of trousers. I told her to stay indoors and that was the last communication I had with Dorine,” recalled Mr Mwangi.
According to Mwangi, the sister developed some complications whenever the weather was too cold.
“She was allergic to cold weather. A friend of hers said she opted to use a Jiko in her room where she would be discovered dead on Wednesday morning.”
Dorine’s Kenyan friends in Qatar have been updating the family on how things have been progressing since the death of their kin.
However, Ms Masitsa and her son are at loss on how they will facilitate the transportation of the body from Qatar to Kenya.
“We don’t have anywhere to run to for help. Dorine was supposed to send money for rent, food and school fees but death took her away, it is a pity to imagine we might not be able to see her body anytime soon,” she said.
The family is appealing to the national government to help them have the body airlifted from Qatar to Kisumu.
“It will be easy for us to make arrangements to have the body ferried here even though we face the dilemma of where to bury her,” said Mwangi.
It was not the first time Dorine had travelled to the Middle East in search of greener pastures.
She first spent at least four years in Saudi Arabia where her employer tortured her before returning home.
The deceased adds to the growing list of Kenyans who endure suffering in the quest for employment opportunities in the Middle East.
