Come take me home, lady stranded in Busia appeals

Eunice Atieno during the interview at Port Victoria sub-county hospital in Busia. [PHOTO: JOYCE MUTSOLI/STANDARD]

BUSIA: In this column, we endeavour to highlight cases of families on the look-out for their missing members with the hope of a reconciliation.

Today we focus on a different scenario; that of a young lady who has not seen her family for the last eight years and who is also hoping for a reconciliation.

We meet with Eunice Atieno at the women’s general Wing in Port Victoria sub-county Hospital, Busia. This has been her home for the last couple of years and the hospital’s personnel her family.

She is all smiles when we sit down for the interview as she informs me that I am the first visitor she has had in close to eight years.

Eunice tells me that although she has been well treated at the hospital, she still longs to be reunited with her family. She is, however, not sure if her mother, Alice Adhiambo and her younger brother, whose name she cannot remember, still live in Kitale.

“I left them in a single roomed rickety house located at the outskirts of Kitale town where our single mother toiled on peoples’ maize farms to fend for us,” she says, trying very hard to remember her mother’s physical appearance.

“She was dark skinned and slightly taller than I was when I left”, she finally says. That is how best she can describe her mother, no details about her brother.

Asked if she remembers the exact name of the place where she lived with her family, Eunice almost breaks down.

“My home is opposite a big network booster and a school whose name I can no longer remember,” she says.

Attempts by the hospital’s management to help her reunite with her family have so far proven futile after no one showed up at the hospital to claim her.

“This is not the first time her story is being told to the public,” says Muchilwa Vincent, the hospital’s health administrator.

“We contacted our local radio station some years back and they did her story but we did not receive any inquiries or feedback from the public”.

This made the team decide to hold onto Eunice a little while longer instead of sending her away when she had nowhere else to go to.

Eunice tells us she left home in search of a place where she would receiver proper medical care.

“I am epileptic and back then my condition was really bad. I was a burden to my poor mother and I felt completely dejected. I left home determined to find a hospital where I could receive treatment and I did. Today, I feel much better,” she says.

Eunice who has not been to school is unable to tell us how old she is neither can she remember any details that would help one retrace her steps to the hospital.

“All I know is I walked for a really long time. I begged for food in houses adjacent to the main road as well as a place to sleep during the cold nights and lucky enough majority of the people were ready to help me temporarily,” she says.

Sister Serem was the nurse on duty the day Eunice arrived and she recalls a bodaboda operator bringing the then unconcious girl and leaving without a word.

“She was in a critical condition. She had a big wound which was oozing blood profusely so our first concern was to stabilise her before getting details,” she says adding they later learned that Eunice had a convulsion at the matatu terminus.

Although she is liked by everyone and treated with kindness, Eunice says only her mum can make her feel complete and she especially wants her mother see her in her current condition.

“As much as I get what I need here without suffering, I would wish to go home. I believe my mother and brother are alive and I long to be reunited with them once again,” she says.