Long week, days and nights as anxious families hold on to fading hope

Nakuru county residents lighting candles at Nyayo garden in Nakuru town on Janury 22,2016 in respect to the fallen KDF soldiers who were killed in Somalia by Al shabaab Militia,The ven was organized by a group of youth known has Team Huslers .PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH

It has been 10 days of grief and fading hope as families of Kenya Defence Forces troops wait for word on the whereabouts of their loved ones. These families have endured long nights and every new day brings with it a fresh round of pain as mothers and fathers, wives and children yearn to know the fate of their sons, husbands and fathers. It is the same story for other close relatives, friends and colleagues of soldiers who had been deployed to El Adde in southern Somalia.

Be it in their little huts in far-flung villages or in their imposing living rooms in major cities, the families are craving after every piece of information for the slightest clue on the fate of their loved ones. But very little of this information seems to come through. The suffering of this kind can neither be transferred nor its magnitude fully appreciated by others. As the rest of Kenyans pray, comfort and stand in solidarity with them, these families must, at the end of the day, come to terms with their loss.

They pray and hope that their loved ones are found – dead or alive.

They yearn for closure.

Long, teary, dreadful but hopeful 10 days and nights.

This is the long and short of the harrowing story of the tens of families of missing Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers whose camp was attacked by Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia last week.

Their hearts shattered beyond measure by the enormity of the attack, they cling to every little measure of hope left that their sons will, somehow, come out alive.

They scour after every piece of information that might give clues to the whereabouts of their loved ones.  

Mothers and wives of the missing sob in prayer and supplication.

The hugs and the assurances are not enough. Every dawn, every pass of day, hour and minute claws on their hopes. Every minute of silence from the government which sent their young boys to Somalia confirms their worst fears.

At Mesesi village in Bomachoge Chache Sub-county, Kisii, Maj  Geoffrey Obwoge’s elderly parents Charles Obwoge and Elizabeth Nyabicha and brother Zebedeo Ayako have been reduced to staring at each other all day long.

None of them can offer enough comfort to the other as Maj  Obwoge meant different things to all of them. None of them is willing to come to terms to the reality that he may never come back home alive.

Obwoge last set foot at home in August last year. He joined the force in 2002 as a cadet and was posted to Moi Forces 9KR, Eldoret. He travelled to Somali early this year.

“He has always given us hope and we wish he returns home,” the father says, confused about whether to mourn or wait for more information from the government.

He has nevertheless resigned to fate that his son may never come back: “This has happened while my son was on duty. We have no choice but to be ready for any eventuality.”

Ayako last spoke to his elder brother on January 7. He was the breadwinner of the family and paid his college fees.

“We hope that he is safe. We hold prayers every day for all the families affected. We hope we will see our brother soon,” he says, gloom written all over his face.

Charles says that since the attack last Friday they have not received any information about their son’s fate despite him being a commander of the El Adde camp.

“My other son has been at the Defence Forces Memorial Hospital to give details. My daughter in-law has gone to the Recruits Training School in Moi Barracks twice, but we are yet to get hear of any new developments,” he said.

Scanty information

In Homa Bay’s Koguta village, two families are spending sleepless nights. They too have no idea what happened to their sons.

Aged 21 in 2010, Wycliffe Oguta joined KDF with high hopes of transforming the fortunes of his immediate family and his desolate village.

Relatives here say he had barely stayed in Somalia for three weeks when bloodthirsty Al-Shabaab militants laid ambush last Friday. He is probably lying somewhere dead. He is probably alive and held captive or alive but injured.

“I talked to him on Wednesday last week and we discussed how we could take one of our mothers for specialised treatment. We are yet to undertake what we were planning,” said William Oguta, his elder brother.

He says Wycliffe’s mobile phone had been ringing until last Sunday.

“On Sunday, his mobile phone went off and has never been picked. We have also tried to liaise with his colleagues in the service but nobody knows where he is,” William said.

At Lwanda Village in Kasgunga ward, the family of another soldier Michael Owino is equally worried over their son who has gone missing. Like Wycliffe, he went to Somalia about three weeks ago.

“I talked with him on Thursday, mainly to find out how he was doing, and he was fine. We have made several attempts to call him since Friday but his phone is switched off. We have tried to get information from our relatives and friends in the service but we have not succeeded,” says his father Thomas Ojuang’.

His mother Ascar Adhiambo and his wife Rehema cut the image of grief. The angst is closer. Adhiambo says her son had called to seek her opinion about going to Somalia when he was deployed there several weeks ago.

“We told him to accept the assignment and serve Kenya well. The only thing I asked of him was to communicate with us regularly and he has been doing so until all this happened,” she says.

In Ururi village of Siaya County, Mzee Ben Afwamba holds to nothing but hope that his 29-year-old son Eliakim Omenda is alive. Omenda’s wife has travelled to the Department of Defence headquarters in Nairobi to help identify the bodies flown in from Somalia.

“I have been going through psychological torture and suffering since the attack because we are not getting enough information on the whereabouts of my son and what had happened to him,” Afwamba said.

Eliakim’s mother Zilpa Afwamba wants the government to quell the growing anxiety and trauma among families who had their loved ones in Somalia.

Gloom and darkness

“I have not been eating or drinking since the attack. I am praying that we be told the whereabouts of our son. If he is dead, let the government tell us and bring his body home so that we can bury him,” said the grief-stricken mother.

In Baringo County, darkness has been replaced by light after the family of one of the missing soldiers, Musa Sirma, finally got through to him. His brother Reuben Sirma told The Standard on Sunday that his brother was not at El Adde camp at the time of the attack.

Although he left Kenya for Somalia with the rest of the group, he never reached El Adde after the troops were split and his group was retained at the Kenya-Somalia border.

The family had been unable to reach through to him after the attack until Friday night. “The telephone number my brother used to call us was strange but I could recognise his voice. But because we had lost hope of seeing him alive, first I was reluctant to pick it thinking it was his captors breaking the sad news,” said his relieved brother Reuben.

In Kaseret village in the same locality, however, it’s all gloom. The family of Samson Ruto, another missing KDF soldier, is holding a meeting to ponder their next move. They have just received a call from the DoD requesting them to appear at the Defence Forces Memorial Hospital for a DNA test. “We are not sure if his body is already in Nairobi, among those missing or captured. We are leaving for Nairobi this evening not sure of what to expect. We are scared and terrified,” his brother says, shaking.

Ruto, a specialist in artillery weapons, had served in Somalia before in 2004 and in Sudan last year. A family man, he is blessed with two children — Victor now in Form Four and Jeruto — who is about to join Form One.

In Kiberege village, within the same Baringo Central, the family of Samson Kipruto Kangogo had been unable to explain the whereabouts of their son, father and husband. A military doctor, Kangongo was last traced to El Adde camp two days before the attack.

On Thursday, however, fours soldiers arrived in the village armed with sad news of the demise of the doctor-soldier. In Lelmokwo location, Nandi County, two families are coming to terms with reality.

On Friday evening, DOD officials called them and asked them to present specimen samples at the Defence Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi to assist in identifying some of the badly mutilated bodies.

“My younger brother travelled today (Saturday) morning and he has called back saying that he has given all the requirements necessary for DNA identification. He was told the results will be given out tomorrow,” Kipkemoi Kisorio, brother of missing soldier Wesley Kimeli, said.

The family of the 22-year-old is anxious. They hope for a closure of the long and painful suspense wrought on them by the turn of events.

DNA tests

Elijah Kosgei, whose brother Abraham Kosgei is a KDF Sergeant Officer in the company deployed to Somalia, said they had received similar information late Friday evening and he was planning to travel to Nairobi on Monday to give the required samples.

“The wait has been traumatising to us and this development gives some hope in knowing the fate of my brother. I will travel to Defence Forces Memorial Hospital on Monday to give the necessary details and samples and hopefully we will get a hint of what happened,” said Kosgei.