Kisii family appeals for help after daughter dies in Iraq

A family from Bogeka village in Kitutu Chache, Kisii County, is appealing to the government and well-wishers to help bring home the body of their loved one which has been in Iraq for more than a month now.

According to her family, Felister Kemunto, aged 32, was the firstborn in the family and had travelled to Iraq as a domestic worker in a desperate bid to change the fortunes of her family back home.

Her mother, Rachael Kennedy, said: “Mtoto wangu alikuwa arudi nyumbani tarehe mbili Novemba. Nilimpigia simu akaniambia mdosi wake amemwomba aongeze mwaka mmoja tena. Kesho yake akashindwa kuzungumza, akaugua ghafla, na muda mfupi baadaye akafariki.”

What began as a period of mourning has now stretched into a month of agonizing wait. The mourning tent erected at the homestead was meant to stand for only a few days, but remains up out of compassion from neighbours as the family holds on to faint hope.

A small contribution book remains the family’s only source of hope, yet after weeks of appeals and visits from well-wishers, only Ksh.50,000 has been raised.

Kemunto’s father, Kennedy Kaunda Nyangweso, stated: “Wasiwasi wangu mkubwa ni kwamba tumeambiwa mwili huo huenda ukazikwa au kuchomwa nchini Iraq iwapo hatutafanikiwa kupata fedha hizo katika mwezi ujao.”

Rachael added: “Nawaomba Wakenya na serikali watusaidie. Nimejaribu kufika kwa wakuu mbalimbali serikalini bila mafanikio. Nisaidieni niweze kumzika mwanangu.”

The family fears that if the situation remains unchanged, it may take them more than two years to raise the required amount—time they simply do not have.

For now, clothes that belong to Felister Kemunto are all that remains of a dream that drove her thousands of kilometres away, a dream that ended far from home.

A family’s hope of escaping poverty may have faded, but their desire to lay their daughter to rest according to the customs of the Abagusii community remains unbroken.