www.Kisii.Com: Syndicated news from only reputable sources [Nation, and Standard Newspapers, Kenya Times, KBC, etc.]

Two decades searching for kin

Details

Published on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 19:47

The old man sits on his traditional stool and rests his frame on a walking stick as though weighed down by something heavy. His younger brother looks from a distance appearing uneasy.

Omambia Gasuku, 72, points at the two houses belonging to his lost brother Henry Onkoba.

Onkoba is remembered for his deep voice that matched his dark and stout body. Those who knew him recall his trademark long beard and a scar on the forehead. For nearly two decades now, the family is yet to give up hope of finding their kin. It has been a painful experience searching for a person they do not know whether is alive or dead.

Prior to his disappearance, Onkoba was carving wood for sale in his compound after losing a job as an untrained teacher at Nyatwoni Primary School in Gucha District.

Onkoba attended Mokomoni Primary School before joining Nyanchwa Secondary School and completed his O-level education at Kokuro High School in South Nyanza. "He had taught for 10 years before he ventured into carving traditional stools. He also married but he had no children," recalls Omambia.

"He had developed signs of epilepsy but it was not serious," he adds.

Joseph Ogeo displays a traditional stool that Onkoba made. Photo: Kenan Miruka/Standard

He wore his favourite dark trouser and a shirt with black and white stripes. He also wore rubber shoes. "He used to call himself ‘Okonkwo’, a character in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, when tipsy," adds Ogeo.

A cousin reported to the family that he had left for their Gucha home but he never turned up. Two weeks later, they got suspicious and began to search for him. Joseph Ogeo Gasuku, an elder brother went to Sirare to search for him.

"I stayed for three days in Sirare searching for him. I was told he had been spotted at Kehancha and later in Tanzania but my search was fruitless," Ogeo says. The family did not announce his disappearance to any media or police as they thought he would return.

Since then, it has been a tale of endless agony. They have travelled across the border into Tanzania to no avail. He was one of the four sons in the family of Gasuku Nyangoto Manyoni. Their mother died in 1976 while the father passed on last June. On his deathbed, Mzee Gasuku’s wish was that the family continues with the search for hislost son.

The family has not lost hope 18 years on. "We wish he could appear, even if for a day to see his family. We would like to know if he is alive," says Ombaso Omambia.

Ombaso fondly recalls how they had subdivided their grandfather’s land with Onkoba in late 1989. "I was in form one then and he visited our home often. He was a very social person," Ombaso says.

His wife returned to her ancestral home after a few years and has since remarried. The family, however, has maintained his land. His two houses, one grass thatched and the other iron roofed still stand at their Geteni home.

In January this year, the family decided to ‘marry’ a woman to tidy Onkoba’s compound that had nearly crumbled with years of disuse. "We agreed to bring the wife for our brother to maintain his name in line with Kisii traditions. Our wish is to find him and bring him home," the elder brother explains.

Though epileptic, he carried on with normal life. Some of the stools he carved can be found in homesteads across the village while some are kept as memoirs. "He loved art very much and this was manifest in his carvings," adds Omambia.

Though unsure whether they will ever get him, the family is now appealing to anyone who may have seen their lost brother to volunteer information. "We are still searching for him and we believe he is alive. Recently we heard he had appeared somewhere near Sirare but we never saw him," says Omabia.