Agony of KDF families after Somalia. Francis Kavindu arrived at his Kivani home in Kitui County one Wednesday morning in late 2011. He found men digging a grave. When he inquired who’s grave it was, they told him it was for his fifth born son, Major Samuel Keli Kavindu. Hours later, he collapsed in his bedroom and died broken in heart and spirit. Master Chege Njoroge, 12, was in class when his father, Corporal Willie Njoroge, called from the warfront in Somalia. “Son, I want you to pass exams. I will bring you a gift,” he told him. Two months later, his father returned in a coffin draped in military uniform. And 24-year-old Rachael Masika was waiting for her wedding gown to be shipped from London. Her wedding was in four months’ time. She woke up one morning only to find condolence messages all over her Facebook wall. She had just lost her groom, Lieutenant Kevin Webi, through a sniper’s bullet. Ms Masika’s wedding gown arrived from London a month after the burial of her husband-to-be. Today the sight of the fabulous gown makes her contemplate suicide. Thousands of miles away, Doreen Magak was fresh from her dream honeymoon when she called her husband of two weeks and the phone went unanswered. Hours later, she received a message: “He is dead.” For 29-year-old television journalist Magak, the dreaded call came three days into her honeymoon. Her husband, Lieutenant Edward juma Okoyo, left her to cold nights when he was deployed in Somalia, just two weeks after his wedding day. And during the battle days in Somalia Doreen spoke with her husband daily over the phone. “I was on the phone with him when he suddenly went silent,” she says.” I tried speaking to him, but he never responded.” Unknown to Doreen, Lieutenant Okoyo, a platoon commander with the 1st Kenya Rifles was lying dead in his trench. A powerful sniper bullet blew half of his head off. Families abandoned It was not until hours later when she received a three-worded text message. The SMS read: “He is dead”. Three years since the start of Operation Linda Nchi, military families are finding themselves in a relentless cycle of crisis and stress as more and more graves pile up across the country.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 18:24:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015