Not all children in former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's household belong to the same denomination, Winnie Odinga has revealed.
In most families in Kenya, religion is passed down like an inheritance, with most children following the denominations of their parents.
However, not all families walk the same path, and as children grow, they may explore different faiths and denominations, as is the case in Raila's household.
Speaking during an interview with Hot 96, Winnie explained how a painful rejection they faced in their own country led to the different denominations they have in their family.
It was long before she was born, in 1982, and her father, Raila, had been put in detention when the government forcefully sent her mother on early retirement, giving her 24 hours to leave the school grounds.
Ida Odinga, Winnie's mother, was teaching at Kenya High at the time. A distraught and desperate mother took her three young children and sought asylum wherever she could find help. To her dismay, nobody offered assistance.
"My mom had these three kids, and she was looking for a home, but everywhere she went, they kept rejecting her, saying they didn't want any trouble with the government," Winnie explained.
Eventually, one Asian man came to her rescue, called her secretly, and offered her a room to stay in with her children.
One would think the trouble ended there, but no, the trouble had just begun. With three children who needed education, Ida again began the journey of looking for a school for them.
Just as before, most schools turned them away, leaving Consolata, a Catholic institution, as the only one that welcomed them with open arms.
"Now she had to put her children in school, but the schools they were in had kicked them out. The only school that accepted them was Consolata," Winnie continued.
Being Catholic, the school asked if the children were comfortable being confirmed into the church. After consulting with Raila through a letter, her sister Rosemary and brother Junior were confirmed and converted to Catholicism.
Her deceased brother, Fidel Odinga, however, remained an Anglican. When Winnie was born, her mother let her make her choice, and she maintained the family's Anglican denomination.
