Ida Odinga, the widow of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, on Friday gave an emotional tribute to her husband during his State Funeral at the Nyayo National Stadium.
During her address, Ida reminisced on how she and Raila came up with the names of their four children, Fidel, Rosemary, Raila Junior and Winnie.
Ida, who had been married to Raila for 52 years since 1973, said that each of her children's names holds great significance.
She also urged parents to choose names that would have a positive impact on their children's lives.
Fidel Castro Odhiambo Odinga
Fidel was Raila and Ida's firstborn child, born in 1973. He died suddenly in 2015, aged 41.
According to Ida, he was named after Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary who ruled the country for over five decades and transformed it into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere.
This was because Raila reportedly greatly admired the leader, although Ida admitted to having reservations on the matter.
"When Fidel was born, I was a bit hesitant about the way he gave the names. I was very hesitant to call him Fidel, then he said he was a great admirer of Fidel Castro and therefore he named his first son Fidel Castro Odinga," Ida said.
On January 4, 2015, Fidel was found dead in his bed at his home in Karen after a night out with his friends. The cause of the sudden death has yet to be made public.
He left behind a widow, Lwam Getachew Bekele, and a son, Allay Odinga.
Rosemary Odinga
Their second-born is a daughter, Rosemary Odinga, born in 1977.
For her name, Ida said that they went the sentimental route, combining her mother's name, Rose and Raila's mother's name, Mary, to form the name Rosemary.
"Rose is the name of my mother, and Mary is the name of his (Raila's) mother, and we combined the two names together and we called the child Rosemary. It also has a meaning to us," she relayed.
Rosemary is a well-known snail farmer but has also dipped her toes in politics, showed interest in vying for the Kibera constituency seat like her father before her in 2017. A brain tumour and aneurysm that led to her losing her eyesight led to her abandoning her bid.
She received traditional Ayurvedic medicine in Kerala, India, the same facility where her father was receiving treatment prior to his death, and her eyesight started coming back in 2022. She has two daughters.
Raila Oginga Odinga (Raila Junior)
Contrary to the common belief that Junior was named after his father, his mother, Ida, has refuted the claims, revealing that he was named after Raila's best friend and cousin, Raila Kimbo.
"Then it came to the third one, and he named him after his best friend and his cousin called Raila Kimbo, with whom they shared a name, so we ended up with Raila Oginga Odinga."
Junior was born in 1979 and has been married to Yvonne Wambui Kibukosya since 2011. They have a son, although he has been open about their struggle to conceive.
He has avoided politics, unlike his siblings, but is also a prominent businessperson.
Winnie Irmgard Odinga
Winnie is the lastborn of the Odinga family, having been born 11 years after Junior, on March 6, 1990.
She was named after the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Winnie Mandela, the wife of the nation's first black President Nelson Mandela, as she was born around the same time Mandela was released from prison after 27 years.
"The fourth child, when I went to the hospital in the labour ward, I was watching the television and that's the time when Nelson Mandela had come out of prison after being there for 27 years," she narrated.
"Raila also had been in prison, but that is not why we named her Winnie. As I was watching the television, I could see Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela holding hands as Nelson Mandela walked out of the gates of the prison."
That was when she decided to call her unborn baby Winnie Mandela if it were a girl, or Wilson Mandela if it were a boy.
Winnie is currently a member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), representing Kenya.
