A family in Njoro, Nakuru, on Tuesday, joyfully celebrated the safe return of a woman who left the country 35 years ago. The neighbors too were not left behind as emotions run high, while they sang, danced and shed tears, celebrating the return of a long lost daughter in an unexpected reunion.
The woman, 70-year-old Cecilia Muthoni, had left behind two teenage daughters in search of greener pastures to make her daughters' lives better.
Cecilia’s mother is now 100 years old. The last time she set her eyes on her lovely daughter was in 1984 when she bid her goodbye before setting out on her voyage.
Cecilia decided to leave for Tanzania, promising to come back as soon as possible.
"First, I decided to divert and leave for Nairobi where I was employed at a hotel. My boss was very rude and cruel. He used to mistreat me and abuse me countless times. When I got frustrated with that life, I tagged my friend along with me and we left for Tanzania," she recalled.
However, her stay in Tanzania was different from what she expected. Her life took a different twist when she met a Tanzanian man in Dar es Salaam and sired a daughter with him in 1986.
According to Cecilia, her urge to come back home grew daily after a few years, but her husband became a stumbling block.
She managed to finalize her return plan to Kenya a few years later. However, it was thwarted in 1992 when she was involved in a grisly road accident that saw her admitted in a hospital for months.
"My Tanzanian husband took custody of my daughter, who was then 6 years old and there was no way I would have left without her. I, therefore, had to stay intact and persevere the challenging life in Tanzania. If I had left, I would have lost my daughter," Cecilia emotionally narrated.
It took several years to see her daughter grow and in 2018, she managed to write a letter to her family through a nearby primary school in Kenya. The family and neighbors got together and pulled funds to enable her to get back home.
“We thank God for bringing her back home safely. We, her neighbours will help her settle in any way we can,” one neighbour Stephen Mwaura jubilantly promised.
Another one rallied for help from the government.
“I call upon the county and national govt to liaise with the Tanzanian government to enable Cecilia to reunite with her Tanzanian daughter,” the neighbour echoed.
Cecilia’s firstborn, Lucy Wanjiku, 51, is now a mother of four while the second born, Julia Nyambura, 48, is a mother of 5.
