Kenyan-born former Australian Senator, Lucy Gichuhi, has failed to raise Ksh3.2 million to fly the body of her daughter back home for burial.
Her daughter, Peris Wanjiru, 33, passed on in August in Australia.
Her family resolved to open an online fundraising account, pleading with well-wishers to help them raise the money to bring her daughter to Kenya and accord her a proper send-off.
However, the former Senator only managed to raise Ksh41,000 before closing down the fundraiser.
“A little here and there will go a long way in making this possible and lessening the huge financial burden to her family as they come to terms with this devastating loss of their firstborn,” read the message on the online fundraiser.
The family, through an obituary run on the dailies, indicated that she will now be buried on Monday, September 27, in Adelaide, Australia.
“On the 27th September 2021, there will be a Church Service at Influencers (Paradise) Church, followed by burial at the Centennial Park Adelaide, South Australia,” the obituary read.
The cause of the demise remains unclear. The obituary stated that she passed on suddenly.
Gichuhi served as a Senator in Australia from 2017 to 2019. Before that, she worked as an accountant.
The lawmaker won her first seat on the Family First Party ticket following a special vote recount of the April 2016 election ordered by the High Court of Australia.
She became the first African-Australian Senator in the country’s history.
She was born in Mathira, Nyeri County before moving to Australia in 1999 with her husband and three kids. In 2001, she became a naturalized citizen of Australia.
