When he left home on the morning of April 3, Samuel Kariuki’s family expected him back in the evening as usual.
The 39-year-old left before dawn as was his routine. Without a formal job, Samuel set out into the world, facing the uncertainties and challenges that come with providing for his young family in a difficult economy.
Days have turned into weeks, and the weeks into a month, but there has been no sign of Samuel. His family has been left to grapple with the pain of his absence and the agonising question of what could have happened to him.
“I have searched for him in every possible place. Yes, he drinks alcohol, but one thing for sure is that my husband has never spent a night away from our marital home, ” said his wife Tabitha Ngoiri.
Ms Ngoiri launched a frantic search for her husband, starting at the terminus where he worked as a tout, all the while hoping that her husband “wasn’t going to be part of the statistics”. She combed their neighbourhood in Kasarani and checked with their friends, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Despite my daily visits to his workplace in Embakasi, my husband is nowhere to be found. His workmate says he reported to work on April, 3 but he has not been seen since. I do not understand what happened.
“My husband has never wronged anyone. He is very gentle, kind. I have gone to the police to report but still nothing. My husband was a reserved man who rarely spoke his mind, and he never had any violent behaviour. I would know if he had wronged someone, but he was not that kind of person,” she said.
For Ms Ngoiri, each day is a struggle to maintain hope that her husband is still alive. She stands at the gate every morning, gazing into the distance, searching for any sign of her missing spouse. She longs to see his smiling face and hear his gentle voice once again.
“The agony of not knowing the whereabouts of my husband, or what might have befallen him, is almost unbearable. I am at a loss for words when my children ask me about their father. The only memory I have of him is him disappearing into the early morning light as he went to work, till date I have not seen him,” said Ms Ngoiri
Over a month later, Ms Ngoiri yearns to see her husband. The children cry for their father. They hold on to the hope that he will be found and returned to them, but each day without any news brings new fears and doubts.
“Every day when I hear there is a body that has been found, I rush there to see, hoping it is not him. Have gone to the police, nothing new has come up. Every day I have to explain to my children why their father is nowhere to be found,” Ms Ngoiri said.
In the meantime, Ms Ngoiri says: “Countless sunsets have passed since your departure. But with each fading light, I hold onto the hope of crossing paths with you once again.”
