Short lived joy for family after reunited kin, dies

A family’s joy of reuniting with their son after 20 years, was cut short after the kin died days after arriving home in Gilgil Sub-county, in Nakuru.
Stephen Njihia, 40, died three days after reunion with his family, while the family sought treatment for his swollen feet.
“We knew our long search for our brother had come to an end and we took him to hospital as his feet were swollen and he looked sickly,” narrated Teresiah Njoki, saying burial was tentatively set for Wednesday at their Karunga home in Gilgil Constituency.
Njihia now aged 40 years was last week traced to Rumuruti town in Laikipia County, where a well-wisher had rescued him from the cold streets.
His mother, Rachel Wanjiru, said the son left home in the year 2000 after an altercation with his father, Daniel Ndung’u.
The family said he burnt down his house before leaving vowing never to return. His father died in 2015, having search of his son in many areas but in vain.
People who knew him in Rumuruti said he had been in the town for many years doing odd jobs and spent nights at an abandoned lorry at a timber yard in the town.
“The lorry was towed away by the County Government and we thought the swelling of his feet was due to lack of a place to sleep,” said Jane Wanjiku.
Njihia, who looked mentally unstable when his family arrived to pick him, stunned the family when he positively identified them. He even recalled the river he used to crossed to get to school any years back.
By Anne Sabuni