84 year old Mzee Peter Oyuka is furious & disappointed after discovering that his 2 wives, whom he left behind 47 years ago, have remarried
Oyuka walked out of his ancestral Makale village in Malava, Kakamega county in 1974 aged 37, in search of greener pastures because he needed to take care of two wives and five children. Neither did he give details of where he was headed to nor his expected time of return when leaving,
According to The Standard Newspaper, Oyuka was Kakamega between 1983, 1992 and 1996, but never set foot in his home despite being in close proximity to the family. After endless waiting, desolate wives decided to move on. They got new partners and settled into new marriages.
Oyuka walked back to his home on Tuesday, September 21, to a village where only a few individuals could recognise him. As a matter of fact, one of his daughters-in-law almost raised alarm over fears that he was a stranger who had trespassed into the compound. He was informed that the women he left behind had long moved into other homes and put memories of him behind them.
As much he was grateful that his family had accepted him back, he was disappointed that his wives did not stay around to wait for him. He did not take the news kindly and wondered why they couldn’t wait for him to return “I wish my wives were here today to welcome me home, but anyway I wish them well in their marriages. However, I’d like them to know that I’m still alive and that they should create time and visit me,” he said.
The other development in the story is that, while he was away from home, Oyuka ended up in neighbouring Tanzania where he spent 13 years. It is a period within which he not only met and fell in love with a Tanzanian woman but also sired a child with her during the period he was away from home.When his stay in the country ended and he returned to Kenya, communication between the two collapsed. “My Tanzanian lover stopped communicating with me, and is yet to allow me to meet our son,” he revealed.
Oyuka also revealed that his health has been failing and the money he once made from onion farming has been spent on medication, that is why he was desperate to find his way back home.
Oyuka’s return home started courtesy of a Facebook post in which a Good Samaritan shared details about the old man and asked for leads to his family. As luck would have it, his 53-year-old son Aggrey Osanji, whom he abandoned aged six, saw the post and initiated contact, after which he was brought back home. In line with the Luhyia customs, a white goat was sacrificed to pacify the ancestors before the prodigal son was allowed back into the home.
