A 26-year-old Kenyan woman Rispah Odanga in United Kingdom is desperately calling on Kenyan Community in the UK to help her repatriate the remains of her uncle, Edwin Kalerwa, who passed away on September 10, 2024, at Great Western Hospital in Swindon.
Rispah, who recently completed her master’s in Law at Oxford University, told The Kenyan Diaspora Media that she needs £4,500 (KSh 772,680) to transport her uncle’s body back to Kenya. Edwin Kalerwa, 56, succumbed to lymphoma cancer after battling the illness since 2021.
Rispah revealed that her uncle moved to the UK in the early 2000s and had been living alone in Swindon. With no other family members in the UK, she is his only close relative. She expressed her determination to fulfill her uncle’s final wish of being buried in Kenya.
“He has no other family members here; I am his niece and the only family he had in the UK. I would love to take him back to Mumias, Kakamega County, and lay him to rest there, but I do not have the means,” Rispah said.
Having moved to the UK in 2023 to pursue her studies, Rispah graduated just a month ago and has yet to secure stable employment and for that reason, she is struggling to raise the repatriation funds on her own, to support the contributions she has so far managed to raise from friends who came together in a WhatsApp group.
“I won’t be able to raise the money by myself,” Rispah said. “I’m calling on the Kenyan community in the UK to help me raise the money needed to cater for the burial.”
Adding to the emotional weight of her plea, Rispah revealed that her family in Kenya is already grieving another loss. Her cousin, renowned Kenyan actress Winnie Bwire Ndubi, known for her role as “Dida” in local television, recently passed away from cancer in Turkey. Winnie is set to be buried on September 21.
“We lost my cousin, Winnie Ndubi ‘Dida,’ to cancer, and she will be buried on 21st September. After that, my family will begin another fundraising effort in Kenya to help with my uncle’s repatriation,” Rispah concluded.
To join WhatsApp group and support Rispah, click the link: Join WhatsApp Group
Send your contributions to: Bank: HSBC Bank
Name : Rispah Khamala Odanga
Sort Code: 40-11-91
Account Number: 58238618
Rev 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
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At some point, we have been with a grieving family or friend and come to learn that none of us are ever prepared to leave this world. When the time comes, we shall leave everything including our loved ones behind.
