• Today, Jonathan's family is holding on to nothing but fond memories of their son , unsure if he succumbed or is alive as a captive somewhere in the lawless and war-wracked country.
• The young soldiers’ mother describes the thought of her son gone missing as a stubborn boil.
Image: MAGATI OBEBO
January 15, 2020, will mark yet another anniversary, the fifth, since bands of all Shabaab insurgents overran a KDF military camp at El Adde in Somalia killing scores.
Some families of the deceased will mark the anniversary by laying wreaths on the graves of their loved ones.
But a family in Kisii County’s Amariba area, Nyaribari Chache Sub-County, is still in distress over the disappearance their son to date.
Lingering memories about corporal Jonathan Anunda still haunt Miriam and her husband Benson Anunda in their rented house in Kijauri, Nyamira County.
Jonathan, a flowering youth then aged, is yet to be traced, alive or dead, years later since the deadly raid on their El Adde camp.
Scores of his peers died in the night raid, billed the worst against KDF since independence.
Today, Jonathan's family is holding on to nothing but fond memories of their son , unsure if he succumbed or is alive as a captive somewhere in the lawless and war-wracked country.
The young soldiers’ mother describes the thought of her son gone missing as a stubborn boil.
“The heart bleeds, I'm just stuck as if in a deep hole not knowing what to do,” she told the Star.
She used to operate small businesses as a tailor in Keroka but it has since folded saying it had been difficult paying attention to it as thoughts of his son haunted her.
Her husband says they want his body to bury if he is dead.
“If he is dead we want his body found, get buried and we get over it. But no one is telling is us where he is," he said.
"Had a lion mauled him and gotten his remains to bury the better," added Anunda.
He said unending vigil and waiting for a dear one gone missing can be wearisome.
“It's been long wait let me tell you. No Kenyan parent should go through this,” he said.
Photos of the gallant soldier have since been brought down from the living room which Anunda says is a deliberate way to deal with the trauma of their son's loss.
At times all, Miriam, 60, says all she sees is a long convoy of military vehicles snaking their way into their homestead and other times, his ghost.
“Sometimes I just see him sauntering in and cuddling his children playfully but most of the times it is the winding convoy of military vehicles driving in,” she stated.
Four years down the line the family has been on a long winding pathway down to hell and back, Anunda says.
Corporal Jonathan was the breadwinner and the family has had its fair share of troubles since he left.
They are uncertain whether to pull through and assume their son died or just keep on waiting.
"We may talk and cry but what is important is seeing my son alive, it's painful l tell you," said Anunda.
Military in Kenya said the explosion that ripped through the military camp was three times more powerful in comparison to the 1998 US Embassy in Nairobi and might have killed many soldiers.
The government has been cagey with the figure of fatalities with international agencies placing the number at 141.
Others, however, say more than 200 soldiers may have perished.