• People believed to be rival fishermen from Tanzania attacked the Kenyans. All escaped except Nyedenge.
• The daily search for the body has been fruitless with the family getting more distraught.
James Osala Nyadenge left home for a fishing expedition in Lake Victoria hoping to return with food for his family.
It was a daily routine for the 39-year-old breadwinner of the a family of four.
Thursday, August 30, looked like any other day until things took a tragic turn.
The fishing party of five ventured into the waters at Muhuru Bay after the usual prayer rituals. Lake Victoria waters can suddenly get turbulent and fishermen often pray before they start their mission.
The expedition took Nyedenge and his team to Gospa, in Tanzanian territory. People believed to be rival fishermen from the neighbouring country attacked them. All the fishermen escaped except Nyedenge.
He was captured, tortured and eventually hacked to death.
His wife, Priscilla Akinyi, received the news of her husband's death a week later from the surviving members of the fishing party.
“I got confused and I don’t recall what really happened afterwards,” Akinyi told the Star.
The family plunged into mourning as the search for the body of their breadwinner continues.
The daily search for the body has been fruitless with the family getting more distraught.
They have since sought the help of police to find out who the killers were and why Nyadenge, a father of four, was killed.
Nyadenge's original home is Kambare in Gem constituency, Siaya county.
The widow said the priority for the family at the moment is to get the body of her husband. They still don't know how the body will be ferried to Gem for burial.
"My husband hailed from a very poor family. As a fisherman, he was the only person with income. So I'm all alone in this. Even my husband's mother cannot travel from Gem to Muhuru Bay because she cannot afford the fare," Akinyi said.
She continued: "I don't know even where to start."
The search operation is expensive as each of the two speed boats being used consumes 400 litres of petrol per day.
"I don't have even a coin to fuel the boats for the search," Akinyi said.
She appealed to well-wishers and local politicians to organise and finance the search and transportation of the body to their Kambare village home.
"Our MP back home is Elisha Odhiambo. I'm really pleading for his help," the wido said.
Akinyi's uncle Philip Etale, who is ODM's communications director, told the Star that the family is needy and the "weight of that burden falls squarely on me."
"With the cold weather and rain, we don't know where the body has been washed to. It's a long search," Etale said.
Edited by P.O