• Barack Owino, 17, tried calling his father, James Ochieng’, 63, to send him bus fare back home but his phone was unreachable.
• He decided to trek home but on arrival, his father who was living in solitude was not at home.
KCSE candidate Barack Owino Ajulu has appealed to Siaya County leaders for help in clearing his late father's hospital bill who passed away while he was finishing his exams, so as to go and bury him.
Image: JOSIAH ODANGA
A teenager from Luri village in Gem Yala, Siaya county is in distress following the death of his father from kidney complications.
Barack Owino, 17, sat his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams on April 1, 2022 at Ulumbi Secondary school.
He tried calling his father, James Ochieng’, 63, to send him bus fare back home but his phone was unreachable.
Owino stayed in school until Monday, April 4 then decided to trek home.
On arrival, his father who lived alone, was not at home.
Ochieng' separated with his wife when Owino was still a toddler.
"I do not know my mother, even if she were to resurface today," Owino told the Star.
“We just lived the two of us. The last time I was with him was in January when I was returning to school,” Owino said.
Owino inquired from the neighbors about of his father’s whereabouts but none had a clue, except one.
“There is a neighbor who told me that my father was very sick and had intended to visit Yala Subcounty Hospital when he last met him,” the distraught Owino explained.
He then left for the hospital where he was informed that the father had indeed checked in at the facility but was referred to the Siaya County Referral Hospital.
The boy went back home, hustled for bus fare and went to the referral hospital where, unbeknownst to him, the shocking news of his father's demise awaited him.
“The hospital told me that James Ajulu Ochieng, my father had died on April 1, the same day that I finished my exams,” Owino said amid sobs.
According to hospital documents, the deceased was admitted at the facility on January 15 at 0138 hours.
He struggled with his illness in the Male Ward for the next 70 days and passed on April 1, at 1215 hours.
The documents also indicate that the hospital unsuccessfully tried to reach the family on phone three times.
Hospital records indicate that Ochieng was admitted to the ICU and was at some point on oxygen for 48 hours.
The treatment accrued an estimated bill of Sh207,380 which continues to rise by the day due to mortuary charges.
Owino is now appealing on the county government of Siaya to waive the bill to enable him inter the remains of his father as soon as possible.
“I am requesting the County government of Siaya to pay for me the hospital and mortuary bill, so that I can bury my father,” Owino said.
He said his current situation is stressing him.
“I am very young and this matter is heavy than me. I am stressed. Let well wishers help me so that I can mind my business as I transit from school into the society,” he said.
Well wishers can make their cash donations via 0707-821785.
Gem Central location Chief Vincent Onyango confirmed Ochieng's death, further revealing that the deceased was not a native of the area.
“The deceased came from Seme in Kisumu. He was a non-native and lived alone, after his father also died several years ago.”
According to the administrator, this fact has made the locals to distance themselves from the emotional attachment related to Ochieng's death.
“He has no clan members and so nobody is even thinking of arranging for the burial,” Onyango said.
The chief mentioned that he only came to know Owino after his father passed on.
He also confirmed that none of the villagers knew that he was sick and admitted in hospital.
Owino's grandparents had also separated and the grandfather lived in solitude, before death.