• Hellen was a nurse with a Canadian green card, she sent school fees, sent money to rebuild their home and buy two cows, and more
• In a freak accident she died in a swimming pool in Canada. She wanted to show her parents so it was filmed on a live phone link. They've seen it.
@magatinews
She was the family' solace — judging by the small brick house the family had built with her help in Getare, Bomachoge Chache in Kisii.
Now the young nurse, Hellen Kemunto, is the the source of heartache. She drowned while swimming in a hotel pool in Canada last week.
She had it filmed to show her parents what a good life she had. They saw the clip.
Her family is beside themselves with grief, not knowing how to get the body back for burial.
Her father, John Nyabuto, 55, says he is penniless.
Hellen drowned Thursday last week, on an outing.
She was a trained nurse. In Canada she could hop from one assignment to another to make a living and send money home, in hopes that with her training she could make life a little better back home.
And she did. She bought her father two dairy cow so he wouldn't have to do the back bending work of cane farming.
She always paid fees for her siblings. And she built her family a new house.
"With Hellen gone, we don't know what to do. We don't know anybody who can help," he told the Star during a visit to the home Wednesday.
May he whoever hears this cry be the angel that we had been praying for to bring the relief we are looking forHellen's father
"Yet my daughter must be brought home and get buried among her people, " he said.
She left home five years ago on a Canadian green card.
"Her flight out of the country was a dream come true," her father said. "She wanted to come back to visit but was determined to change lives first.
"She also had saved money for us before she left, but now we have exhausted all her savings."
They often communicated through WhatsApp and calls.
Now it has sunk in that the family alone cannot bring her home for burial.
Image: MAGATI OBEBO
Nyabuto says it may take a month or more to bring the body home if no one helps.
"We are bound here not knowing who can reach those distant lands to find help to bring the body home. Any effort by well wishers to help will be forever etched on our memory," he said.
He has asked the national government for help.
"May he whoever hears this cry be the angel that we had been praying for to bring the relief we are looking for," he said.
“We will forever be indebted to them should the body arrive here. We have already accepted how she died," her father said.
He said he was on the farm Thursday morning. Only after he finished his chores did he turn his phone on.
There was a string of texts informing him that Helen was gone.
A viral clip of his daughter's strange death.
"It was a bad way to die," he said. "Since then it has been too hard for me, my wife and the children," he added.
Hellen's mother Alice Oanda described her daughter as a go-getter but humble and honest.
"Her good deeds are all around us but we will sink again."
Riziki Monyenye, Hellen's sister says it's torture to recount her many good deeds.
"She was a blossoming flower that dried up as we waited to savour its beauty and savour its aroma," she said.
“We used to communicate so much online. I will miss her a lot," she said.
The family is unable to afford to make calls to Canada. Hellen always called them. They now rely on Hellen's friend in Canada to help them and communicate.
(Edited by V. Graham)