Kisumu Woman Rep Ruth Odinga has appealed for peace as the
family prepares to lay her sister, Beryl Odinga, to rest.
Ruth urged mourners and supporters planning to visit the
family to maintain calm and uphold dignity during the final send-off.
“Beryl was a peaceful woman full of decorum. Kindly let us
uphold peace,” she said, reminding those travelling to console the family to
honour the values her sister embodied.
"I would urge anybody who's coming to mourn with us to
please let us bury Beryl with the kind of peace she liked and the peace she
loved. That's all I would like to ask, that we send her off, give her the
send-off.”
Ruth announced that Beryl’s body arrived at Kisumu
International Airport on Friday morning, where the funeral committee organised
a mass in her honour at the airport grounds.
The family later departed for Bondo ahead of today's [Saturday] burial.
Beryl, who passed away on November 25, 2025, while
undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nairobi, was the younger sister of the late
former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
A distinguished professional and trailblazer, Beryl’s life
spanned continents and careers, leaving an indelible mark on both Kenya and
Zimbabwe.
Beryl will be laid to rest in Bondo at Kang'o Ka Jaramogi, where a quiet corner of the Odinga family
cemetery awaits her late mother, Mama Mary Juma Odinga.
The decision departs from long-standing Luo customs, which
traditionally require married women to be buried in their husbands’ homes.
Addressing the controversies surrounding her burial site versus the Luo traditions, Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga said the family will observe all other traditional rites associated with a woman’s burial.
“We know our traditions, and we respect them. Our sister
will be buried with her head facing the gate, as the culture requires,” he
said.
He explained that the only variation is that she will be
interred at the family’s designated gravesite within their home, an area he
said was identified by their late father as the resting place for all family
members.
“The world has changed, and land is no longer what it used
to be. Our father showed us where every member of the family should be buried.
We are simply following that guidance,” Oburu said.
He added that while the Luo community has strong burial
customs, families must also use wisdom and adapt when circumstances change,
noting that older homesteads and lifestyles were very different from today’s
realities.
“We are not abandoning our culture, and we are not throwing
away our sisters,” Oburu said.
