Cover: Missing for 26 years: Mentally ill man reunites with family

Isaac Kombe was found in Burundi five months ago and his family traced to Malindi through the help of social media

Twenty-six years after he went missing, a mentally ill man from Kilifi county was found loitering in Burundi, thousands of kilometres away from home. Isaac Kithi, alias Livingstone, was taken into custody at the Kenyan embassy and a missing person alert circulated.

After all those years and efforts to trace him in vain, the power of social media managed to share his image and reach his relatives in three months. His uncle Jeremiah Ngari wrote to the embassy, and the process of bringing him back home began.

Family members, relatives and hundreds of villagers thronged his home and gave him a heroic welcome. His mother and sisters shed tears of joy upon seeing their long-lost relative again.

DISAPEARANCE

They last saw Kithi in May 1990, when he was taken to Port Rietz Hospital in Mombasa after he developed a mental health illness. It’s alleged that he escaped after only three days and went missing.

Family members searched for him and lost hope that he would ever return, if indeed he was still alive.

Kithi by then was 17 years old, a bright, hardworking and youthful boy, who was in form two at Jilore High School.

Due to his complications, his uncle took him to Port Rietz mental hospital for medication, and the authorities told him to return in three weeks, only for Kithi to go missing.

Due to his state of mind, it’s still not clear how he managed to travel all the way to Burundi and how he survived for all those years.

Thoya Iha, an official working at the Kenyan embassy in Burundi and a resident of Magarini, helped search for his family. He said that Kithi claimed he walked on foot to Burundi.

However, unconfirmed reports indicate he might have travelled via the long-distance freight vehicles.

Iha told journalists that Kithi was brought to the embassy by a chief and Burundian police on May 28, after they found him loitering in a village. He added that the authorities had earlier taken him to the Tanzanian embassy after they heard him speaking Kiswahili, but they were advised to take him to the Kenyan embassy.

Speaking at Jilore, Iha said he was able to communicate with him fluently in Giriama, and even though he could not remember exactly where he came from, he mentioned three names of places, one of which was Jilore.

“The diplomatic officers asked him questions and he spoke the truth, which made it easier for us to understand his possible whereabouts,” he said.

From that day, Iha was given the responsibility of tracing Kithi’s family and immediately begun a tireless process of looking for them back home in Kenya.

POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

He took pictures of Kithi outside the Kenyan embassy in Burundi, posted it on Facebook with a brief caption, and shared it on different WhatsApp groups.

His idea got a good response, as each day there were many shares from people who saw the post.

“It took me three months to get his family on Facebook. Some of the people commented and shared until one of his uncles saw it and contacted the embassy,” he said.

All this time, Kithi was in safe custody at a camp where authorities provided him with Sh1,500 weekly for food and upkeep as the search went on.

Ngari said he saw the post, which had been shared in July, and no one seemed to have contacts, as it had been re-shared many times.

However, he managed to get the Facebook page of the Burundian embassy and wrote them a message, which was replied after two weeks.

“The authorities wanted to get more information, which I provided and confirmed that he was my long-lost nephew,” he said.

Malindi MP Willy Mtengo helped finance and coordinate Kithi’s travel back home. He thanked the Kenyan and Burundi embassies authorities who helped in ensuring Kithi reunited with his family.

“We shall organise for him to get an identity card,” the MP said in his office. “The family should treat him well as he needs to adjust after staying away from the country for long.”

HOME FOR GOOD

Kithi left Burundi on September 17 by bus with Iha and arrived home on September 21. He was first welcomed by the MP in his office.

Hundreds of curious onlookers jammed the Malindi constituency office to see the return of the man who disappeared for 26 years.

Kithi was then driven in a convoy of five vehicles to his home. His elder sister Elizabeth Zawadi shed tears as she narrated how they had lost hope of ever seeing their only remaining brother. His father died and brother also passed away early this year, leaving behind his mother and three sisters.

Family members slaughtered a big goat in his honour to welcome him back home as they prepared for a big party.