Late grandma called me Omondi, waved to me while I was on air — Larry Madowo

Celebrated journalist Larry Madowo could not hold his tears as he narrated his close relationship with his late grandmother, Francisca Madowo.

His grandmother died two weeks ago.

“She was my only grandmother who called me Omondi...,” Madowo said as he broke down.

He was speaking during the burial of Francisca in her rural home on Thursday.

“I with other children stayed with her when we were young. Whatever she had, that is what we shared. That is why we have kept that love to date,” he said.

Madowo said when her grandmother visited him in Nairobi he could make a joke of his TV career.

“She could ask me how come I don’t always see her when she waves at me while broadcasting,” he said as he wept.

“She thought that when someone is on TV, they see the people watching.”

As an orphan, Madowo narrated how his grandmother was the pillar of their home.

“We will celebrate her life because she has lived long. When I saw her body, I was saddened. She was the only person who brought life in this home,” he said.

Madowo said the grandchildren, him included, will go back to their home every August to celebrate the life of their loved ones.

The CNN international correspondent and presenter had previously shared that his 100-year-old grandmother was unwell.

Larry’s grandmother had been on a ventilator for four weeks.

Madowo had said that his heart would sink every time he got a call from a relative as he would anticipate bad news.

“Every time I see a call from home, my heart sinks. I always fear that they’re ringing to say that my grandmother has died," he said.

He had earlier narrated how his uncle died in July leaving him devastated.

“I was heartbroken and angry. He was not vaccinated because Kenya didn't -- and still does not -- have enough shots even for a senior like him,” he said.

“Justus was buried within 48 hours as the Kenyan government requires. He was the third family member who had died in the pandemic that I didn't get a chance to mourn properly or see laid to rest.”

Madowo blames vaccine inequality in Africa that he says leads to deaths.

Edited by D Tarus