Ab-Titchaz
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 30, 2008
- 14,631
- 4,225
Villagers flee as man buried last month walks back home
Abdalla shows a scar on the head that led to his mistaken identity. A body that his relatives buried had a similar one.
By PETER ATSIAYA
Terror rarely comes in the form of a ghost, in broad daylight. That fact must have struck residents of a village in Vihiga District as they took to their heels and fled on seeing a man they had presumed dead reappear, smiling at them.
As far as they were concerned, fellow villager Abraham Abdalla was dead and buried. His funeral was held last month and the fresh mound of earth that was his grave lay in his family compound.
What a shock it was when 27-year-old Abdalla walked into his widowed mothers home last week to find her seated with some villagers who were still mourning his death.
His mother, Hellen Otiende, 56 and the villagers in her compound fled in different directions, screaming "go away, you are a ghost".
It took a long time before elders at Liamagale village, Mungoma location could be gathered to approach the confused Abdalla and confirm that he was indeed a man and not a ghost.
The body of a man the family had buried recently was a case of mistaken identity.
For his mother, the reappearance of her third-born son looked like a dream even after elders assured her it was he.
"Oh no, I thought my son was dead, I buried him. Tell me you are the one," she kept wailing as she smothered him with hugs.
Abdalla had left his home in a huff four months ago after disagreements between him, his mother and his wife Adeline.
"In December I had a quarrel with my wife and we had a fight," Abdalla said.
"My mother was unhappy with me. With the help of my brothers they tied my hands and legs and locked me up in the house for three days as a punishment," he said.
He said after he was set free he told his pregnant wife and her two-year-old daughter he had gone forever and left home in protest to unknown destination.
Warm welcome
"I went to Naivasha where I lived with friends before I decided to come back home after I forgave my mother for what she did to me. I was expecting a warm welcome after staying away for four months without them knowing my whereabouts," he said.
Meanwhile, bad news of his alleged mob lynching in Bondo town reached the family last month.
His family and the village little knew they were dead wrong on the report when they went to Bondo to identify a body said to be his.
A relative living in Bondo town had informed his mother that she witnessed the mob lynching of Abdalla whom she claimed was set blaze
Police in Bondo said the body was moved to Siaya District Hospital mortuary," said his mother.
They were shown a body that was burnt beyond recognition but what made his relatives believe it was his body was a scar on the left hand similar to one Abdalla had.
Area councillor Japheth Havi provided means of transport and the body was taken home and buried without elaborate ceremony as is the Maragoli custom with victims of mob killing and suicide. When Abdalla reappeared home, he said: "What I saw when I set foot in my village will never get out of my mind for the rest of my life."
Screaming
"I found my mother with some people in our homestead and they scattered, screaming. My mother collapsed a short distance away," he recalled.
"According to the Maragoli tradition, despite his reappearance, Abdalla is still viewed as the living dead until a cleansing ritual is undertaken to readmit him to the society. The family has asked the local administration to exhume the body but they claim they have received no response.
As a result elders this week exhumed the body and re-buried it by a riverside far from the compound.
Maragoli elders led by Hezron Ananda who decided the body be exhumed say they hope police will exhume the body and return it to the mortuary.
"It is not my son, they should take it away," said Abdallas mother.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/Insi...flee as man buried last month walks back home
