In 1993, John Otieno left his Ugenya home to seek medical treatment in Nairobi, assuring his wife that he would be back in three weeks.
On Sunday, July 16, 2023, Otieno shocked his family and residents of Nyabeda village in Ugunja sub-county in Siaya when he arrived home 30 years after he embarked on his Nairobi trip.
The father of eight who was 46 years old when he left home had travelled to Nairobi in the company of his younger sister and is said to have disappeared days after arriving tot the city.
Otieno who was received by his 68-year-old wife Elizabeth Awuor did not say what he had being doing in Nairobi all this time but mentioned that he was happy to be back home and see his family again.
According to his wife, his family set out to look for him after his disappearance, where they visited numerous mortuaries, police stations and hospitals but could not trace him.
“The last time I travelled to Nairobi was in January 1994 before I resorted to prayers with hopes that my husband would be found one day. After a two-year search, we gave up. We did not know we would ever see him again. It was such an ordeal. We really struggled in his absence, it wasn’t easy,” she said.
The couple had stayed together for about 20 years before Otieno’s visit to the city to seek medication, when he became ill after the death of his father in 1993.
Elizabeth said she was informed that her husband had disappeared after he was taken to a church leader for prayers.
Otieno’s sister, Angelina Okinyo, said she was surprised when her son told her he had spotted his uncle (Otieno) in Nairobi, where they decided to take him back home to reunite with his family.
