A family in Juja, Kiambu County, is overjoyed after their daughter, a 14-year-old Form One student, returned home four months after she went missing.
Daisy Wanjiku, a student at Kahuhia Girls High School in Murang’a County, had disappeared from their home in Mugutha Estate on May 13, 2024, just a day before she was to report back for the second term.
Since then, her distraught mother Julia Wairimu has never had peace of mind after looking for her daughter far and wide in vain and failing to get much help from the police.
However, on Monday, September 9, 2024, the girl called her mother with the good news that she was on her way back home after a four-month disappearance.
“I was overjoyed, and I thank God that Daisy came back home safe and in good health. We took her for a medical examination, and she was found to be in sound health,” the mother of four told journalists after receiving her second-born child accompanied by other family members.
A shy-looking Daisy declined to talk to journalists about what she went through while away from home but apologised to her parents and told them she was ready to go back to school.
Wairimu said the thought of her missing daughter’s whereabouts had affected her own health, and sometimes she would go without eating or fail to open her shop in the Kimbo area.
The father, Charles Githaiga, who is a pastor and a farmer, likened his daughter to the biblical Prodigal son, who was received back home warmly by his father after squandering his inherence in a foreign land.
“I have instructed their mother to buy a big chicken, which will be eaten as we celebrate our daughter’s return. I will also withdraw a case that is pending in court involving three associated with her disappearance,” Githaiga said.
He added that the family will support Daisy to complete her education and achieve her dream of becoming a doctor.
Githaiga also said during the search for their daughter, he refused to go to mortuaries because he strongly believed she was alive. “I could not agree to look for Daisy among the dead because I believed she was alive, and truly God has confirmed this,” he remarked.
The father advised parents not to antagonize children who leave home, as in the case of Daisy, but instead show them love when they return.
Winnie Mwaura, an aunt to Daisy, said the family went through untold stress with some accusing them of being behind her disappearance, but they are now relieved after she reappeared.
“Some claimed that the family knew of her whereabouts and even accused us of selling out our daughter,” she divulged.
An uncle, Bishop Martin Kariuki, said the family had sessions of prayers and fasting, and God finally answered them by bringing Daisy back home.
