This archive report was first published on 28 August 2021.
Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo is mourning the loss of his grandmother, Francesca Madowo, who passed away on Friday at the age of 96.
According to Madowo, his grandmother had been on a ventilator for four weeks after contracting COVID-19, a condition that has affected millions worldwide, including hundreds of millions in the developing world who were not vaccinated until recently.
"My grandmother, the family matriarch, our heartbeat, my comedy partner, the dearly loved Francesca Madowo, has joined the ancestors," Madowo wrote on social media, expressing his grief and loss.
Her death comes just a month after Madowo disclosed that his grandmother was on a ventilator for weeks, a situation that had left him heartbroken and angry.
"I had just finished filming at a crammed ICU treating critical Covid-19 patients in Uganda's capital of Kampala last month when I learned that my uncle Justus had himself died of the virus across the border in Kenya. I was heartbroken and angry," he said then.
Madowo, who anchors 'One World' on CNN International from Atlanta, Georgia, had previously worked as a North America Correspondent for the BBC and anchored breaking news and presented BBC World News America from Washington, DC.
