This archive report was first published on 8 May 2020.
Chesegon Tragedy Victims' Families Seek Closure Through Traditional Rites ¶
On April 18, 2020, flash floods and landslides ravaged Chesegon, leaving 23 people missing. Two weeks later, the government called off the search operation, citing the impossibility of locating the bodies.
Desperate for closure, the families have turned to traditional cleansing ceremonies. In a ritual that involves slaughtering a white goat, the elders smear the entrails on the family members' foreheads and legs to cleanse them of evil spirits.
On May 6, 2020, William Kimutai Rutto and his wife, Nelly, sat on stools, resigned to fate. The elders had just smeared the entrails on their foreheads and legs after a long session of traditional chants.
"We are just trying to find peace and comfort in our hearts. This is something I never imagined would happen to me. I never thought my daughter would die this way. It hurts even more not to find her body and bury it the way we, Marakwets, do," said Mr Rutto, whose 15-year-old daughter, Jepchirchir Kimutai, was among the missing.
Mr Rutto's family is not alone in their search for closure. Many families have turned to traditional rites, hoping to find peace and move on with their lives.
"The goat sampled must correspond with the age of the departed. If it's a young man or woman, you get a young goat; if it is an old man or woman, you must slaughter an old one; if it's a male you get a buck; if it's a female, you get a doe," said Mr Chemutut Lokungwa, one of the elders involved in the cleansing ceremony.
Despite the government's promise of Sh50,000 for each family that lost a member, many families have not received the money. "We have not received anything. We just hear that money was given," said Mr William Kaino, who lost a daughter, Chemwetich, a Class Five pupil at Mungwa Primary.
