From: Joram Ragem

Dear Jaluo dot com,

I liked the old jaluo dot com forum which we frequently used to help one another on matters about our culture and our problems.

I am writing this open letter as a cry for help, hoping someone, maybe the esteemed Luo Council of Elders, or any good Samaritan ma ja thurwa will help me.

Here we go.

And I am Joram Ragem, you are not.

Yes, Joram Kaulikazi Ragem, wuod Ndinya, wuod Onam, wuod Amolo, wuod Owuoth, wuod Oganyo, wuod Mumbe, wuod Odongo, wuod Olwande, wuod Adhaya, wuod Ojuodhi, wuod Ragem (You may be my relative, but it matters less now. This is New Kenya!)

– – – – – – – – – – –

My dad died exactly 9 years ago. Before then we had been staying in Nairobi as a family of kids including our parents.

My father however, had another wife with whom they have not been in contact with since 1986 due to irreconcilable differences. I know this because my father wrote some autobiography of sorts and I have the original copy. Numerous attempts were made later to reconcile her and her children back into the family but she bluntly rejected the offer even going ahead to marry another man.

The ancestral land that had been allocated to my father has lain uncultivated for almost three decades. Recently my mother began to cultivate it and suddenly every one’s interest is aroused. The eldest uncle in our family has attempted to beat her up, One of my fathers brother’s has thrown a panga at her on various occasions and in the most recent incident my mother decided to approach her late husband’s eldest brother to report the matter. She was chased away and told she has no property in the family and they would bring back the alienated wife and take everything that she has.

It seems we have been sitting on a time bomb and now it is almost exploding. Word is going round that they intend to chase us out of our rural home and take everything. I have tried to do my research and even logic says the family has no capacity to dispense justice without outside intervention.

The other family has expressed their intentions of not ever coming back and my uncle wants this land for himself and has said it in those blunt terms. My family is ready to fore go that land but all we want is to protect ourselves from looming eviction.

P:s My mother refused to be inherited and the other family never attended dad’s funeral. The local council of elders is defunct and if any is to be called my uncle would most probably be a member of it and this would greatly hamper justice. The local chief cowards at him and is therefore, not in a position to tell him the truth if it is against his opinion. Both my grandparents are also long deceased.

I do not know what to do my people, but to ask you for guidance. Feel free to post your opinion here and you can reach me through Ajori at joragem@gmail.com

I remain,
Very Truly Yours
Lady Ado