“He told me ‘Mum, I am going but when I come back I will enlarge the ring’. He was to come back in two weeks’ time to pay my dowry and then we hold our wedding on November 16 to formalize our union of many years.”
These are the exact words of Rebecca Otiende Mururi, wife of the late Evans Araka Mururi, who was among six people killed on Thursday in the Mandera terror attack.
Mrs Mururi and Evans were preparing to exchange their wedding vows next month before her husband met his untimely death.
Mrs. Rebecca Mururi.
“It was a surprise. Everything was a surprise to me. I never imagined we will do a wedding even though we were married. He surprised me with a wedding gown and a ring,” she says.
“Unfortunately, the engagement ring did not fit but he promised that he would enlarge it. We did some clothes with my best maids and did something like a party on Sunday before he left,” narrates Mrs Mururi.
“He did not want to go back on Monday. He wanted to return on Thursday but he had to report on Monday,” she says as she reaches for her handkerchief.
Mrs Mururi vividly recounts the last time she talked to her late husband after he had just left Nairobi to Mandera where he was working as a Credit Manager with Islamic Relief, a humanitarian organization operating in Daadab, Mandera and Wajir.
“The last communication we had was on Tuesday night because since we were planning for our wedding which was due on 16th of next month, we were talking with the best maid, best man. It was a long talk. We talked until late in the night around 11pm,” says Mrs Mururi as she fights back tears.
They also had a small party before her husband left for work on Monday but it is his behavior during the party and afterwards that left her wondering what might be wrong with him.
“He a lot that day and even when we arrived at home, he still insisted that I cook for him. Then he left on Monday morning, that was the last day I saw him,” she says amid sobs.
