Family Seeks Help to Bring Back Daughter Detained in Egypt

The family of Linet Makena, a young woman from Meru, Kenya, is urgently seeking assistance to secure her release from an Egyptian detention centre.

Makena left Kenya in 2018 to search for greener pastures in Egypt where she found work as a house help in Cairo.

Speaking to the press, the family expressed their struggles and pleaded for help to raise Ksh 200,000 needed to bring Makena and her daughter back to Kenya,

“We have no financial capabilities, our father died, and our mother is old,” one of the family members stated.

Her uncle, John Muthuiya narrated Makena’s journey to Egypt, how she met a man who later relocated to Tanzania and the circumstances leading to her arrest.

“When she left for Egypt, she met a man, and they were blessed with a child. The child became anemic. She used up all her money to cater for her daughter’s medical needs, her contract ended and when the child was getting better, she embarked on looking for a job. Suddenly we heard that she was arrested,” Muthuiya said.

Makena was arrested after her visa expired in February this year. The Egyptian authorities detained her on May 8, alongside two other Kenyans following a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

According to Makena’s family, they have only raised Ksh 2000 of the required Ksh 200,000 needed to secure her release.

Also Read: Family Seeks Justice for Kin Allegedly Killed by British Soldier 12 Years Ago

Makena’s Journey to Egypt

Makena got her passport on November 2017 and planned her departure to Egypt following an invite by a relative who was working in the country.

Upon her arrival, she was employed as a house help and assured her mother Julia Mwitari that she would occasionally send her money.

While in Egypt, she fell in love with a Tanzanian student who they later had a daughter with on December 4, 2019.

According to Makena, things took a turn for the worse when the father of her child relocated back to Tanzania and her daughter began experiencing health complications and was diagnosed with anemia.

The 21-year-old was left to fend for herself and the child which led to her exhausting all her savings.

Also Read: Family of Kenyan Climber who Died on Mt Everest Reveals Last Moments

Speaking to the press, Makena’s mother Mwitari, revealed that obtaining travel documents for her granddaughter was a tough process since they had to seek consent from her Tanzanian father.

“He had to write a letter confirming that Makena was the mother of the child and that he had no problem with her travelling with her to Kenya. That document will expire next month, and we are racing against time so that we raise the money for the ticket before it expires,” she revealed.

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