Former Kenyan born Australian Senator Lucy Gichuhi has lost her daughter Peris Wanjiru.
Wanjiru, her firstborn, passed away in Adelaide, Australia on August 26th aged 33.
The cause of her death is yet to be established.
The family created a GoFundMe page to raise about Sh3m to repatriate the body back to Kenya.
So far the family has collected Sh40,000 for the sendoff.
“It is the desire of the family to give her a befitting send-off by repatriating the remains of the late Peris to her motherland Kenya,” the page reads.
“Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions in place that have resulted in decreased air travel to and out of Australia, the cost of this process is overwhelming to the family and thus the appeal to you for your kind support.”
The family said it was hard to bid farewell to their daughter who they described as kind-hearted.
“You will be forever missed as you subsist in eternal peace. Angels will fly,” it read.
“A little here and there will go a long way in making this possible and lessening the huge financial burden to her family as they come to terms with this devastating loss of their firstborn gone too soon.”
Gichuhi was the first African to be elected to fill the South Australia Senate seat vacancy after one of the candidates was not eligible.
In 2019, Gichuhi opened up about her history of trauma and violence in a new book about her life and political career.
The book Behind the Smile, details her reaction to infidelity and domestic violence, as well as her journey to the upper house of parliament in 2017.
"I share my journey from where it all began on the slopes of Mount Kenya to university life, falling in love and navigating the challenges of a marriage where infidelity is a challenge," Gichuhi said.
Edited by D Tarus
