There was renewed joy and emotion at Opoda Farm in Bondo when Ida Odinga, widow of the late opposition leader Raila Odinga, opened her heart and home to a young girl from Turkana who shares her name — Ida.
The young Ida travelled hundreds of kilometres from Turkana to Siaya County to personally console Mama Ida, whom she considered her mentor and role model. What began as a simple gesture of sympathy turned into a life-changing encounter.
Photos of the touching moment when the elderly Ida embraced her younger namesake moved Kenyans across social media. The images, shared by Jaramogi Allan Ofula, captured the two holding each other warmly — a meeting he described as “fate smiling through tears.”
“Mama Ida saw her young self in the brave girl who had come to mourn her hero. She opened her arms, her heart, and her home for her,” Ofula wrote. He added that the younger Ida would now live with Mama Ida and be treated as the youngest member of the Odinga family.
Beyond adopting her, Mama Ida vowed to sponsor the girl’s education and support her dreams.
“Sometimes grief plants the seeds of new beginnings,” Ofula remarked, noting that the encounter had reshaped the young girl’s destiny forever.
Kenyans online celebrated the kind gesture, calling it a powerful act of love and compassion amid loss. Many praised Mama Ida for turning pain into purpose and for keeping the Odinga family’s spirit of generosity alive.
As one user aptly commented, “She has made Mama Ida smile again since Baba’s passing. Earth is happy indeed.”
Tags
Family