'Pray for me, mum: Kenyan son’s last words from Russian frontline

Charles Waithaka /FACEBOOK

A Kenyan mother is mourning her only son, who died on the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war after accepting the promise of a job abroad.

Bibiana Wangare says her son, Charles Waithaka, was lured to Russia by a woman agent who promised him employment as a plant operator or mechanic, fields in which he had trained.

Wangare  told the Star that the first and last time she met the agent was in October last year at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where the woman had come to collect a cash commission of Sh160,000.

Charles completed all the required travel procedures and later informed his mother that he had safely arrived in Moscow.

A few days later, their communication changed.

He told his mother he had been issued with a new SIM card and would not be in frequent contact as he was undergoing what he initially described as language training.

The truth was far more troubling.

Wangare says her son later broke down and confessed that he had been forced into military training.

“He cried and told me, ‘Mum, I am in military training… please forgive me for not telling you earlier. Things are not easy here. Pray for me.’”

Communication between the two became rare, and during the Christmas period, Wangare heard nothing from him.

“While others were celebrating, I was in bed praying. I didn’t know if my child was safe,” she said.

On December 27 last year, Charles sent what would become one of his final messages.

He told his mother that if she could not reach him, she should contact a specific person for information about his whereabouts.

But efforts to reach that contact were unsuccessful. The individual later blocked her.

Wangare sought help from the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was advised to write to the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow.

Then came the devastating moment.

On February 3 this year, Wangare saw a photo circulating on social media of a Kenyan reported to have been killed in the war against Ukraine.

“When I saw that photo, it was my son. It broke me,” she said.

Her worst fears were later confirmed by a friend who had travelled with Charles to Moscow. He revealed that Charles had died in a landmine explosion on the battlefield.

Although the burial was conducted without his body, Wangare is pleading with the government to help families like hers find closure.

“I am asking the government to bring back our children — whether dead or alive — so that we can have closure,” she said.

The Kenyan government has acknowledged the growing concern.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi is expected to travel to Moscow in March to engage Russian authorities on the matter.

BBC and military experts estimate the number of Russian deaths at between 243,000 and 352,000 over four years; the estimated number of those maimed and unable to fight was not known.

At the end of January, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated Russia has suffered about 1.2 million casualties during the war.

The manpower shortage has forced Russia to find fighters elsewhere.

Many fighters have been recruited from former Soviet republics as well as low-income nations in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

The Russian embassy in Nairobi last week dismissed “dangerous and misleading” allegations that it was facilitating deceptive recruitment of Kenyans to fight in Ukraine.

Mudavadi says the government is working to stop the exploitation of Kenyans seeking jobs abroad and to establish structured labour agreements to protect them.

So far, at least 27 Kenyans have been rescued and returned home after being lured into the conflict under false promises of employment.