The Second Samuel

Samuel Kenyi was the 20 year old son of Peter Sebit, the wonderful man who drives and maintains our vehicles on the Iris Ministries compound. Early in August, the week when I arrived, Samuel went missing.

Samuel had dropped out of school to earn some money giving rides on a motorcycle. He was saving money to pay the bride price to marry a girl and start a family. He went missing on the night of August 8th, after he had left home late to give someone a ride 10 miles outside of town.

Peter searched tirelessly for his son, traveling up and down the road where he went missing, miles and miles and days of long journeys on rough roads, sharing his son’s description and leaving his cell number with anyone who would listen.

The stories came in week by week- “A man was robbed and thrown into the river.” “A man fought with a soldier about a woman. The soldier shot him by the roadside.” – but none of them turned out to be Samuel.

Then, last week, Peter received word that Samuel’s body had been found. He took the Land Rover to see the remains, prepared that this might be yet another dead end. This time, he did find the body of his son. The skeleton was fragmented as the teeth, hands, and feet had been removed, but the jacket and t-shirt were familiar. The trousers were blue jeans that Samuel had borrowed from his father. No one knows how he died, and the motorcycle was nowhere to be found.The remains were brought home to Yei, and the second Samuel was buried last week.

There are no leads in what everyone believes to be a murder case, since the local chief is not cooperating. Having nothing more to do, Peter tends to the grave of his son, continues his work, cares for his family, and prays that the killer will be found.