Dubai: "Asante sana," was what Hannah Mwikamba, mother of assault victim Esther Wanjiru, repeatedly said on Wednesday hours before boarding her early morning flight home to Kenya, where Esther will be laid to rest.
The phrase, which means ‘Thank you very much' in Kiswahili, echoed in her hotel room as she was preparing for her flight on Wednesday.
"Thank you very much to all the Kenyans in Dubai, to our consulate and embassy officials, to everyone who responded by sending emails, messages, prayers and support," Hannah told Gulf News.
"Thank you also to Rashid Hospital, especially to the doctors who took care of Esther, to all the nursing staff, thank you very much," she added.
Hannah's eldest daughter, Esther, succumbed to head injuries on March 20. She was in a coma for 31 days at Rashid Hospital after being brutally beaten by a man in a car park in Dubai.
Hannah was scheduled to fly to Nairobi at 2:30am on Thursday courtesy of Kenya Airways, which also shouldered the cost of repatriating Esther's remains. Lucy, Esther's sister, flew to Nairobi yesterday morning. She will meet Hannah upon her arrival there.
Message book
Before Hannah left, the Kenyan community prepared a simple ceremony at the Kenyan Consulate General to give a book that contained messages of support and condolences for the family.
The book was specially prepared and signed by Kenyans who visited the consulate when Esther died on March 20.
Overwhelmed with gratitude, Hannah took the opportunity to thank everyone who helped them from day one.
"I would like to thank the Kenya Welfare Association, the Kenyan government, and the Al Qaid Hotel for hosting us," Hannah said.
"Thank you also to Gulf News for keeping Esther's story alive. But please never forget Esther," the grieving mother said.
"As a mother, I am not happy that I am coming home with my daughter, deceased. It would have been easier to accept if she had recovered from her coma and if I were taking her home alive. As a mother, I love my daughter and this is not easy to accept. But God loves her more. And life still goes on," Hannah said.
Hannah added that she would follow the case against the Emirati suspect who allegedly brutally beat her daughter, leading to her death, from Kenya.
The 24-year-old suspect has not been granted bail since the incident happened on February 18.
"May God help him," Hannah said, referring to the suspect.
"May God see him through. We leave everything to God."
All throughout the family's ordeal, scores of Kenyans have made Hannah feel loved as if she were their own mum since her arrival in Dubai on March 2.
"We are here to give her support. [She may have] lost Esther, but she still has thousands and thousands of daughters and sons in Kenya. And for me, she can always call us as we are one family. We are one blood, one colour, one nation," James Peter Ikonya, a Kenyan national who aided Hannah in the hotel, said.
Penina Nyokabi said: "I welcomed Mama Esther [Hannah] when she arrived. I have to see her off."
Upon reaching Nairobi, the Mwikamba family will embark on a 30-minute drive to the town of Limuru, where a public viewing for Esther's remains will be held.
The family has not decided on the date of Esther's burial yet.
