American meets Kenyan dad after 28 years

• Classified advert in the paper reunites media student with her long lost father

It still wasn’t enough. Ms Chelang’at’s mother — back in the US — was adamantly against the reunion and refused to believe Mr Obare was who he claimed to be. But Ms Chelang’at didn’t care. She was poised to realise a lifelong dream. 

The father and daughter arranged to meet, and on the advice of the Nation team, decided to meet at the Moi Avenue Primary School bus stop so they could have their reunion at the nearby Nation Media Group headquarters. 

The moment was imminent. But fate — and Kenyan livestock — intervened. On the way from Nakuru to Nairobi, the bus carrying Mr Obare hit a donkey. Only 20 minutes from the city centre, they were delayed for nearly three hours as police cleared the accident site.

But finally — after 28 years, one photograph, one classified advertisement, several e-mails, several phone calls and one dead donkey — Mr Obare was going to reunite with his daughter.

On the lookout

He stepped off the bus clutching his luggage and accompanied by a friend, Rachel Moraa, crossed over to Jevanjee Gardens on the lookout for his daughter.

The tears began to flow even before they could embrace next to Ufundi Cooperative Building. They held each other for close to five minutes not wanting to let go of the moment each had longed for.

“My daughter. Oh, my daughter. You look like my first-born daughter… This is a miracle,” Mr Obare said through sobs.

For Ms Chelang’at, she was more composed as she wiped her tears, “It’s OK. It’s OK. I’m here. I’m here,” she said in a heavy American accent.

“I am so energised to have found my father. People told me it was not possible to trace my father, but I always felt it in me that he lived in Kenya,” she said. “My friends in America always tell me I look African-Kenyan. And finally I have a reason to believe so.”