Laventer Amutavi, the wife of African 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala, has opened up on the challenging times she underwent while just transitioning to adulthood.
Laventer is among the last children of her parents, but she had elder half brothers and sisters.
After the death of her father, her elder siblings turned against her mother, kicking her out of her own home.
“My dad died in 2012 when I was doing my KCSE and I think life ilichapa tu a u-turn, some thing I didn’t expect. Once my dad died, family just changed my mum started being frustrated, we were given an ultimatum to move out of our own home by my half brothers and sisters. In many families I have heard this, its usually uncles and aunties but in our case it was my siblings,” she told Trudy.
Her dad had written a will on how his property should be distributed among his heirs. The will however lacked a lawyer’s signature, thus making things more difficult.
“When he died things changed, all the titles deeds of our dad that we had, we were called for a meeting and they told us that they want them. They took everything from my mum. Wakatuambia where we are living we do not deserve to be there because my mum legally doesn’t have papers. My mum had a dowry agreement, she had been married for over 18 years, but they said that they didn’t recognise her despite during my dad’s burial they acknowledged she is the wife,” Laventer narrated.
The mother of two added that her siblings demanded them to build a new home where they had been allocated a piece of land, demanding that no one stays at their father’s home.
“It was frustrating, I remember going through a lot of trauma and the fact that I was in campus I couldn’t show my mum that I am weak. All the time nilikuwa naenda shule nikifika my mum calls me, ‘your half brother anagonga mlango na panga at night,’ anaambiwa usipohama next week tutakuua.
“I received those calls and I had to come out of school, go home be strong for my mom and go back to school and breakdown. My first year in school was so terrible. I used to come back from home naenda tu nawalilia(school friends),” she shared.
In another incident, her brother destroyed her mother’s vegetables that she had cultivated on the family land.
“My mum’s salary was through farming so amepanda sukuma anasupply kwa shule ndio atleast hio sukuma itufeed. Akatumanisha mtu kwa shamba hizo sukuma zote zikakatwa chini. It was just a lot of emotional turmoil yenye ilikuwa inanifanya nakosa peace.
The succession case is however still in court today.
Following the experiences, Laventer is looking forward to establish an NGO, together with her colleagues who have been through the same experience, so as to support widows.
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