In loving memory of Philomena Orawo Awino, a life of love, faith, and unstinting generosity.

Philomena Orawo Awino was born in Nairobi in 1948, the firstborn of the late Martin Oruko and the late Paulina Gogo. Among her own siblings, she was the eldest of seven: four girls and three boys. After her came Dorothy Akeyo, the late Martin Olang, Angeline Akello, the late George Ouma, and the lastborn, the late Fredrick Mbata. As the eldest, she set the tempo for those who followed.

She was still a toddler when her father moved the family from Nairobi to Kisumu, and it was on the lake side of the country that her childhood took shape. She began her schooling at Nyamonge Primary School in Kibos, and later joined Kibuye Girls for her intermediate years, completing her studies there through Grade 8. Education for girls in that era was not universally encouraged; many families saw no reason to keep a daughter in school. But Philomena finished at the top of her class. A local Catholic priest, recognising what was in her, took it upon himself to forward her name to Kaplong Nursing School. That quiet act of advocacy set the course of the rest of her life.

At Kaplong she trained as a nurse, graduating in January 1969. It was a remarkable year for her in more ways than one: that same year, she married the late Mzee Zacharia Awino Chiandah, who at the time was working in Sotik with the Ministry of Lands and Settlement. In a single year, she stepped into both her profession and her marriage.

Her first posting was to Nakuru Provincial Hospital, where she served for two years before being transferred to Londiani District Hospital. From Londiani, the family eventually made its way to Nairobi, and Philomena joined the Nairobi City Council. There she would remain, quietly, faithfully, year after year, until her retirement in 2004. All told, she gave more than three decades to nursing.

She, Mzee Zacharia and Agnes were blessed with twelve children: Joseph Mboya Awino, Yusto Opiyo, Gideon Odongo, Lillian Achoki, Victor Chianda, Pauline Nyalala, Emperor Gor, Devlin Awino, Florence Opot, Caroline Owango, Grace Adhiambo, and George Ngala. Through all of them, a generation of grandchildren and great-grandchildren came to know Philomena, variously, as Mama, Dani and Shosh.

Those who lived under her roof, and those who simply passed through it, remember a woman of quiet, deep faith. The kind of faith that does not announce itself, but holds a household together for half a century. She was kind in small, ordinary ways. She worked hard. She gave generously and without keeping count: raising her own seven, helping raise grandchildren, and keeping the door open for any member of extended family who needed shelter, a meal, or a bit of pocket money pressed into a hand on the way out.

She has run her race. She has kept the faith. She has gone home.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

2 Timothy 4:7