Left: The empty desk of Eddy Bondora, where he should have been sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations at Shimo La Tewa High School, Mombasa. Right: His mother, Mrs Zainabu Bondora, and a relative, who want Eddy to go back to school. Photo/LAAN WALLOGA
A 19-year-old high school student has eloped with a 40-year-old woman.
The Shimo La Tewa High School student, Eddy Bondora, was a Form Four candidate but he has given up school for the woman who is old enough to be his mother.
His parents, teachers and fellow students have been left dumbfounded after learning through the social network site, Facebook, and from his friends that he would not be sitting his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations.
Eight days after the examinations started, the teenager has not shown up and is now said to be living in Mtwapa with his lover. Fellow students said he started living with her at the beginning of this school term.
The attendance register shows that the boy has never reported for school since the beginning of this term and the administration assumed he was still at home.
Mrs Zainabu Bondora, the mother, said Eddy left home on the opening day together with his sister, a student at Waa Girls High School in Kwale, only to realise early this month that the boy never reported for school.
Mrs Bondora said when she asked his son’s classmates, they told her that Eddy was living with a woman in Mtwapa since the beginning of the term. “I did not believe what I was told by his classmates.
They told me my son had promised to come and sit the exams since they had completed the syllabus and opted to stay with the woman in Mtwapa, a few kilometres from the school,” Mrs Bondora said.
Police dismissed us
The distraught mother said they went to the woman’s home several times but were not allowed in. She had asked the police from Bamburi and Mtwapa to accompany them, but they refused to do so because they said he was an adult.
“Police dismissed us on the grounds that the boy is over 18 years and he has a right to make his own decision. I am asking anybody to help me find out where my child is,” said the mother as she burst into tears.
Mrs Bondora said Mtwapa villagers say they have seen the boy with the woman at different entertainment places in the town.
Shimo La Tewa High School principal Juma Mshimu said they were shocked since the boy was among the most disciplined students in the school.
“We learnt the boy was not at home on the examination rehearsal day,” said Mr Mshimu, adding that the student has been polite and he had been performing well in class.
The principal said they learnt the boy was in Mtwapa through Facebook. He said they used one of the students to communicate with the boy through the site.
“We have now learnt that the boy may have left Mtwapa for Malindi with his lover, but we do not know the exact location since he has recently cut back on his communication,” Mr Mshimu said.
His Facebook profile picture is of a dread-locked man. Attempts to initiate dialogue with him proved futile as he failed to post a response, two days after a request was left for him.
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