Ruth Odinga: Let Beryl be buried in the peace she loved

Kisumu Woman Rep Ruth Odinga has appealed for peace as the family prepares to lay her sister, Beryl Odinga, to rest.

Ruth urged mourners and supporters planning to visit the family to maintain calm and uphold dignity during the final send-off.

“Beryl was a peaceful woman full of decorum. Kindly let us uphold peace,” she said, reminding those travelling to console the family to honour the values her sister embodied.

"I would urge anybody who's coming to mourn with us to please let us bury Beryl with the kind of peace she liked and the peace she loved. That's all I would like to ask, that we send her off, give her the send-off.”

Ruth announced that Beryl’s body arrived at Kisumu International Airport on Friday morning, where the funeral committee organised a mass in her honour at the airport grounds.

The family later departed for Bondo ahead of today's [Saturday] burial.

Beryl, who passed away on November 25, 2025, while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nairobi, was the younger sister of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

A distinguished professional and trailblazer, Beryl’s life spanned continents and careers, leaving an indelible mark on both Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Beryl will be laid to rest in Bondo at Kang'o Ka Jaramogi, where a quiet corner of the Odinga family cemetery awaits her late mother, Mama Mary Juma Odinga. 

The decision departs from long-standing Luo customs, which traditionally require married women to be buried in their husbands’ homes.

Addressing the controversies surrounding her burial site versus the Luo traditions, Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga said the family will observe all other traditional rites associated with a woman’s burial.

“We know our traditions, and we respect them. Our sister will be buried with her head facing the gate, as the culture requires,” he said.

He explained that the only variation is that she will be interred at the family’s designated gravesite within their home, an area he said was identified by their late father as the resting place for all family members.

“The world has changed, and land is no longer what it used to be. Our father showed us where every member of the family should be buried. We are simply following that guidance,” Oburu said.

He added that while the Luo community has strong burial customs, families must also use wisdom and adapt when circumstances change, noting that older homesteads and lifestyles were very different from today’s realities.

“We are not abandoning our culture, and we are not throwing away our sisters,” Oburu said.