A Kenyan mother is desperately appealing for assistance after being forced to leave her three-year-old daughter in Saudi Arabia following her deportation. Penina Wanjiru, a 31-year-old resident of Bahati, Nakuru, says her life has been shattered by the separation and the unclear government procedures preventing her child from returning home.
Wanjiru travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2019 in search of employment. Two years later, she became pregnant and welcomed her daughter, Precious, in 2022. Aware of strict penalties for giving birth out of wedlock in the Gulf nation, she chose to keep the pregnancy and the child hidden from authorities while continuing with her job. When Precious was seven months old, Wanjiru enrolled her in a daycare centre so she could continue working and providing for her.
For three years, the mother and child lived quietly until a police raid abruptly changed their lives. Officers stormed Wanjiru’s residence, took the child to the embassy, and informed her she would be deported immediately. Precious, however, was not allowed to leave with her.
According to Wanjiru, officials told her that her daughter would only be allowed into Kenya once she completed a DNA test to confirm parentage. She has spent nine months seeking assistance from the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, but she says the process remains unclear and painfully slow.
A Citizen TV report indicates that Kenyan authorities do not register children born out of wedlock to Kenyan mothers working in Saudi Arabia unless DNA verification is completed. This policy has left many children in limbo—undocumented, unregistered, and effectively stateless—making reunification almost impossible.
