A Wife He Never Met, a Child Not His

Marriage was not on his immediate horizon. but one evening his phone rang with a call that would change everything. On the line was his uncle, speaking with the authorities of Luo community traditions. "We have brought you a wife since you had refused to marry. So we have decided for you". These words were heavy when they fell on his ear like a stormy cloud blotting out the sun. 

Shock coursed through him. He paused before replying, "uncle, I cannot accept her. I want to be a priest. My calling is not for marriage".

A long silence followed. Then, his uncle’s voice rose, sharp with disbelieve anger. "Priesthood! You speak of priesthood after we have brought you a wife? Do you think you can shame us with such claims?" 

Otieno tried to steady his voice, "Uncle, I respect you, but my calling is to serve God. I cannot marry. I want to be a priest.” The uncle continued telling Otieno how he would whip him if he was there since a man must marry and build a home.

Otieno, still on the call sat fragile between tradition and conviction. This moment was terrifying yet clarifying. His uncle’s anger revealed the depth of cultural expectations. But it also strengthened his resolve. What Otieno could not understand was the fact that they had brought a wife for him and a five-year-old boy. 

What rang in his mind was "do they think I am not capable of having my own kids?" Hours turned into days and days into months when Otieno recorded the call from the uncle again. This time it was not about the marriage scenario again since for the past three months Otieno had been avoiding his uncle’s calls. This time round the uncle said to him “the wife I brought for you is expectant. “This was unbelievable until when the true blow came when he learned that the woman was not only expectant but also pregnant by his own cousin.

This was cruel. There was a man who had not set eyes on a woman, who had not been home for months, suddenly told he was not her husband and soon to be a father of two -yet the children were no his. 

The family attempt to solve his” problem” of bachelorhood had created a deeper problem; one that mocked the very tradition they sought to uphold. Otieno’s reaction was a mix of disbelief and bitter humor. “So, I am married to a woman I have never met, and she is carrying a child that is not mine,”

and you say this is to save me from shame?" His words carried both pain and irony exposing th absurdity of the arrangement. The situation turned the family on its head. 

Instead of securing a lineage scandal, trying to force Otieno into marriage they had given him a wife whose loyalty was already claimed elsewhere? All this was happening to Otieno just because he was an orphan. Yes, the mother was still alive but had no authority whatsoever. Coming from a family which lured traditional critics, the mother could not stand and say anything without being contradicted by the uncle who now stood as

the father and the head of the family. Talking to Otieno, he added that he left home because he saw it fit to change the way things were and to try to help the mother out and give her siblings a sustainable upbringing since he was the eldest in the family.

Before turning to say he would wish to become a priest, he was an artist who used to compose Luo songs; Ohangla. A talent he identified back in high school. He now thought that he could not

pursue such a dream because of the mounting pressure back home. 

The same family that had not given any support in his music journey now had added another unreasonable burden yet avoided important situations in his life. At first the wonder was about if indeed he wanted to be a priest as he had told the uncle, but it

seemed it was just a plot to tell them in another way he was not for a woman whom he had no interest in and any desires of any cost. 

He had hopes that the priesthood claims will push away the uncle into believing that he had made up his mind and had no intentions of marrying at all. It seems like all this was going to be in vain, since there was no way, the uncle was going to let this slide away and "ruin" his home. 

Otieno went on adding that what hurt him most was the fact that they did not only marry for him a wife but also made the wife get a child the so called “wife” whom he did not ask for nor had any desires for leave alone laying eyes upon her. 

The uncle even suggested for the two cousins to split responsibilities claiming that parental  responsibility is not carried by one person alone. Otieno found this unrealistic in the way that, the unborn child was not his neither was he for the one who was five years old. For Otieno, the irony deepened his conviction. "Uncle", he said’ voice steady despite the storm inside him. "This is not my path. I will not marry. I will serve God.”