Various residents of Kisii County celebrated Father’s Day on Sunday in different ways to express their honour to male parents.
Area Chief for Nyabisia in Bobasi Constituency, Douglas Morang’a, led the parents and their children in recognising the male’s parental role in bringing up children in families as the primary breadwinners and asked mothers with their children to pause at some given times in their lives to appreciate their fathers.
“You can surprise them by preparing an unusual meal and request them to invite their friends to share with them, as you can also positively surprise them with tangible gifts,” he said.
The chief lauded parents who uphold their parental role to provide for their families even during adverse conditions, saying that they were fulfilling a divine obligation delegated to them by God.
The chief asked both parents to share roles in their homesteads to ensure the smooth living of their children by providing them with good shelter, food, clothes, and access to education and medical services, adding that doing so is tantamount to investing in their children for long-term benefits.
“When you invest well in your children by providing them with basic needs, you are laying a stronger foundation that will provide a leaning shoulder for you in old age,” he said.
He asked residents to work hard on their farms by utilising all available resources to enhance food security, as it is vital for the prosperity of families. He assured them of good protection from his office but warned young male parents against indulging in alcohol drinking and other drug abuse because they lead to poverty and the breaking up of most families.
Kisii University third-year student Janet Ogega narrated how she used part of her pocket money to buy oranges, pawpaws, and a pair of socks, then travelled to her Nyamache home from Migori, where she was on an educational attachment mission, to congratulate and reward her father during Father’s Day.
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“I decided to come here to show my father family love and pray for him to have many days to see my siblings and me complete our University course, get employment, and shower him with gifts like a car,” she said.
Kebirigo Boys High School Chief Principal Clement Nyang’acha, in his X posts, expressed mirth at how he was elated when he received messages from his niece who congratulated him during fathers ‘ day celebrations and wished him a happy life.
He said that his niece reminded him of the effort he put in the past to ensure the young people in the family acquired a good education and enough food.
“She said that food was in plenty in our house, and I reminded her that I was not cooking it, but my beloved wife did it, and therefore a constant reminder that in any successful household, there must be a strong mother head behind it,” wrote the Principal.
On a family WhatsApp group, Mombasa-based engineer Erick Mokaya from Sameta sent his father warm Father’s Day wishes.
“Happy Father’s Day, Dad, we love and cherish you. May you live long to count all your blessings,” reads part of the message.
The first Father’s Day was celebrated in 1910 in the United States of America (USA), where it originated, in honour of Sonora Smart Dodd’s father for raising her and her five siblings after the death of their mother.
Dodd’s father was a Civil War veteran in the United States. Still, after the death ot his wife at childbirth,it compelled him to abdicate military duties to return home and take care of his partially orphaned children.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, declared Father’s Day a national holiday, and since that time, it has continued to be celebrated annually in various countries around the world.
By Enock Okong’o
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