Source: UGC
A family from Narok, Kenya, is going through a challenging time as they try to bring the body of their loved one back home from Lebanon.
Agnes Sarbabi, a Kenyan woman who had moved to Lebanon in June 2022 to work as a househelp, tragically passed away in June 2024 due to a gas explosion.
Agnes Sarbabi was a devoted mother of two who had worked in different Middle Eastern countries to support her family.
Before going to Lebanon, she had worked in Qatar and Bahrain, returning to Kenya each time before taking up new jobs abroad.
Her decision to move to Lebanon was driven by her need to provide for her children and family back home.
Tragically, Agnes’s life ended in a gas explosion while she was staying with friends after fleeing her employer's home due to a conflict.
According to her brother, Davis Sarbabi, Agnes had run away from her job because of issues with her Lebanese boss and had sought refuge with other women working in the area. It was these friends who informed the family about the fire that led to Agnes's death.
The family began the difficult process of repatriating Agnes’s body back to Kenya. They contacted a man in Lebanon who was supposed to help with the repatriation process.
Initially, the man estimated that the cost would be between KSh 325,000 and KSh 455,000. With the money they had saved for this purpose, the family managed to raise KSh 500,000.
Davis Sarbabi sent KSh 130,000 to the man as the first payment. However, the man soon demanded more money, raising the total required amount to KSh 780,000.
The family, already stretched financially, sent an additional KSh 302,000 to meet this new demand, bringing the total amount sent to KSh 432,000.
After receiving this money, the man in Lebanon withdrew the funds and then disappeared. Davis Sarbabi and his family have not been able to contact him since.
This has left them in a distressing situation, unsure whether their money was misused or if any progress has been made in repatriating Agnes’s body.
In addition to these financial challenges, the family has faced emotional distress. They have not received any official documents or reports confirming the exact cause of Agnes’s death.
Although the family was sent pictures of Agnes’s body, they have no formal evidence of the circumstances surrounding her death. According to information from her friends, Agnes might have also suffered abuse before her death.
Agnes leaves behind two young daughters: one in Grade 4 and the other in Form One. The girls are now under the care of their grandmother. The loss of their mother has had a significant emotional impact on them.
They have had to stop attending school to cope with the grief and adjust to their new reality without their mother’s support. Their grandmother, too, is deeply affected by the loss, having relied heavily on her daughter for support.
The situation has highlighted the difficulties that families face when trying to repatriate the bodies of loved ones who die abroad.
The lack of a Kenyan embassy in Lebanon has compounded the family’s challenges, making it harder for them to get help or verify the legitimacy of the intermediary they were dealing with.
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