Deported Kenyan Mother Awaits DNA Results to Reunite With Daughter in Saudi Arabia
Peninah Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman deported from Saudi Arabia in March 2025, is waiting for DNA test results that could allow her to reunite with her four-year-old daughter, who remains in the Gulf country.
On what should have been her daughter’s fourth birthday, Peninah Wanjiru spent the day alone in Nakuru County, looking through photographs and videos on her phone. Since being deported from Saudi Arabia in March 2025, she has not seen her daughter and does not know when they will be reunited.
Her hopes now depend on a DNA test she submitted in July at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs in Nairobi. The test, which cost Sh17,000, is intended to confirm her biological relationship with the child and forms part of the documents required for the girl's return to Kenya. Although raising the money was difficult, she received support from friends and well-wishers.
"I have done everything they asked me to do. I was told to wait for two weeks for the results. Now I am just praying the process moves quickly," she said.
Ms Wanjiru travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2019 after securing work as a domestic worker through a recruitment agency. She hoped to earn enough to support her family and eventually start a business.
She said her employer later became abusive, and in 2021 she discovered she was pregnant. Fearing dismissal and possible punishment, she kept the pregnancy secret and gave birth at home with the assistance of a doctor. She named her daughter Precious.
She continued caring for her daughter while working until her deportation in 2025 separated them. Although officials at the Kenyan embassy in Riyadh were informed about the child, Ms Wanjiru said her daughter was never brought to her before she left the country.
Instead, the girl remained with a daycare operator, who later told Ms Wanjiru that she could no longer care for the child and might have to place her in an orphanage. Many are not officially registered, leaving them without identification or travel documents. As a result, family reunification can become a long and complicated process.
Other deported Kenyans have described similar experiences. Lucy Muthoni, who returned to Kenya last year, said many Kenyan workers in Saudi Arabia had been detained over alleged contract violations or documentation problems. She added that many lost contact with their families after internet access was restricted.
"Before leaving Saudi, hundreds of Kenyans gave me phone numbers to contact their families and inform them of their plight," she said.
The Kenyan government has recently increased diplomatic engagement with Saudi Arabia in an effort to secure the release of detained nationals and improve labour migration policies. However, Ms Wanjiru is still waiting for the process that could bring her daughter home.