A 70-year-old man lives in a cave after his family was forcefully evicted from their Kaboywo farm in Saboti, where they had been living.
Kasireen Tumwa and his family were evicted from their farm and the land was gazetted as a forest by the government.
His family moved to Roromwet in Mt Elgon but after a short stay, they were once again evicted alongside 18 other families in 1987 by the state.
Tumwa had married and was just starting a family when the evictions happened. His wife left him and the challenge of being kicked off the land weighed him down.
He went ahead and found a cave in Mt Elgon where he built a home for himself, isolated from the rest of the world and his family.
According to his family, they searched for him but to no success. Years passed and people who lived near the cave spotted a man who would leave and return on a daily basis.
The residents say the man would at times beg them for food. The word spread fast and wide, reaching his family.
The family’s first attempt to connect with Tumwa were futile as he was hostile. However, their persistence paid off but the ageing man refused to return home.
“We only discovered he was alive six years later. We got the information from people who lived near the cave. At first, it did not sound real, but we had to pursue this,” his cousin, Francis Sakong, stated.
His relatives say that he gets angry and would not speak if they approached him with the topic of returning home.
According to his cousin, the government later gave seven acres to each of the evicted families at the Reina Settlement Scheme but Tumwa missed out since he was living in the cave.
Tumwa refused to go back home and informed his family that they should bury him near the cave when he passes on.
