Just a few hours after he was released from hostage by his captors in South Sudan and set his eyes on his family, Captain Frank Njoroge has not known happiness since.
His, is a tall tale of despair, anguish and emotional pain.
The Captain was flying a Cessna 5Y-FDC from Juba together with his co-pilot Ken Shamalla when suddenly; the aircraft lost power and crashed at Akobo area controlled by of Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) on January 7.
They were held in captivity for six-weeks as the rebels demanded for Sh20 million in compensation.
Upon his return, his wife, Beatrice Njoroge fell ill on the night of February 19, a day after he re-united with his family after a six-week captivity period.
Since then, she has been hospitalized at the Meridian Equator Hospital where the hospital fee now stands at Sh1.5 million.
“Immediately I came back home on a Sunday, no wonder I don’t understand the black Sundays, the next day my wife got very sick and I didn’t know where the problem was,” he said at his Syokimau him during an interview with K24 TV.
The retired Kenya Air Force Pilot and graduate of the Shepherd Air Force base in Texas, USA tearfully said he is to blame for his wife’s illness because she worried too much about him when he was in captivity.
He questions why all this is happening yet he was not at fault for the crashing of the plane.
“All that happened because I was held for six weeks and she didn’t know the fate of the husband. She is still in hospital as we are talking.
“What was my fault, I keep asking. When an aircraft loses power and I crash and I get 9 people out of the aircraft, and then I get detained, what’s my fault?”
He is now appealing to well-wishers to help him offset his wife’s huge hospital bill citing that he too, is grappling with hypertension.