The Aworis: The Family Where All the Children Were Highly Successful

By Our reporter

The Aworis are among the most prominent families in Kenya boasting a vast dominance across various disciplines. Their lineage has left remarkable footprints in politics, education, commerce, medicine, engineering, sports and academia.

The patriarch of the family, Jeremiah Musungu Awori had 17 children all of who, followed in their old man’s footsteps (his son Aggrey Awori died aged 82). The late Mzee Awori was the pioneering African Canon of the Anglican Church in Kenya.

He successfully established over 100 churches in Western Kenya prior to his demise in 1971. He succumbed to a heart attack seven years after diabetes had claimed the life of his wife Mariamu in 1964.
Canon Awori Street in Kakamega is named after the old man.

It is the aspiration of every living being that their lineage lives on through generations, and even better, successfully. The Awori lineage continued its dominance even after their father’s death and produced excellence in all the disciplines they ventured into. WoK takes a look at some of the Awori children and their remarkable fetes.

Musa Awori Canon Awori’s first son, Musa, died of a snake bite during infancy, leaving Ellen Peris, the second-born, to take the role of the eldest of the siblings.

Ellen Peris Awori
She trained as a nurse at Bulawasi college in Uganda and married Rev Mathew Owori.
Ellen was later pursued social work at Nsamizi College in Entebbe before proceeding to complete the course in Israel.During her time in Israel, she became close friends with then-Israeli Foreign Minister, Golda Meir, who went on to become Prime Minister.

Dr Mary Okello

She was Kenya’s first woman bank manager and the founder of Makini Schools, one of the best private schools in the country.
Mary studied history at Makerere University in Uganda. She then worked for Barclays Bank, becoming the first woman branch manager in Kenya. She held senior positions in international banking organizations such as Women’s World Banking.

In 1987, Mary was seconded to the African Development Bank. She retired as the vice president of WWB in New York. She married Dr Pius Okello an engineer