The father of a woman who drowned in an Ontario pool during a Facebook live stream has opened up about his family’s loss.
Hellen Wendy Nyabuto can be seen on video struggling to stay afloat after diving into the deep end of the pool last week.
The 23-year-old healthcare worker, who lived in Toronto, had earlier responded to comments from viewers before resuming her swim.
Her body was found hours later at the bottom of the pool.  According to her brother, she drowned in Collingwood, Ont., the town where she worked.
Nyabuto’s father John Kiyondi, 56, said from his home in Kenya: “I saw this video. I cried. It’s terrible.”
“He contacted me two days before he disappeared. He sounded very nice and I was very happy. He promised me a phone call. I didn’t feel anything abnormal,” he said.
Nyabuto lived with her younger brother Enock in an apartment in Toronto and worked part-time as a health worker while studying nursing, her family said.
“She’s been in Canada for about three years,” said Enock, who is one of five siblings.
“All the financial responsibilities (of their family in Kenya) were on her,” he added.


‘FUTOU AND FROM THE BEGINNING’ 
Wendy’s father, a smallholder farmer in Kisii, southwestern Kenya, said he is “going back to square one” now that his daughter is gone.
“She has been helping me financially to educate her siblings, especially with school fees and other expenses. I am stuck now and back to square one. I wonder how her younger siblings will continue school,” Kiyondi told CNN.
All he wants now is for his daughter’s body to be returned to Kenya.
“According to our tradition, one is supposed to be buried where one was born. I will not feel comfortable, psychologically, if my daughter is buried away from Kenya,” she said.
The repatriation of Wendy’s body will strain her family’s meager resources, and Enock said they have started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $50,000 to help with her burial expenses.
“The family is going through a difficult time now. All we want is for her body to be brought back home for burial,” he said.

title: “Woman Drowns In Ontario Pool While Live Streaming On Facebook " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-22” author: “Vincent Wilson”

Hellen Nyabuto came to Canada in 2019 as a student and has been working as a personal support worker since 2020. A close friend of hers, who met Nyabuto while in college, said she had a passion for helping people and was rather outgoing.
“She was great,” Alfonce Nyamwaya told CTV News Toronto over the phone.  “Hellen was a superhero for us.”
According to Nyamwaya, Nyabuto had just finished a shift at a long-term care home in Chatsworth, Ont.  on August 18 and had headed back to the motel where he was staying.  She was helping out at home because they had just dealt with an outbreak of COVID-19, she said.
Nyabuto drowned in the motel pool, located minutes away from the long-term care home where she worked.
The incident was caught on camera via a Facebook live stream that Nyabuto had set up beforehand.  In a copy of the video posted on TikTok, Nyabuto can be seen splashing around in what appears to be a shallow end of the pool.  He approaches the camera and smiles before returning to swim some more.
Nyabuto soon becomes barely visible in the frame as she moves to the other end of the pool.  The viewer sees it splash and can hear a faint scream before the water stills.
“I saw this video. I cried. It’s terrible,” Nyabuto’s father, Nyabuto John Kiyondi, told CNN.  “He contacted me two days before he went missing. He sounded very nice and I was very happy.”
A GoFundMe set up by Nyabuto’s sister says Hellen was enjoying an afternoon swim when she died.
The crowdfunding campaign describes Nyabuto as “full of life, with a warm smile and a charming heart.”
“Everyone who met Wendy was uplifted.  She was passionate about her work and touched many hearts.”
In a statement, the director of Country Lane Long-Term Care Home in Chatsworth confirmed that Nyabuto was an employee providing support at the facility for the summer.
“On behalf of everyone at Country Lane who knew and worked with her, we extend our deepest condolences to her family and friends on their tragic loss,” said Christi Broderick.

Hellen Nyabuto is seen in this undated photo provided by friends. The health care worker was also the family’s breadwinner and supported not only her parents, Nyamwaya said, but also put many students through school back in Kenya. The family is therefore hoping to raise the necessary funds to repatriate Nyabuto’s body back home, which they say will cost at least $50,000. “She used to help me financially to educate her siblings, especially in terms of school fees and other expenses,” her father said. “I’m stuck now and back to square one. I wonder how her younger siblings will keep up with school.” “The family is going through a difficult time now. All we want is for her body to be brought back home for burial.” With files from CNN