Kenya Crisis Update Saturday Morning 2 February 2008
Dear Friends,
I arrived in Kenya less than 48 hours ago to find things much different than when I left mid-December. I will try to share with you what I am seeing personally.
My first day back I had three meetings, and I will try to describe each one as they were very different.
7:30 AM Arrival to an almost deserted airport! This is very unusual; almost no one was waiting for arriving passengers. Our flight was half empty and my KLM ticket had been changed to a Kenya Airways flight so I could arrive in the daylight instead my night arrival. I was happy to see three HEART staff enthusiastically waving to me from the deserted visitor’s area. William, Isaac and Caleb came to escort me “home”. One bag was lost so it took some time, but we finally arrived back at HEART by 10 AM. The drive through Nairobi also seemed different; a kind of tense calm, a “felt presence” of things not normal. Police with guns were in places we have never seen them before like the parks.
11:30 AM Meeting with all the HEART staff. Chai time. I was talkative and cheerful and they were obviously happy I was back. I had delayed my flight twice, so this time it was a, “we will wait and see if she returns”. The staff was quite and subdued. I teased them about not all talking at once, and gradually they began to share their personal horror stories. William said I will not recognize Kibera when I am able to go back and visit the ladies. The homes and shops are burned within a few feet of our two WEEP centers that are close together. He shared that he was stopped by a gang of youths when he was trying to get home one night and asked to speak in his tribal tongue. Had he been Luo they would have killed him. Even his tribe, Luhya, has been attached but one of the youth said, “Let the old man go home” and they let him pass. Many homes have been burned in Kibera and many senseless killings.
Isaac has relocated his family from Limuru to Kitali, and shared the stories of how his town of Limuru has been turned into a refugee camp with the Red Cross having set up tents for those relocated (mostly Kikuyu that were burned out of Western Providence). Now those displaced are angry and vengeful and taking it out on local Luo’s and sometime Luhya’s (Issac is Luhya), so he has left his possessions and locked his home and moved his family. His children are still not back to school in their new location, where they live with his brother’s family in very cramped but safe (for now) quarters. . He said, “I will never take peace for granted again. I did not think I would ever see this tragedy in Kenya.”
Josephine said that fliers were dispersed in her area this week threatening everyone whp was Lou, Luhya and Kalagine to leave or they will be forced out. She is also Luhya. She said that many of her neighbors are sleeping outside saying, “If they come for us we at least have a chance to run if we are outside our home.” I asked her what they are going to do. She said, “Where do we move too? None of the estates are safe as the displaced persons are using the local feared Mungiki gang that has terrorized areas of Kenya in the past to get people to move so they can have their homes.” Unbelievable! In this ethnic and political unrest, and almost 1,000 people have been killed and some 300,000 have been displaced! I spoke to her later and offered her to move to HEART until things settle down. She will do so this weekend. We have offered this to all our staff and their families, but most want to be at home to protect their homes. Josephine will speak to her husband as she would feel safer to move here temporarily.
I will only share these three comments. We talked again today and others shared their experiences and fear, but also, there arose among them feelings of HOPE for Kenya. Their hope is in the Lord, andI was again amazed and so proud of our staff as they shared that they truly believe this is a temporary problem and things will settle down. It will take a long time for Kenya to be “business as usual”.
We have a variety of tribes working at HEART: 6 Luhya, 4 Kikuyu, 4 Kisii, 1 Meru and 1 Kamba, and I am pleased to say they live and work in harmony and love and respect without tribal tension.
12:30 PM I went to a Rotary meeting. I have been requested to be the Kenya Country HIV/AIDS Officer for Rotary for the 2008-2009 year beginning in July. This is an honored and coveted position, and I am very humbled to be given this responsibility. At the meeting everyone was talking about the situation and the economic effects on the country. Rotary also is raising funds to help the displaced with food and blankets for the Red Cross shelters. At my table one of the members received a phone call. A Minister of Parliament (MP), David Kimutai, was shot dead a few minutes earlier in Eldoret while we were having lunch at one of the finest hotels in Nairobi.
I sat there realizing that history of this great nation is unfolding right at this very moment in time. The crisis has shattered the image and economy of the formerly stable east African nation that is a refuge for many displaced by neighboring conflicts.
2:30 PM I attended a AED/USAID meeting in Westlands. We are planning a “Partners Forum” on the crisis situation, and to determine how we are able to deal with it as organizations working with Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) will be a major topic at this conference. It has been moved to the first week of March. While we were at this meeting I had called CDC to see if a contact there could be a speaker for the conference and she said she would have to call me back as they were leaving their offices (which are very close to Kibera) because of threats of more violence in Kibera. Also while at this meeting one of the partners got a message that the police said the MP killed a couple of hours ago. A policewoman was also shot dead, but it appeared to have been a crime of passion. We also disbanded this meeting, and I left quickly to join William, my driver, and share the current news.
5:00 PM I arrived safely back at HEART. The compound is in a good and safe location. The ones most vulnerable in Kenya are the poorest of the poor. People like our WEEP ladies. We have two centers in Kibera and three in Mathare. The centers have been fortified with steel doors and are located in stone buildings, but the women’s homes are vulnerable and two have been burned out. The Mathare WEEP was moved to a third floor on World AIDS Day, December 1st, when one of the Soroptimist team paid for their move. The lower floor shops have been looted and burned and the center would not have survived.
We are able to get gasoline and food but the prices are escalating.
Several responded to my last e-mail (thank you!) and we have some funds for food and blankets and will continue to help the WEEP participant’s families and the Community Transformers Home Based Care clients. We will then plan out where else we can help with the money sent us. We will make a strategic plan on Monday with all our staff to see how to divide the funds. If you have not helped and are able to do so please make a donation through our web site www.africaheart.com or call HEART Co office (303) 730-3779.
All of the WEEP centers have resumed working: closing early and off and on as trouble breaks out. Isaac explained how we have been able to get food into the WEEP ladies, even though he is not venturing into the slum. Only those who live inside are able to move about freely. I wish I could see them, but to do so puts the lives of those escorting me at risk, so we will help for now from a distance. I will not be driving alone or at night. I am moving about and have appointments today but am doing so under the direction and care of my staff.
Please pray for Kenya and for HEART as we respond to the crisis!
Milele Shukrani,
(forever grateful in Kiswahili)
Vickie |
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