January 30, 2008
Nairobi, Kenya

Friends,

I am at loss for words. The beautiful and relatively peaceful country of Kenya has disintegrated into chaos, and what was unthinkable has tragically become reality. Neighbors who have lived peacefully together for decades are suddenly turning against each other with vengeance, which was sparked off by the questionable vote tallying of the December 27th elections. Kenya, which has repeatedly served as a safe haven for refugees from all around the region, has in one month become a war zone. Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans are now refugees in their own country, camping out in churches, police stations, schools, and fairgrounds.

Many of you have seen on the news images of burning buildings, gruesome murders, barricaded roads, and tear gas being pelted at mobs of machete-wielding youth. The more things fall apart, the more it is clear that this is not just about who truly won the presidential election. It is about injustices repeated one too many times; it is about historical wrong-doings and economic inequities. It is about unemployed youth who have lost hope, and it is the fruit of political cartels and deeply entrenched corruption that can no more be tolerated.

It may sound strange, but I feel grateful to be here and to walk with friends, neighbors, colleagues, and students, to share together, to listen, to offer refuge in our home to a few, to help sort clothes and food for the displaced, and to be part of the teams working to rebuild trust across ethnic lines. In the midst of the confusion—the telecommunications branch that was stoned and burned is about four blocks from us; we can hear the gun shots and see the smoke coming from Kibera, and the murder of the new Minister of Parliament took place just behind the supermarket where we often shop—there have been wonderful stories of God’s grace and the hope.  Let me share a few.

Vivianne Mukakizima with Marta's two children, Imani and Justin.

About four years ago, a 19-year-old Rwandan woman came to my office at Daystar University, seeking any possible scholarship. She was 9 years old when her family was all killed during the genocide in Rwanda. She was the only surviving member, and she found herself joining the stream people fleeing into Congo. A man and his family included Vivianne under their plastic in the camp, and some time later they arranged for Vivianne to come to Nairobi, to be raised by a Rwandese relative of this man. Vivianne eventually finished high school here in Kenya and was accepted at Daystar University, but she had no funding. When I asked her what she wanted to study, she quietly but emphatically stated that she wanted to study broadcast communication, so that if anything like the Rwandan genocide ever happened again, she would be able to make sure the world knew about it. She wanted to double-major in Bible, “to keep on the right track.”  Last August, Vivianne completed her studies at Daystar, thanks to a scholarship from my home church in the United States. She is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communication and peace studies (a concentration within the Bible Department). Her final internship as part of the program was with Reuters. Perhaps you can imagine my tears when I spotted her on the TV news a few weeks ago interviewing someone with a Reuters microphone, along with the many other reporters. God has heard her prayers and is now using her to get the word out.

The day after the elections, an instant camp started filling up down the road from my church. One Kenyan couple from our church went to see how it was and discovered the good news that the Red Cross was already supplying water, flour, cooking oil, etc., but the bad news was that the people had fled with only the clothes on their backs. They had nothing to cook on or with. So this couple went home, collected large cooking pots,
small stoves, and utensils, and for the last month they have been cooking and coordinating three meals a day for several thousand people. Last Sunday, we honored this couple. They humbly noted that they were just doing what they saw needed to be done.

A member of our church grew up in Kakamega (in western Kenya), even though he was Kikuyu (people from central Kenya). He grew up speaking the local dialect and learned his own “mother tongue” in university. After the elections in December, mobs came and stole all the cows and goats, burned down the house, and chased his 77-year-old mother off their land. However, the amazing news was that last week, some of her neighbors were able to recapture the livestock, returned them to his mother, and have pooled together to begin rebuilding her home for her. He reported that his mother is so deeply touched that she vows to live there the rest of her life, in the midst of such good neighbors.

Today the newspaper reported the birth of a healthy baby boy on New Year’s Day. The child of a mixed ethnic marriage from two of the feuding groups in Kenya, he has been named “Amani,” which means “peace” in the national language.

Please join us in praying for Kenya, for the peace-making negotiations at the top, and for the cessation of violence and the rebuilding of lives on the ground.

With gratitude,

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 15