February 20, 2008

Dear Friends,

We bring you greetings from Kenya.

How do we tell the story of our beloved Kenya, a nation shocked by the violence that has erupted? Kenya was considered the jewel of East Africa, with a growing economy and a fragile, yet viable democracy.

Now that has all changed.

Politicians greedy for power unearthed old tribal grievances of land grabbing and economic disparity. With election rhetoric, they created an “us-against-them” mentality and fanned the flames of ethnic hatred. When the results of the election were announced, violence erupted. No matter who had won the election, the country was poised for conflict.

A child finds shelter in a displaced persons camp in Kenya.

For a while, mobs roamed at will, hacking to death with machetes any person they found in their midst who was from another tribe. Businesses and homes were burned and looted, the work of a lifetime destroyed. People fled back to their ancestral homelands, to displaced persons camps, and to police stations for protection. More than a thousand people have been killed, and six hundred thousand refugees are crowded into camps with small amounts of food, water, and shelter, while a health crisis looms on the horizon.

We have witnessed a great migration, as trucks and buses ferry the Kikuyu from western Kenya and the Rift Valley toward Central Province, and the Luo travel in the opposite direction—to western Kenya—to escape revenge attacks.

Our former clinical pastoral education students, who are now Presbyterian ministers, tell us they are visiting the displaced persons camps. They are doing their very best to listen to the stories, bind up the wounds, and give the hope and love of Jesus Christ. This is the time we are most grateful for your support in making it possible for us to be here to equip pastors to do the work of the Christian faith in the midst of great despair and uncertainty. Thank you for your support and Christian presence, which knows no boundaries.

As missionaries, we have only love and compassion and a listening ear to offer in this crisis. While students trickle back to the university, a fragile peace is holding due to the  peace negotiations that have brought a lull in the fighting. The opening chapel service at the university began with the hymn,“Jesus is a rock in a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm.”And I weep as we write to you, while listening to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, used so often during World War II for the funerals of the many who died in that war. And here we are again, humankind killing and terrorizing one another.

We met with a young man who was dragged from his home and forced to join a mob and carry a machete—kill or be killed. He killed no one, but he watched atrocities that still haunt him.

A young mother cried in agony for her 8-year-old daughter who saw her playmate’s father murdered and his body dismembered.

A good friend and co-worker at the university had his home stormed by a mob while he was away. His grandchildren and daughters escaped, but his wife succumbed to the flames that engulfed his home. With tenderness and deep grief, he told us how he desperately searched the rubble and found a few of the bones of her charred remains, which he lovingly gathered up and brought to the church for burial.

We meet in churches and pray. We comfort and speak tenderly to one another. Our eyes are glazed over, our spirits numb. We notice that many in our small town have fled. There is a deep sadness within the Christian community and fervent prayers that hope will rush in on the wings of eagles and sweep away the demons of despair. And yes, we pray earnestly that peace will return to this beautiful land of Kenya.

Come Lord Jesus, Prince of  Peace, save us from our warring madness.

Your partners in Christ,

Blessings and Peace,

Lyle and Terry Dykstra

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