Hope for Kenya - Report from the field

Over the past few weeks, a pastor friend has been reporting some of the civil unrest that has been happening in Kenya. It has been a stressful time for them, but peace has started to take hold throughout the land.

They have sent us a full report with lots of pictures, which you can download below. Here are a few of the highlights from the report.

• The took on a mission to assist with humanitarian aid and to make themselves available to engage gangs manning roadblocks in conversation that had made travel impossible.
• A small town that used to sprawl over both sides of the main highway is now just a smothering ruin of ash. Buildings and hotels were burned to the ground.
• They found that those who defied the roadblocks earlier in the weeks were met with fury. Several cards belonging to the elite police detective squad were burnt and tossed over the bridge.
• Desperation has driven people to commit suicide, many more are suffering from pneumonia from being outside.
• As their convoy went deeper into the country they found churches, schools and homes burned to the ground.
• Prices for everything have shot up and the calm that was returning is threatened by uncertainty especially this week as more rallies are planned for Wednesday and Friday. These rallies are NEVER peaceful.

Hope For Kenya Report

Palabras de Aliento - Mateo 9

“Jesús recorría todos los pueblos y aldeas enseñando en las sinagogas, anunciando las buenas nuevas del reino, y sanando toda enfermedad y toda dolencia. Al ver a las multitudes, tuvo compasión de ellas, porque estaban agobiadas y desamparadas, como ovejas sin pastor.” - Mateo 9:35-36

Como uno de sus seguidores, ¿Qué significa ser más como Jesús? Aquí Jesús va a todas partes enseñando, predicando y sanando. Estaba haciendo lo que estaba llamado a hacer. Mateo resalta aquí, no un gran sermón o un milagro, sino la reacción de Jesús ante los pobres a su alrededor.

En medio de su llamado, Jesús se vuelve muy consciente de las necesidades y sufrimientos de aquéllos a su alrededor. Este no es solamente un ejercicio mental; Jesús es físicamente y emocionalmente movido en compasión. El se interesa por la condición de las masas.

Hay tres palabras que describen lo que Jesús vió:

• “agobiado” – Literalmente agotado, débil y cansado. Como alguien diría “He tratado todo y no tengo nada.” Jesús mira a través de la fachada.
• “indefenso” – Literalmente caer al suelo fatigado y hambriento.
• “Sin pastor” – Esto es tanto una referencia a su vulnerabilidad como oveja y al uso del término en el Antiguo Testamento (ejemplo: Jeremías 23) refiriéndose a la necesidad de liderazgo y cuido del pueblo de Dios.

En medio de tu llamado, ¿Qué es o que ves cuando observas a la gente a tu alrededor? ¿Te llenas de compasión o solamente pasas?

2006 Essay Contest - Winning Essay

 

What I Know for Certain

 

By Jaime Gentile

There are few things that I know for certain. There is one fact, however, that I certainly cannot accept: that this is the best of all possible worlds. I deal better with stories than with numbers. The issue of world hunger is not one of faceless statistics, but of people and their stories. Unfortunately, the story of the starving child is not a book filled with colorful pictures and a happy ending, but a devastating tale with dreary images and no clear conclusion. I am no pessimist; this story certainly could have the happiest of all endings. But in a world where globalization increases the polarization between the rich and the poor, the ending is looking somewhat grim. The story of the world has a silver lining because the most powerful force is love. It is with a heart full of hope that I attempt to struggle with the issue of global hunger and to tell the tale of the starving child.

I have a godson in Peru named Julio. He lives with his family in Chulucanas, where there is no electricity or running water. His kitchen is in the backyard and his house has dirt floors. The six members of his family share one bed. I met Julio two years ago on a mission trip with a group of students from my university. We went to Julio’s home to teach his family how to build an adobe stove with a chimney. Their old method of cooking, a fire on the floor, was unhealthy for his mother because she had to lean over the fire to cook and because it released smoke into the house.

On our last day with the family, Julio’s mother asked me to be his godmother. She said that, “Every time I use this stove, I will think of you and the love you have shown us.” In a powerful lesson in humility, I learned that my work there was not going to save the world and or end world hunger, but it showed another human being that I cared. And she, in turn, showed me that she cared. Every man wants to change the world, but is not willing to change himself. Why do I have carpeting, my own room, and hot showers, while Julio has dirt, a family bed, and a bucket of cold water? This is the result of my greed and ignorance. Julio is a starving child.

We called her “Sad Eyes.” She was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to HIV positive parents who died shortly after her birth. She was taken in by her aunt and uncle who loved and cared for her, until they discovered that she was HIV positive. They then abandoned her. She has pierced ears, which struck me because someone loved her enough to get her ears pierced and to buy her earrings. Now, an orphan in a group home, she no longer wears earrings.

During the two weeks that I volunteered at the orphanage that Sad Eyes lives at, I never saw her smile. A melancholy eighteen-month-old, she always appears to be on the verge of tears. She seems to realizes that her short life will be filled with hunger and suffering. AIDS is not a pretty disease. A priest who visited the orphanage said that, “you can tell when someone is dying of AIDS by their eyes. They look hopeless, completely alone.” They are, one could argue, sad eyes.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the rights to survival and development, to education, to non-discrimination, and to a voice in matters concerning him or herself (www.unicef.org

In Zulu, Nkosinathi’s name means, “Christ is now here.” When I lived with his family in their village in rural South Africa during my semester abroad, Nkosinathi slept on the cement floor in the kitchen with mice and ants, so that I could have his bed. He told me he was sleeping at a friend’s house. Every evening we sat around a candle and played cards. We often sang the South African national anthem which begins “Nkosi Sikelel i’Afrika,” meaning God bless Africa, and speaks of hope for a peaceful future. South Africa, a country of contradictions, has overcome great adversity and tragedy, but is still a country ravaged by poverty, disease, racism, and violence.

When Nkosinathi grows up he wants to move to Hollywood and become a singer. He has a beautiful voice, but when he sings his ribs protrude from behind his thin T-shirt. Nkosinathi will probably never leave his village, and there is a 20% probability that he will contract AIDS. It is a safe bet that he will never see Hollywood. His father died of tuberculosis five years ago and his mother abandoned him. His grandmother supports him and his cousin on a small government grant for foster care.

When Nkosinathi sang their national anthem about hope and love, I smiled and told him that I could not wait to hear his first album. Nkosinathi is a starving child.

We have created a world separated into haves and have-nots. But in such a system, we are all have-nots. I cannot sleep comfortably in my bed when I know that Julio must share his with five other people. I cannot join my parents at the dinner table without thinking of Sad Eyes sipping from a bowl of rice on the floor alone. I cannot listen with pride to our national anthem without hearing Nkosinathi singing his by candlelight. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa teaches the idea of Ubuntu, which “speaks about the essence of being human: that my humanity is caught up in your humanity because we say a person is a person through other persons.” As long as one member of humanity is starving, we are all starving. There is no “us and them,” but rather one human family. The suffering of this family is found most prominently in the lonely eyes and swollen bellies of the children. Fortunately, the story is not yet finished. Where there is love, there is hope. This, I know for certain.

Kenya begins to see some peace

…from our contact in Kenya…

“Dear Praying friend,

God is answering prayer! Thank you all for responding to our political crisis whose ramifications have traversed every Kenyans life. Peace is returning and the City regaining her normal life. The slums are still scarred and may take a while as people still live in fear and suspicion of the tribal tag. Loss and damage of property was felt most and affected everyone in the slums as these were the centres of bloody feud. Half a million are now displaced. Thankfully God is saving Kenya from this self destruction.

Road blocks are temporarily vanishing at the appearance of military escorted convoys and immediately reappear behind the convoys. As a result people still can’t travel freely and hundreds still holed up in the villages for fear of being attacked and killed at those points. This is the very reason the caravan will depart Wednesday 0900hrs not just to deliver the much needed aid but also to make contact with the youths manning the road block. With our God, our vulnerability, our prayer and conversations we shall prayerfully urge them to stop this lawlessness. Yes it sounds senselessly risky, unthinkable and shocking to both police and government officials here and maybe to you too. Blockades have potential to turn into extortion traps, militia controlled territories as is the case of Burundi where I fell victim and may scar Kenya for the rest of our lives spearing no one in the years to come. It may mean the end of safe travel on the Great North Road and spell death to our initiatives of training pastors and advancing peace work in West and Northern Kenya along the Uganda boarder.

Please pray for our safety and for God to use us to touch lives along the way.”

Upper Loft Meditation - Matthew 9

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a sheperd.” - Matthew 9:35-36

As one of his followers, what does it mean to be more like Jesus? Here Jesus is going everywhere teaching, preaching, and healing. He is doing what he was called to do. Matthew highlights here, not a great sermon or a miracle, but Jesus reaction to the people around him.

In the midst of his calling, Jesus becomes keenly aware of the needs and suffering of those around him. This is not just a mental exercise; Jesus is physically and emotionally moved with compassion. He is gripped by the condition of the masses.

There are three descriptives of what Jesus saw:

1. “harassed” - Literally exhausted, weak, and tired. As one may say, “I have tried everything, and I have nothing.” Jesus sees through the facade.
2. “helpless” - Literally to fall to the groud in fatigue and hungar.
3. “sheperdless sheep” - This is both a reference to their vulnerability as sheep and to the Old Testament use of the term (i.e. Jeremiah 23) referring to the need for leadership and care of God’s people.

In the midst of your calling, what do you see as you observe the people around you? Are you moved with compassion or are you just moving on through?

Kenya continues to burn

Posted from our Kenyan contact

Thank you for praying for us here in Kenya. I believe it is your prayers rising up to the throne of grace that have seen calm restored. I have personally been overwhelmed and anguished by the suffering of our own people who reside in Kibera, Mukuru, Mutumba and Fuata Nyayo among the slums that were affected. I often lacked the strength to pray as texts and phone calls of untold suffering came through especially families with little children going without food for days in no-go zones I the slums.

Houses of some our members have been torched and everything destroyed. Many are spending nights in the cold in Kibera. For the rest too they spent their nights outside for fear of being burnt inside their houses at night. No one sleeps at night any more as they have to keep vigil all night.

The last two days have seen calm restored into the City of Nairobi and many of the troubled hotspots around the country. This is what Kenya is crying for! The city is beginning to bounce back slowly and momentum may increase as parents get into the new school term purchases and preparation this weekend and early next week. A sigh of relief is breaking forth.

Kenya at a crossing point

From our Oakseed contact…

My contacts tell me that Kibera Laini Saba side is calm. I am aware though that Kibera 42; adjacent to Ngong Road is where skirmishes are going right now. Kilimani and arpound Yaya centre have seen street battles. I am concerned that more venting of anger may be experienced tonight in the slums with more houses being torched after the meeting aborts. I see us responding to a huge humanitarian crisis. We are in fact late for our people in Kibera and late for the over 250,000 displaced internally. No access to the slums due to tension. The Red Cross is overstretched. My thoughts go out to the churches outside Nairobi in the North Rift my home where people have taken refuge to escape ethnic cleansing without food and blankets. Road blocks have been erected along the major Kenya-Uganda hihway and vehicles are being stopped and people asked to produce IDs which of course betrays ethnicity. This is a repeat of Rwanda if we don’t stop it right now. Please pray for my beloved country.

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