Tribal Violence Affects Ministry in Kenya
Gary and Mary Strange, Kenya
January 8, 2008
Violence in Kenya is reported on the TV news, on the internet, and in the newspapers. Protesters are expressing their anger at the way the elections were handled by the Election Commission and President Kibaki. The situation is serious, yet it seems the protesters’ steam is diminishing. Tempers have flared, and some have gone go too far by taking out their anger on innocent parties. The chaos gives hoodlums a venue for looting, bullying, and murdering. Some have used this situation as an excuse to dredge up old grievances with other tribes.
Depending on the report you listen to, there have been as many as 600 senseless deaths. The combined forces of the Kenyan police and the Kenyan army have beaten back the opposition, and the people are tired and hungry. The reports say that 250,000 people have been made homeless due to the violence and burnings. With food and water supplies low, many are hungry and thirsty.
Tribalism is part of the undercurrent of life in Kenya, but in the past, most everyone lived with it in peace. However, political lines are usually drawn along tribal lines, and recent elections have caused strife. President Kibaki is of the Kikuyu tribe, and his main opposition Raila Odinga is of the Luo tribe. The Kikuyu tribe is the largest tribe, but most of the smaller tribes banded together behind Raila Odinga when they voted. With the allegations that there was fraud in the elections in order to insure that the president gained reelection, some of the anger over what happened has been taken out on innocent people of opposing tribes.
Some of our friends have been innocent victims of this violence. Mourice lives in a small slum several miles from us. Many men come to Nairobi to work while their wives and children live back near their family homes, and is the case with Mourice. He has a wife and three children in the country, but he lives with his six-year-old son in Nairobi. Mourice is a waiter at a Chinese restaurant. He is thankful for the job, but he is just barely able to meet his family's needs. He called us for help, because he and his son were hungry. Since almost all businesses have been closed since the election, he has not been working, and he cannot get his pay for December until the restaurant reopens. We gave him some money to buy food, and later he came to our house with his son and his cousin's son saying that things were getting bad in his area. There had been one man killed that morning and he feared for their lives. He is the only one from the Luo tribe in an area where everyone else is from the Kikuyu tribe.
Another friend of ours, Patrick, lives in one of the bigger slum areas on the other side of Nairobi. He has a wife and three children. He came to us earlier this week after his home had been burned to the ground. One tribe went through their slum, searched out members of the other tribe, and then set fire to the homes of the other tribe and sometimes killed the people. Patrick’s family escaped, but they now have nothing. We gave him blankets, dishes, a cooking pot and utensils, some food staples, and some money to buy more food. He had his own business making and selling maandazi, which is a type of donut. We are not sure if his business is still there as it is probably not safe for him to go back and find out.
Because our Kenya missionary team agreed that it was not safe to convene classes at the Bible College next week, the start of school semester has been delayed. The students, who just finished a class on Christian Ethics, are struggling to make sense of this situation. Their neighbors’ homes have been burned to the ground, and one has personally witnessed a man being killed with a panga (a machete type long knife).
It is easy when you see reports on the news to be concerned and appalled at the events that are happening yet at the same time feel very distant from the situation. However, these are stories of real people that we know and love as brothers in Christ. Pray for the people of Kenya who are suffering the effects of this violence. And pray for God’s continued protection over us as we show Christ’s compassion to those who are hurting and afraid.
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