An Oasis in a Climate of Violence

Posted on Jan 07, 2008

This may be old news by now but I spoke to Susan, Njeri and Anne again on Friday, Jan. 4. They reported that they are fine, as is everyone in their community, and all three of them seemed very upbeat and confident that God would find a way to end the unrest soon. It doesn’t sound like any of the violence has reached their area of the Central Highlands and in fact Susan had heard that some people had started to arrive in the area from other parts of the country, I gather because it is perceived as relatively safe there. The clinic is fine – a bit slow this month, but they had not noticed any changes as a result of recent events. Susan reminded me that they had been through violence like this before in connection with other elections. Although I’m not sure they’re getting the dire reports we’re getting in the West about “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing,” they were very aware of all of the recent events, including the burning of the church in Eldoret. What gave me the most hope was hearing that commentators on the radio are urging peace and saying that the conflict is between Kibaki and Odinga, not between Kenyan people – if that is the message that is being heard, I think it is very likely that peace will ultimately prevail when everyone stops to think about how much there is to lose. As is typical of all three of them, they were keen to ask about us and what is going on in our country and with our elections. They seem to be getting very current news, as they had already heard all of the details about the Iowa caucuses, and it was barely 12 hours after the results were in when I spoke to them. I know they appreciate everyone’s prayers and I’m sure they would want us to join with them in believing that God will bring peace to their country very soon.

Cindy