It is now 4 weeks since I returned to Kenya after the Christmas break, and it feels like I have lived a lifetime in those short weeks. I want to write, but I am having a hard time choosing what to write about to give a true image of this country. If I say it is a beautiful country with lovely people who are hard working and reserved, then how do I explain the last 6 weeks? Most Kenyans are also trying to explain the last 6 weeks. There is a lot of depression here and pain, as people ask themselves what happened.
Most of the clashes (as they are referred to) have stopped, but in some areas verbal threatening continues and people are still terrified. The peace talks continue, but it is like Nairobi is a million miles away and out of touch with the rest of the country which has people living all over the place or traveling the roads to find what they perceive to be a safe place.
Two days ago about 200 displaced Kikuyus moved just down the road from us onto some land loaned to them by a fellow Kikuyu. They have absolutely nothing but the loan of this land for temporary shelters. No water or food, no shelter, no clothes but what’s on their backs. The men organized themselves and half have gone looking for work, while the other half have found pieces of wood and trees and someone bought some tin for roofing and they are erecting little shacks for temporary shelter. My taxi driver from Gilgil who drives me locally is a Kikuyu, so I asked him to try overnight to mobilize the Kikuyu taxi and lorry drivers in Gilgil to help these people.
This morning I found myself in Gilgil with these guys organizing them to provide what these displaced people need most besides shelter—water. By noon, we had delivered wood to build 4 platforms which we needed to place 4 water tanks on, and had a fundi (skilled laborer) actually building the platforms. They’ll be finished tomorrow morning , then we place the tanks (with taps) on the platforms and get a water truck to fill them. The town stores also provided Jerry cans so that the women can take water from the tanks back to their individual family areas. We also brought them enough maize and beans for a few days. At staff assembly this morning, I appealed for clothes and household items to be left at my apartment door, and when I returned, I could hardly get in because of the bags of stuff waiting. I have called the taxi drivers and they will come and pick it all up and deliver it.
Early tomorrow morning I go with Dr. Wangai, one of our young physicians, to speak with the Provincial Medical Officer for Rift Valley. Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) are running a clinic in a displaced persons camp in the Nakuru Stadium and are interested in sending us medical/surgical referrals. We have raised some money to pay for free medical care for several hundred displaced persons, and negotiated with St. John’s Ambulance (sound familiar ?) to transport them the 30 km to St. Mary’s. Normally, the referrals would go to nearby government hospitals, but they are totally overloaded. We’ll see what he says.
Several weeks ago I journeyed to Eldoret and KaKamega with a police escort to retrieve 8 orphans who were stranded there after Christmas break and needed help. Three were from our orphanage high school at St. Mary’s in Nairobi, and 5 from St. Therese orphanage next door here at Elementita. I went for 8 kids and only came back with 7, and it has bothered me ever since.
Little Delvin (girl), age 8, was with relatives, but when we went to pick her up, the house had been burned and neighbors could only tell us the general direction they’d run in. There was nothing I could do with 7 other kids to worry about. I listed her as missing with the police, but the countryside around there is in turmoil so I knew they’d never find her.
Last Sunday I went back to the Eldoret area, and with a helpful social worker who works with the police we started retracing her possible routes. We started at 6 a.m. and found her in a slum in Eldoret at 2:30 p.m. with a relative. She was out of medication, and her kidneys were shutting down. She kept asking about her friend Anne from the orphanage. They are reunited now, and Delvin has already improved considerably. There are days when I can’t believe this is all real and what I’m doing.
Most of the clashes (as they are referred to) have stopped, but in some areas verbal threatening continues and people are still terrified. The peace talks continue, but it is like Nairobi is a million miles away and out of touch with the rest of the country which has people living all over the place or traveling the roads to find what they perceive to be a safe place.
Two days ago about 200 displaced Kikuyus moved just down the road from us onto some land loaned to them by a fellow Kikuyu. They have absolutely nothing but the loan of this land for temporary shelters. No water or food, no shelter, no clothes but what’s on their backs. The men organized themselves and half have gone looking for work, while the other half have found pieces of wood and trees and someone bought some tin for roofing and they are erecting little shacks for temporary shelter. My taxi driver from Gilgil who drives me locally is a Kikuyu, so I asked him to try overnight to mobilize the Kikuyu taxi and lorry drivers in Gilgil to help these people.
This morning I found myself in Gilgil with these guys organizing them to provide what these displaced people need most besides shelter—water. By noon, we had delivered wood to build 4 platforms which we needed to place 4 water tanks on, and had a fundi (skilled laborer) actually building the platforms. They’ll be finished tomorrow morning , then we place the tanks (with taps) on the platforms and get a water truck to fill them. The town stores also provided Jerry cans so that the women can take water from the tanks back to their individual family areas. We also brought them enough maize and beans for a few days. At staff assembly this morning, I appealed for clothes and household items to be left at my apartment door, and when I returned, I could hardly get in because of the bags of stuff waiting. I have called the taxi drivers and they will come and pick it all up and deliver it.
Early tomorrow morning I go with Dr. Wangai, one of our young physicians, to speak with the Provincial Medical Officer for Rift Valley. Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) are running a clinic in a displaced persons camp in the Nakuru Stadium and are interested in sending us medical/surgical referrals. We have raised some money to pay for free medical care for several hundred displaced persons, and negotiated with St. John’s Ambulance (sound familiar ?) to transport them the 30 km to St. Mary’s. Normally, the referrals would go to nearby government hospitals, but they are totally overloaded. We’ll see what he says.
Several weeks ago I journeyed to Eldoret and KaKamega with a police escort to retrieve 8 orphans who were stranded there after Christmas break and needed help. Three were from our orphanage high school at St. Mary’s in Nairobi, and 5 from St. Therese orphanage next door here at Elementita. I went for 8 kids and only came back with 7, and it has bothered me ever since.
Little Delvin (girl), age 8, was with relatives, but when we went to pick her up, the house had been burned and neighbors could only tell us the general direction they’d run in. There was nothing I could do with 7 other kids to worry about. I listed her as missing with the police, but the countryside around there is in turmoil so I knew they’d never find her.
Last Sunday I went back to the Eldoret area, and with a helpful social worker who works with the police we started retracing her possible routes. We started at 6 a.m. and found her in a slum in Eldoret at 2:30 p.m. with a relative. She was out of medication, and her kidneys were shutting down. She kept asking about her friend Anne from the orphanage. They are reunited now, and Delvin has already improved considerably. There are days when I can’t believe this is all real and what I’m doing.
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