Kenya Update

All the horrible news coming out of Kenya has me worried for the orphans and staff of Ring Road and the new works in Mombassa, Malindi and Eldoret. Eldoret was our latest project, with about 388 orphans needing sponsorship. On our visit to Eldoret in July, we were expecting to meet 17 orphans...we were surprised by the large group. We had promised support to the 17 only, and increased that count to 30. After returning to the US, we ended up supporting close to 100 or more, with that number growing every week.

Currently Eldoret and Mt. Elgon are experiencing the most horrific violence and effects of the violence. You have to remember that most Africans rely on gathering food and fuel on a daily basis. With the curfews, looting, killing, gang activity it is nearly impossible to find food. Unscrupulous business people with food and water have found they can double, triple and quadurple prices during the strife. The roads are so bad anyway, but now with rival tribes setting up roadblocks no humanitarian aid can get through.

We lost communication contact with our workers in Eldoret for a while, but now that e-mail link has been re-established...with almost daily bad news I am not sure that was a blessing or not! I can't really mean that.

Thank God that most of our kids and staff are safe, being fed, and can still find hope in the darkest of situations. The stress the staff are going through is taking a toll. They will need a vacation when this blows over. We had one staff member, Thomas take a beating for saving an orphan from being burned alive. In the process he had his valuables stolen. His father-in-law was killed. Other that this bad news, we don't know of any other direct victims. Jared, our intrepid leader in Kisumu has been caring for not only the Ring Road kids and staff, but the commuity as well. He took a credit line out and bought a large quantity of corn for the surrounding community. The church and school are the beacon in that slum. He even risked his life to take money to Kitale, Eldoret, and Malindi...traveling on his own dime and again stretching his credit line to get bare essentials for thousands of people...Kikuyu or Luo.

What would I do in that situation? I wonder that often...what kind of servant would I be?

What to do? Pray for peace, understanding, forgiveness. When I hear some of the chilling stories of neighbor on neighbor violence I wonder how forgiveness will happen. Only through the grace of God...but too many of us aren't counting on that...we would rather take our own vengeance, and exact our own retribution.

To think that the tribal conflicts are based on an arbitrary assignment of class by the British colonials...they needed domestic help, so they enlisted the Kikuyus because they happened to be closest to the settlements. When the Brits left, they handed over many of the civil service, merchant, and white collar jobs to the Kikuyus. Same thing happened in Rwanda with the Tutsis and the Hutus...that one is even more bizarre...the best jobs in Rwanda were given to the tribe that had lighter skin...what a crock! Amazing what colonialism has accomplished over the past couple hundred years. I know that is a tough stance to take, but I look at the results and it bothers me.

The best way to help...Go to http://www.christianrelieffund.org/ and send in a donation...if you mark the donation "for Kenyan Relief", 100% of the money donated will go to Africa...zero administration costs. The need is immediate and is the fastest way to get aid to those in peril. The real risks are starving and disease. Please help.

Chow