NEWS

SATURDAY 2nd FEBRUARY 2008

 

I am sure you have all been wondering WHY no further news from me.....Just TOO busy.      The calls upon our time and energy are never ending, for not only is Commencement always especially busy but the necessity of counseling, comforting, and even providing for, the constant stream of frightened people seeking help is an all day, every day event.       YET at the same time being  inside TFH it is like being totally cut off from whatever else is going on - truly an ongoing Oasis of Peace at the present time!

You will no doubt have heard of the TWO Opposition MPs that have been shot dead in the last week or so.    The SECOND was shot dead here in ELDORET - the West side, as we ourselves are on the East, and thus right across Town from us.    Esther, Daryl, Manu and I were all shopping in Town at 11a.m., the shooting had occurred just an hour earlier.    By 1p.m. in the afternoon the whole Town centre was again in turmoil after the news arrived and there were further riots and unpleasantness.    We had NO IDEA, having left town before it all began.      By the evening it had quieted down again, and all was calm and peace, and this has by and large continued.

However peace is not actually restored nation wide, and most of our Universities, for example, are still closed, so OUR university students still at home more than a month after their expected return.    Unrest still in the areas where they operate.     SO Manu is still at home with us and about four others.     Manu's  University Campus is about 4o kilometers away from us,        Steven's old University (The University of Eastern Africa)is a little further in the opposite direction -  was invaded by local people - mainly youth - last night, and there is talk that it (It is a Private University and had opened hoping to avoid the fracas experienced elsewhere) will close today.     Some students may come to spend overnight with us today.

 

The MEDIATORS continue to mediate in Nairobi full of URGENT exhortation to each other to END the VIOLENCE, as if by just saying it all will now be calm.   NOT SO!!

Nothing else of any inspired interest has so far surfaced from their endless chattering.

 

Some well fed, stalwart - if unemployed - Kenyan Youth, suitably masked and armed with sharp edged pangas (machetes) were interviewed by one of Sky News' globe trotting lady Reporters in Nairobi.     She encouraged them to explain their lust for bloodletting, and even head chopping, squatting in squalor with them.    She seemed full of understanding and sympathy for their outlook and the youth's key note phrase of

'KILL TODAY FOR A BETTER TOMORROW' was well aired!!!     I really wonder what the Media does for the world.    Certainly it does NOT encourage a better tomorrow, or even uphold the standards and values that ensured that yesterday was much better than today - at least morally and relisgiously!

 

The opposition has accused the Government of being behind the murder of the two politicians calling them 'assassinations' - strongly denied of course.   HOWEVER, ON TV, last night coverage of the arrest of the policeman behind the fatal killing in Eldoret seemed quite jovial on his way to Court to answer a charge of double murder - The MP was shot dead, and another wounded policewoman died on the way to hospital.   The Police who were escorting him also looked very happy, and were unarmed - their so called suspect un-handcuffed!      It looked rather unreal and staged!!    NOT good publicity for the Government side of things.

 

Kenyans generally must be the MOST PATIENT people on earth since the TIME that has been taken to restore law and order seems still to be almost unlimited.    This is causing irritation and even another kind of anger.       It is likely that no one really cares about the political rights and wrongs that became the trigger for all this awfulness.   They just want things back to normal - almost at any price.    Politically no one might want to ever take part in an election of any kind again.      BUT normality cannot just be restored just as it was.............Something has GONE, and for a long time to come I would imagine.      If Kenya was the 'Gingerbread' of East Africa, then the GILT has gone from it well and truly.

 

BUT some things ARE the same.

The POOR are still with us - but in increasing numbers.

The Street Children are still there on the littered streets.

AND THE Rich remain fairly untouched by all this mayhem - it is not the UPPER and Middle Classes (yes we still have 'class' in Kenya) but the ordinary working man, the labourer, junior clerk, artisan - the lower class - and below them the REALLY POOR that are truly hurting right now, and for some time into the future.

 

The MAIN ROAD THROUGH to Uganda and central Africa is BLOCKED.  Bridges broken down, and no sign of urgent repair - surely the ARMY engineers know how to span a river...?        Uganda is of course now also seriously inconvenienced by our state of chaos.     Food IS getting into Eldoret now, but still but a trickle.  Prices continue to ROCKET.       Potatoes for example have risen from £5 for 90 Kilos to £30 for the same weight!    Same for cabbage.     ALL basics are rising - not always because they NEED to but because those who provide them are cashing in on misery!

One wonders if some of our trouble is not Judgment on national GREED and SELFISHNESS that grips the individual citizen!! 

 

Two small children one five and the other seven - brother and sister, having been orphaned when their single parent died of AIDS where then displaced from their slum squatter quarters by ruffians, who burned their only shelter, and were taken to the Show Ground to join the multitude of 'refugees' from terror.        BOTH were admitted today into DRAKELEY COTTAGE taking the number up to 28 in that Family.  Esther and I have just come from having tea with some of them, and with their 'parents' Steve and Emily Stuma.      A lovely family, full of peace and laughter - a true HAVEN.

We hope to take another FOUR children ourselves from the same place during the coming week - no space for more -  HOW we would love to scoop them all up from their misery and give them secure solace and love here with us in TFH.    

 

The day has sped by again.     The School and Homes carrying on as if nothing is happening.      We are blessed so far in being spared so much suffering.    We have to do a lot of soul searching to encourage ourselves into feeling our lives deserve such consideration.........If not then our turn may still have to come.     Continue in prayer for us all, and for innocent who shelter here under the NAME that is above every name.

 

God be with you always

 

John and Esther, and ALL with us who would thank you as they thank God day by day and moment by moment.