EQUALITY ?

ON AUGUST 18TH 1962 a European known as PETER POOLE aged 28, married with two children was executed by hanging in Nairobi Prison.     He made history as the first white man to be so executed in Kenya.     Eight months earlier Poole had been convicted of the Murder of his house help, Kamawe Musunge.       Musunge had been riding his bicycle near Poole's house when two of Poole's dogs  got in his way and stopped him from further progress.   He picked up some stones to throw at the dogs hoping to move them away, but as he did so Poole came out of his house, drew his pistol and shot Musunge dead!       Quite dramatic!     Without doubt Murder had been done.    But   Poole was well known and had fought for the Colonialists against the Mau Mau.     And it was said by the European community that he would never hang - he had only killed a black man!   He owned an electrical shop along Government Road (now Moi Avenue) and was known as being short tempered.    He had previously shot a police constable who was being attacked (once again) by one of his dogs, and had also threatened another shopkeeper who had refused to give him discount on a torch he wanted to purchase!     An arrogant young man!     25,000 signatures were nevertheless collected on his behalf and presented to the Governor of the Day (pre-Independence) in an effort to obtain clemency for him.     It failed to move the Governor, and Peter dropped through the Trap-door on the end of a rope.     His immediate family, parents, wife and children, must have endured the day with pain and distress.      We are told the rest of the European community in Nairobi were in uproar at what they felt was injustice.        BUT HE HAD KILLED A MAN - he had killed a human being made in the Image of God in broad daylight for no just reason.       His case was Tried by Jury.     The WHITE Jury brought in a Verdict of MURDER.      Many hailed him as a 'martyr'.          

Here, clearly, must be seen and understood the FACT that coloured men and women were looked down upon by WHITE people;   nay they were set at naught, as without human worth or value compared to themselves.        YES, of course I have to admit that my 'generality' of reference has to be open to individual exceptions here and there.

It must have been a real BLOW in the face of the majority when Poole was Executed.   All men must suddenly have been seen to be more equal that previously thought!    One London newspaper had written -

  'All men, regardless of colour, became equal at the end of a rope.'

In fact it MAY well be that in the general consensus of opinion on both sides of the community at large, it was more important that a white man had been judged at fault, than the fact that actual JUSTICE had been done!      One in the eye for the all superior and privileged lords of the earth.  I wonder if anyone mourned for the murdered man, Kamawe Musunge.    I could not find anything written about him, his family.......just that he had been murdered by a WHITE MAN.     Even in the NATION this week, there was nothing about the victim of this Murder.     The emphasis and the focus was entirely - even 50 years on - on the question of 'white superiority'.

NOW A SECOND WHITE MAN is in the spotlight for suspected Murder.      This time not just a common or garden 

electrician, but the great grandson of LORD DELAMERE British Nobleman, and Kenyan land magnate.       The case had dragged on for almost three years.    Mr. Cholmondeley had killed another African the year before, but was not convicted.    This second event HAD to be dealt with.        BUT has it been dealt with fairly?      The Accused is not just accused of having Murdered an African, but also of having too much African LAND, too much social prestige and power.   If he were to be found Not Guilty the Government of the Day might be seen as helpless in front of the considerable 'influence' of the Delameres.       The African, now in the majority, might be the ones to riot.      SO is it possible for JUSTICE to actually BE a consideration here?        If our TOM is  found GUILTY it will please the masses, but produce important repercussions in other places - since it may well be considered that Justice has not been done.       There has apparently been little forensic proof of purely circumstantial evidence for example.     BUT I am not out to prove the innocence of Tom Cholmondeley or the rightness of his Sentence.      If he killed then he must take the consequences - that is the law regardless of who he is or where he has come from.       All men ought to be treated equally in the sight of God. BUT in my heart I remain concerned that still today,  46 years after the death of Peter Poole, the REAL interest in  this case is NOT so much JUSTICE, as in striking a blow at the 'white man', his arrogant attitude concerning his superior self appraisal so often bound up with wealth, education, and position.

It may not be TRUE of the white man as much as it once was, but it is still very much a part of social interest and opinion.          Why do Kenyans feel they need to find weakness in the Whites?

Why is it more important to prove white people to be as prone to sin as any other colour?    Why can't we accept that ALL MEN are SINNERS regardless of race, colour or creed.     Why cannot every nation and tribe realise their need of forgiveness, mercy and compassion as much as judgment and retribution.

IN KENYA RIGHT NOW black Africans are murdering each other.      They do so every day.

Our Prisons are packed with men and women who have been found guilty of Murder, yet have never been executed!         What IS so important in seeking the DEATH PENALTY for a man of another colour, just because he is from a minority; even if, in some quarters, a despised and resented minority      Let us hope JUSTICE does lie behind it all, but I seriously WONDER.

WELL Tom Cholmondeley was spared the Death Sentence and judged instead to be Guilty of Manslaughter.    He will be SENTENCED on Tuesday of next week.     Manslaughter might be a compromise in order to save face whilst being seen unafraid to confront the Great White Man.

It might work, but will it be JUSTICE?      It might work, but has it in any way changed the status quo....?           I don't think so....not yet.        Pain all round of course - for the family of Robert Njoya who was shot and killed, and for the family of the man accused.     BUT in the press all the attention is going to the Accused - not to Robert Njoya.       ALMOST a repeat of the Poole affair.

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TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES, does not regard or make any difference towards those of differing tribes, nationalities, or even shade of colour.    Our doors have been open to all since we commenced in 1969.     I was once told that EVERY COLOUR goes into the colour WE call WHITE.      I hope that over the years that have passed God has been improving my whiteness by drawing so many of other colours and shades into my life and experience.    I hope it has made a difference to the 'green' young man that arrived SO white in Kenya in 1968.

IN 1974 a little boy of four years was brought to Testimony House, to me and Esther my wife to care for.     He was brought by a Child Welfare Officer working on the outskirts of Eldoret.

His name is PAUL NGUGI, and when he arrived He could not walk - at 4 years old!

His legs and arms looked like those of a spider all weakly draped around a huge stomach.   His head seemed too big, facial features all twisted into a grimace.  The silky hair of his scalp strangely straight, yellow with malnutrition.   One eye bulged glassily, like some huge fish eye, cloudy with death.    His hands were like Little claws, all  swollen at the wrists, as also were his ankles.    He was a most pathetic sight.

'His mother died you see' 

said the fat and comfortable Social Worker.

'When the father went to the funeral at Fort Hall (hundreds of miles away).

'the child was left alone in the mud hut.   He was alone when  we found him.

He was starving, and seemed to have suffered from Measles. 

He seems to see only partially.

SO I have thought I  should bring him to you!'

My immediate reaction was one of repugnance more than pity or compassion.    As he rested in one of the big arm chairs he suddenly convulsed and deposited a huge mass of heaving round worms as thick a s man's finger, and four to six inches long.    His stomach visibly reduced!

He has been with us ever since!      After de-worming him completely and giving careful attention to his feeding, he slowly regained strength and was able to stand and move about, but at the same time we realised he was still in the grip of some disease we had not diagnosed.

EVENTUALLY after numerous treks to doctors and hospitals where tests and research were carried out it was determined that he suffers from a metabolic disease known as Hurlers Syndrome, or Gargoylism as it is also know.     It is possible he could have been cured through bone marrow transplants, but it would have had to be done before he was brought to us.  Otherwise life expectancy was set at 10 years only, and no cure or remedial treatment was offered us.    We were told his blindness would be complete, and that physically he would progressively regress into almost totally paralysis.     He will be 39 in December this year.   He is bound to his wheel chair now, and has a male nurse to assist him at night and part of the day.   Otherwise he is part of the  Family of Testimony House; a treasured member!     

He managed to attend School until the 5th Grade of Primary, but after that he could not face the audible curiosity and comment his physical condition aroused in his classmates.    He learnt braille and read extensively.     He speaks English, Swahili, and Kikuyu fluently and his general intelligence fueled from listening the World Service is second to none.      He has an extensive sense of humour and seems totally devoid of self pity.    He LOVES God with all his heart.    No relative has come forward to claim him.    Home is still Testimony House.     He is someone who speaks to all by the way he lives and  endures rather than anything  else.        His frail voice rises often from the Sunday Service Congregation to Thank and Praise God for LIFE and his constant thought  centres on the DAY the King will come; the day that he will SEE that King, and at last be made WHOLE.

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Pray for us all in TFH.      Pray for the Children and parents in the Four Homes.   And pray for Esther and me as we stand by our posts in Jesus Name.      Their ARE times when life seems to be a maelstrom whirling around us.       How WONDERFUL though to BE at the centre and to know the PEACE of God.

Our love to you all as always.

John and Esther