The area where the most violence occurred - western Kenya/the Rift Valley, and particularly the large town of Eldoret - was quite close by to where I was living, working, coming to know the students and teachers and staff at the training center, as well as the surrounding area and community.
Praise God that peace is returning to the area, things are calming down, people's needs are beginning to be met, food and medical provisions are slowly making their way to the people who desperately need them. However, A LOT MORE needs to be done... and things that aren't so easily fixed need the powerful healing touch of the Lord's hand. Neighbors have burned each other's houses down, fought against and killed one another... and based on the violence done against one another, claimed that one tribe's blood is somehow better than another's. Each has taken justice into their own hands... claimed to be the victim and so justified their violence against the other. Yet no one has escaped the tragedy - there are perpetrators and victims on both sides. So pray instead, that people would understand justice as Jesus understood justice... in love and in grace... in forgiveness.
Stories in pictures...
A small sampling of students. :) The girl to the left of me is Helen, and the girl to the right is Nelly. The first time they REALLY opened up with me was when a group of us girls all started talking about boys. hahahaha I did find out a lot of cultural bits on dating and what kinds of boys Kenyan girls like and what happens surrounding marriage... grins
Bagging maize with Jemayo (my first friend, beautiful voice, huge heart) and some of the other students during one of my first days at the training center.
Justice is the boy biting the smirking girl's ear. He is Cosmas the Nightwatchman's son. Cosmas was like... my African dad. He's amazing. Olivia is the little girl front and center (red sweatshirt), one of the many orphans who now have a home at the Kipkaren Children's Home. The day I took this picture we had all gathered at the soccer field to watch the guys play - students vs. staff. Olivia, whom I'd never met before, came up to me and gave me a HUGE hug, and then stuck by my side for the rest of the game. Beautiful kids, eh? So so easy to love.
Linet (quiet and shy, yet funny), Jentrix (absolutely crazy! hehe). Two of my sisters.
Lelei, my little brother. He's pretty awesome. :) He sat behind me in class, and every time I didn't understand something that was being said in Kiswahili, I'd ask him about it later and he'd laugh and tell me what we were doing. The common line went: Lelei, kiyaene?! (Kinandi for - What are we doing?) And he would laugh because I'd spoken in Kinandi and then tell me what was announced or what was said - quite often it was about what we were doing next... Like, "Cherotich (my Nandi name), kiwendi kabungui!" (Kinandi: we're going to the garden). Or whatever variation of that! :)
Me, Joel (quiet and sweet), and Kiruwa (one of the most motivated and hardworking of all the students) - friends and students from the Ag program. This day we spent in the Agro-forestry unit (when you combine forestry and agriculture to create more environmentally sustainable conditions for growing crops, raising animals, etc) preparing baggies of dirt to transplant seedlings. We did something like... 3,000 baggies?!
All of these names and faces... they're all my friends, my brothers and sisters, my neighbors. I love them as I love myself. As they're still on Christmas break, each one is scattered across Kenya - some near, some far, in their own homes and communities with their families and friends. I don't know how any of them are, or how they managed through the post-election violence. I am moved to prayer on their accounts again and again, and I would love for you to join me!
