Hey Folks!
No, it's not Steve this time, but rather, me, Megan Affleck. Thanks so much for checking the blog daily and for your ardent pleading before the Lord's throne. Below is a copy of the e-mail I received the other day from Sister Freda. Her insights paint a poignant scene that breaks my heart, but encourages my fervent prayers to the Lord.
In Him,
Megan
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Dear Megan,
Greetings from Kitale , Kenya . The once peaceful country has now become war torn.
Today, as Pastor Steve Rutenbar and I headed towards Kachibora Refugee Camp 35 Kilometres East of Kitale Town on the foothills of Cheragani Hills, we saw many abandoned homes; these houses were burnt by arsonists after announcement of Presidential election results. As one woman described to us is that the grass thatched houses were set on fire, while the stone houses, petrol was used to set the houses on fire. There are other refugee camps, on Kitale Show ground, which is a Kilometre from the town centre, Wamuini Refugee Camp which is 5 Kilometres West of Kitale Town and Endebess Refugee Camp which is 15 Kilometres North West of Kitale Town.
We arrived at Kachibora Refugee camp; we saw rows of very small tents, which housed family members of up to 7. Entering the tents we saw dusty and flea infested floors, there were no blankets or anything to cover the floor, most houses had little or no earthly belongings. We met mothers and sick children. In the camp there were cows and calves tethered securely on the posts at the side of the camp.
The women made make shifts Kitchen that were composed of three stones and what was used as firewood was maize stalks which emit a lot of smoke and burn very fast to cook the very little food they have been supplied with. Other women were washing clothes with filthy water.
Many women and children were lined up for the precious commodity of water which was brought by Red Cross tanker. This water was not enough for over 20,000 people living in the camp. Men were sitting in small groups discussing and pondering what next.
Talking to some people we learn that on the night of 30th December 2007 immediately after result of the Kenyan elections following the dispute of elections hell broke loose all that did not belong the tribe that is indigenous that region were driven away by the arsonists who razed their houses, and killing some of them.
So day and night, women, children and men walked miles to get to the nearest police station which was many miles away to seek help. Help come several days late as the roads, everywhere was blocked, women and children had run through the night. One woman who was then seven months pregnant , with a toddler on her chest and another on back with two younger ones on her side, she ran non stop to the centre only to have a miscarriage a few days later. Another one who is 56 year old widow with her nine children left their home after their house was torched and all her sheep and goats perished. She was glad that she was alive with her children. She ran and thanked God for her miracle of life.
Another man who was a senior pastor was ordered out of his residence and shot dead. All his cattle were stolen. Policemen and other government officials have been killed in these tribal clashes.
Hunger, disease, devastation is felt all through the camp. Women, children, and men sleep on the bare ground. They have nothing to cover, no clothes to wear, no shoes, no medication as the medicines are scarce, and those on Anti retroviral have no medicine and this will affect their health in that they will have to start their doses all over again when the it is available. There was one woman who asked for a bible.
Pastor Steve is preparing to stay in the camp praying for these people and giving them moral support. Please Megan pray for him.
God’s blessings!
Sister Freda.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Kachibora Refugee Camp
Hi Everyone!
I know a few of you have been wondering if I'm safe...you watch the news reports coming out of Kenya and wonder just how safe I am. Well, don't worry. I'm perfectly safe.
Last night I spent the night at the Kachibora refugee camp with 22,000 displaced people. They were so appreciative of our coming. We brought blankets, Swahili bibles, and the most popular item we brought was, believe it or not, feminine sanitary pads! The women were jumping up and down screaming and doing their ever-so-distinctive "yell." Many of you know the sound I am talking about...it's a cross between a yell and whistle of sorts and they do it while singing and apparently, when they are very excited. Anyways, the people at this camp had fled their homes with nothing. Absolutely nothing. Some even left without their children. They are sleeping in tents provided by the Red Cross, which are nothing more than tarps slung over wooden stakes. Sleeping on the red Kenyan dirt, these refugees fall asleep not to the sound of the stillness of the night, but rather, the incessant chewing of termites overhead threatening the stability of their makeshift shelter. They have been there for a month and honestly, they just want to go back. But, go back where? Many of their homes have been burned. The road ahead is shrouded by the unknown...barriers both seen and unseen.
I preached a message on Luke 5 and the men who brought Jesus their paralyzed friend. I spoke of their four defining attributes: persistence, cooperation, unselfish love and faith. The men were persistent in trying to get to Jesus...so much so that they climbed up on the roof to get to Him. They worked together being that there was no way they could do it alone. When everyone is in it for themselves, the group as a whole suffers tremendously. This point truly resonated with the people. The men were unselfishly loving because they could have brought their own problems, diseases, etc. but instead they brought their friend to Jesus. And, certainly, these were men of faith. If they had no faith in Jesus, they would have looked like total fools going through all of the trouble to reach Him not knowing if He could really help them. No, they had faith and the bible says Jesus saw their faith and forgave them and healed the paralyzed man.
That night, 100 people knelt down on the cold, rain-soaked Kenyan earth and accepted Christ. I can't even begin to describe the scene...just a sea of white tents. It looked almost like a civil war encampment. Quite an amazing experience. We gave Pastor Mwange, the camp chaplain, a copy of the Purpose Driven Life and a Swahili bible and he did a dance of joy. { Ok, so now it's Megan Affleck here...Last night on the phone, Steve told me a story that I am going to share with you whether he thinks I should let this out or not haha I am just kidding. He told me I could include it on the blog so, here it goes: It was just after dinner and the dirt was now mud from the rain that had belted down on the camp. They had been playing with all the children, muddy and tired I assume, but happy to have had some fun amidst the circumstances. Laughter had turned into silent anticipation for the imminent message. Steve was now up on high ground preaching the message I detailed a paragraph ago when all of a sudden a flare goes off in the sky. Picture it if you will...600 people immediately hit the floor and were lying frozen, face first and not about to move an inch. People were screaming and running around. Steve had no idea what the flare meant. Turns out, a flare is a sign of an imminent attack! Thank you Jesus, our Precious Lord and Savior, for being a fence for Pastor Steve and all of those people in the camp that night. }
We are now on our way to go pick up Dan Hamer...Stonic is taking us through the back roads. Also, thank you guys so much for all the comments. I love reading them and they are a real blessing!
I know a few of you have been wondering if I'm safe...you watch the news reports coming out of Kenya and wonder just how safe I am. Well, don't worry. I'm perfectly safe.
Last night I spent the night at the Kachibora refugee camp with 22,000 displaced people. They were so appreciative of our coming. We brought blankets, Swahili bibles, and the most popular item we brought was, believe it or not, feminine sanitary pads! The women were jumping up and down screaming and doing their ever-so-distinctive "yell." Many of you know the sound I am talking about...it's a cross between a yell and whistle of sorts and they do it while singing and apparently, when they are very excited. Anyways, the people at this camp had fled their homes with nothing. Absolutely nothing. Some even left without their children. They are sleeping in tents provided by the Red Cross, which are nothing more than tarps slung over wooden stakes. Sleeping on the red Kenyan dirt, these refugees fall asleep not to the sound of the stillness of the night, but rather, the incessant chewing of termites overhead threatening the stability of their makeshift shelter. They have been there for a month and honestly, they just want to go back. But, go back where? Many of their homes have been burned. The road ahead is shrouded by the unknown...barriers both seen and unseen.
I preached a message on Luke 5 and the men who brought Jesus their paralyzed friend. I spoke of their four defining attributes: persistence, cooperation, unselfish love and faith. The men were persistent in trying to get to Jesus...so much so that they climbed up on the roof to get to Him. They worked together being that there was no way they could do it alone. When everyone is in it for themselves, the group as a whole suffers tremendously. This point truly resonated with the people. The men were unselfishly loving because they could have brought their own problems, diseases, etc. but instead they brought their friend to Jesus. And, certainly, these were men of faith. If they had no faith in Jesus, they would have looked like total fools going through all of the trouble to reach Him not knowing if He could really help them. No, they had faith and the bible says Jesus saw their faith and forgave them and healed the paralyzed man.
That night, 100 people knelt down on the cold, rain-soaked Kenyan earth and accepted Christ. I can't even begin to describe the scene...just a sea of white tents. It looked almost like a civil war encampment. Quite an amazing experience. We gave Pastor Mwange, the camp chaplain, a copy of the Purpose Driven Life and a Swahili bible and he did a dance of joy. { Ok, so now it's Megan Affleck here...Last night on the phone, Steve told me a story that I am going to share with you whether he thinks I should let this out or not haha I am just kidding. He told me I could include it on the blog so, here it goes: It was just after dinner and the dirt was now mud from the rain that had belted down on the camp. They had been playing with all the children, muddy and tired I assume, but happy to have had some fun amidst the circumstances. Laughter had turned into silent anticipation for the imminent message. Steve was now up on high ground preaching the message I detailed a paragraph ago when all of a sudden a flare goes off in the sky. Picture it if you will...600 people immediately hit the floor and were lying frozen, face first and not about to move an inch. People were screaming and running around. Steve had no idea what the flare meant. Turns out, a flare is a sign of an imminent attack! Thank you Jesus, our Precious Lord and Savior, for being a fence for Pastor Steve and all of those people in the camp that night. }
We are now on our way to go pick up Dan Hamer...Stonic is taking us through the back roads. Also, thank you guys so much for all the comments. I love reading them and they are a real blessing!
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