Instant Refugee Camp

Many of you have traveled with me through the years up to the Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya where 100,000 Sudanese and Somali citizens are living in limbo. Picture Kakuma in Kitale. There are at least 50,000 displaced people at two sites...Cherengany hills about 20 minutes out of Kitale and Endebess. Over the last two days James, Juma, Jeffrey and I have given out wool blankets to thousands of folks stuck in these encampments. No where to go, no homes to return to and most people are separated from their family and friends. During the day they roam through the encampments looking for relatives or any familiar faces. At night, they huddle under tarps provided by the Red Cross and lay in the dirt and mud waiting for the light and the warmth of the next day. When I call this place "camp," don't get me wrong...this is NOT Hume Lake or Forest Home. This is a "Grapes of Wrath" type scene with people just trying to get by the best they can until things stabilize here. I met with the pastor who is in charge of the spiritual life of the 20,000+ people at this Cherengany camp. As you can guess, he's a bit overwhelmed by the task of caring for all of these people with virtually no resources. The people are not starving, but have to wait 4 hours for water and it's nasty water at that. They get a little bit of maize flour to make up some ugali and some beans and that's it. No one is starving but no one is well-fed either...it's survival mode. It's impossible to send the photos because they take an hour to upload, but I'll bring home photos of the camp life.
But here's the basics:

• People sleeping in the dirt.


• Four+ families to a tiny tent.


• At least 6,000 children separated from their parents. Tiny kids wandering through the camp crying out for their mommy and daddy. Their parents just ran to spare their own lives but left their kids behind.

I wish Dean was here with me today to help organize a soccer game in the field next to the camp. 6,000 kids...3,000 on each team. There's a sight for you...just choosing teams is a day long event. Tonight I've been invited to preach a message around a bonfire we're going to build...a message of reconciliation and hope. So, please pray for me...I'm digging deep.

Psalm 27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Eldoret to Kitale

Through the years at Saddleback I've had the opportunity to see people in circumstances of distress. Beslan, Russia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oaxaca, Mexico, New Orleans during Katrina, but I've never seen such heartbreaking circumstances as what I've seen in the last 2 days. I was able to catch a flight from Nairobi...that's the good news. The only place I could fly to was Eldoret...that's the bad news. Stonic and Allan drove Stonic's Landcruiser through the night. The route he took I'll never really understand, but he was stopped at least 50 times by gangs looking for fleeing Kikuyu. Stonic met me at 10a.m. on Saturday morning at the Eldoret airstrip and we proceeded northwest toward Kitale. All along the journey there were Kikuyu shops and kiosks that had been completely destroyed or burned to the ground. The sheet metal roofs, the steel doors and windows just ripped out and nothing left but ruble. We saw maybe 200 of these businesses. At one point, we were stopped by a group of men who wanted to know what I was doing and I asked where the Assemblies of God church that was burned was located. The leader of the gang asked, "Do you want to go there?" And Stonic and I both said at the same time, "Why not?" So, this gang leader got in our van and escorted us backwoods to the church that had become the symbolic "ground zero" for these tribal clashes. It is disputed in the press, and even among tribal elders, just how many people died. But, the number really is not important. Two tribal elders escorted me to the site and the 1st thing that caught my eye was the burned-out wheelchair of a grandmother who was trapped inside the church by the murderous gang outside. What happened that day was a disgusting standoff between an angry mob bent on revenge over the election results and fear-filled villagers inside the church unwilling to come out and face the mob that had now grown to over 1,000 people. Whether they chose to face death by flame as some say, or they were forced by the rioters to stay in the church may never be resolved. But, between 35-50 people died that day in Eldoret. We also went by a Baptist church about 500 yards away that had been torn from its foundation and burned. The village elders took us to 5 homes that were also looted, destroyed and burned. I did get some photos that I will share with you when I get home. The village was completely eerie in that everything was abandoned. No children, no possessions, no cattle, nothing. Everyone has fled to a refugee camp to avoid episodes like what happened here. I wish I had something perfect to say here, but honestly, I'm just tired and aghast and trying to filter through exactly what I've seen today. There is no way in a million years I would have made it to Kitale without Stonic and Allan. STONIC IS THE MAN! We've always known that but today we saw it. He just faces down people and plays his Maasai card very well.

Mixed Messages

Everywhere I turn there are signs of hope...and signs of lingering anger.

Today I read in the Daily Nation www.nationmedia.com the headline HOPE AT LAST.
There was a full page picture of Kofi Annan applauding a handshake agreement between Kibake and Odinga. GREAT NEWS.

By 6 am news spread about a massacre overnight in Nakuru...we've ALL been to Nakuru ...we've led PDL conferences there...Katie Edwards did a PD youth congress there...Well, right now no one...not a truck, not a bota bota is moving through Nakuru. There were 200 homes burned overnight. The Daily Nation reports 51 deaths as of right now with scattered gunfire as it returns to a "relative calm."

Good News...Bad News

I prefer the good...what's the alternative?

Prov 3:5&6

A Friend's Sorrow

You would recognize Christofus in a moment, from his engaging and friendly smile, from his royal red Safari Park uniform, but mostly you'd remember his sheer size...he's 6'9" and can lift a 50 lb.suitcase like it's a pillow.

So when I saw tears in Cristofus' eyes and pain in his voice, I knew something wasn't right.

"They killed her..... the mob took my little niece and they chopped her," he said, still in disbelief. "Now she lays in the morgue and we cannot even take her to Kakamega to bury her properly. The mob on the road will not let us pass...the pangas (machetes) are drawn. Pastor Steve, my little niece is gone."

What turns neighbor against neighbor, so frighteningly fast, in this land that has been a model of peace and harmony? What has turned Kenya inside-out in the days since the disputed elections?

The answers are complex...born out of tribal rivalries and historic grudges, and fanned by politics and poverty.

In the next week I'll be asking myself that question a thousand times...why here? why now?
I'll also be asking the Lord, "How do people get back on track?"

The shirt I grabbed from my duffle this morning is the one many of us wore in Katrina 2 years ago.
On the back are the words that have become a motto to us in PEACE RELIEF, "We're not here to SOLVE...We're here to SERVE."

LORD...in the process of serving our broken friends like Cristofus, help us come to grips with your words, "Love God and love your neighbor".

When your neighbor has a drawn panga...it's not so simple.

Attention Prayer Warriors

Ok, all you prayer warriors out there...here's a few requests that could keep you on your knees for a few days...Please ask the Lord to work his perfect will in these issues over the next days.

1) Many of you know that we've had a container of medical equipment and supplies for Sister Freda's Cottage Hospital and shoes for the prisoners at Kitale Prison being held up in Mombasa customs for quite some time...we and our Kenyan partners have not been willing to take part in the proposed 'quick fix' approach of paying off the right person. Corruption, even in the name of doing good, is still corruption. Well, the short version is that with all the chaos of the last weeks since the elections...Mombasa Port is impossibly backed up and officials are trying to clear all they can immediately.It appears they are now willing to back away from their previous position and let us get the container out of the port and over to Kitale...still a ton of issues, like safe, secure transport, but that's where you guys come in...
Please pray for a miracle on this...that the stuff get's cleared and that we are able to get it safely through El Doret, which is presently like Dodge City...and through to Kitale.


2)Matt and Misha McGill are in mid-stream of the adoption process for Baby Moses (pictured above), a child abandoned to die near Freda's place. Ask Dan and Kathleen about all the red tape that comes with Kenya adoption and they can fill your evening with intrigue-filled stories...short version...the paperwork appears to be done...things are very close to resolution...I'm meeting with the attorney in the next couple days, but ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN...wacky stuff just crops here...so, again..even if you don't know exactly WHAT to pray for. Ask the Lord Himself to guide this to a successful conclusion and to get Moses home with Mat, Misha, Max, Mark, and Morgan. Anyone lacking wisdom? Re-Read James 1.

3) I have to make a decision in the next few hours of which way I'm going to Kitale...Each has their own unique challenges, which I won't go into here. But please pray for God-given discernment for which path to take...road or by plane onto the Kitale airstrip.The pilot is having second thoughts about the flight, but we had a good conversation moments ago and I think he is willing to try it tomorrow, if the Kofi Annon/Raila Odinga/Pres. Kibaki summit doesn't explode tonight. Stonic says he has a 'back roads' route that can get us to Kitaleno problem...but I'd just soon avoid the 13 hours of road trip adventure...my kidneys are still bleeding from our last trip to Norok. Please pray.

I've spoken with almost everyone in Kitale and everyone is safe. 5 folks were murdered yesterday in Endebess, if you remeber the team where Mike and Michele Robison met LUCY for the first time...that's Endebess...where Katie and Allison and others painted murals on the walls of the school for handicapped kids.

Gotta go but will have more tomorrow...looking forward to seeing how God answers YOUR prayers. (Don't you love how I so subtly I shifted the responsibility!!)
Steve

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." NIV

Traveling to Kenya

January 22, 2008

I'm at the internet cafe at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, mentally scrolling through the faces and memories of folks that I hope to see in the next few days in Kenya.

Stonic Koipah...my trusted friend and travel companion for 10 years...Stonic assures me he has a way to get us to Kitale while avoiding the troubles on the El Doret Highway.
Sister Freda Robinson (pictured)...and her Cottage Hospital...after a 3 week communication'blackout' I was finally able to hear Freda's sweet voice a few days ago...She and Richard are safe, but supplies and food are in short supply.
The inmates and staff at Kitale Prison, where a clean water project is close to completion...I'll be interested to see how Celebrate Recovery in coming along on the 'Yard'. Jana O'Guin's efforts have been tireless.
Stephen and Roselyn Mairori, and all the ICM family...the seminary in Mt. Elgon may be able to reopen in the next month...God has miraculously spared the campus, even though homes and churches just yards away were burned to the ground.
Patricia Sawa and her HIV/AIDS center 'Discover to Recover' Patricia was trapped in Kisumu for a week or so while she was speaking at an AIDS conference and clashes broke out that shut down all travel...two of the children from her Kitale center have gone missing in the Nakuru area...they were travelling with only a weeks supply of anti-retrovirals and it has now been a month since they were swept up in the chaos in Nakuru.

The entire church family of Deliverance Church, Kitale...Moses, Margaret and family and the 450 children of Purpose Driven Academy...
Geoffrey (pictured below) and the street kids at Oasis of Hope...the latest report from Lydia Monroe is that all the kids are safe and accounted for...even the ones who were stuck up in Lodwar, by the Sudan border.
Jacenta and the Mercy Home kids who rode out the recent storm of chaos and insecurity on our compound...

and so many others...James, Sammy, Juma, Jason, Peter, Ayub, Mary, Andrew...and Jambi.


Psalm 133:1
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together unity !"

How good , indeed...please Lord, bring peace and reconciliation to your children in Kenya. May a leader emerge in the next days, who is willing to set aside self-interest and set Kenya back on the road to safety and prosperity. Show us, Lord, how we can follow your will and way and be an encouraging presence in the lives of our Kenyan friends.

Lord, please bless and keep these friends safe and secure.

Travel

Hey folks-

Today is travel day! Pastor Steve is currently on his way to Kenya. As many of you have experienced firsthand, it is a very long journey. Please pray for his safety and traveling mercies. Also, let's pray for divinely appointed seating arrangements...that God would allow the opportunity for Steve to share God's word with a fellow passenger!

Kipsongo Baby

So often it is the children who suffer the most in times of tribal conflict. Food, health, housing and security become life and death issues. Pray for our little friends in the Kipsongo community.