"My heart cries for Kenya"

Malesi Kinaro reflects on the latest shocking news from Kenya. Yet still there are reasons to be positive.

May the peace of the Lord be with you to day. I have had to call on that wonderful resource of the peace of God which passes all understanding. The death of the second ODM MP has hit so hard that we found it impossible to continue with our scheduled workshop for the CDC staff in Kisumu. We had all started in good spirits and the day looked so peaceful. After the news and lunch I told the other facilitators in my group to continue while I completed what I was doing. In a short while Janet came to call me. Nobody was in a mood to learn anything. They wanted me to give them a way of coping with what they were feeling. I realized that I was a mother who needed to give security and assurance to these young adults. We merged the groups and began to talk about the incident and what the implications were. We found ourselves looking at ways in which each can interact with the vulnerable youths to give them nonviolent ways of responding. By the time it was 4pm some normalcy had come back. I thanked God for my counseling skills and for my constant interaction with young people.

Jared, the Uzima field officer from Nyanza and his deputy George had begun the week in high hopes. He had met elders and administrators from Borabu and Sotik districts. Meetings were planned for today and tomorrow. Then the Kipsigis warriors struck in the night killing many Kisiis. Jared ended up being involved in ferrying the injured and dying to hospital. I talked with the PC Nyanza because the Sotik DC was being very uncooperative. Today they have been doing some shuttle diplomacy. Six Kisii people died from the clashes and many are still in hospital. I am so impressed by the way my staff are insisting on dialogue for the two tribes in spite of extreme provocation. I really thank God for that.

The truth of the matter is that there is no government. The senior civil servants are divided, the police is divided and the army is divided. Many feel that the targeted killings of ODM members is to reduce their numbers. And also to scuttle the talks.

What makes me so sad is that we are killing each other because of many things. These many things have been brought by some people who have become rich because of corruption. As Kenyans of all tribes suffer these filthy rich Kenyans are comfortable. That is why they give inflammatory statements and force people out of IDPs that the situation is calm.

My heart cries for Kenya. I have been to IDPs and seen the despair among the displaced Kikuyus. I have moved among the other tribes and seen their anger, frustration. We are trying to help people to redirect their anger to non violent protests. And reminding them Kikuyus are our people. I feel so encouraged about their responses at the end of each session.

We have once again lost our home in the Rift Valley. I got a phone call while here in Kisumu that our house and store had once more been burnt.

This is why I say the peace of the lord passeth all understanding. To be able to make Kenyas use this crisis as a time of positive change. A time to reflect and built one nation. I know it will happen as people use all kinds of positive methods to make sure. How sad to have a country without a government.