Global Mind: Friends in Kenya (2)

Thanks to Luke Miedema for the following:

"Most of you are probably aware of the tribal conflict, violence, and political instability that has consumed Kenya in the past month and a half. My guess, however, is that fewer of you are familiar with the partnerships The Crossing has with a number of ministries working and living in this East African country.

Instead of explaining the details of the conflict here, I want to use this space to inform you of the direct affect the violence and instability has had on just a couple of our partner ministries in Kenya. (There are many good summaries of the overall situation elsewhere. See the links at the bottom of the page.)

One ministry we have been supporting for more than two years is the Pamoja Hope Orphanage in Ijogi, Kenya. Paul and Martha began inviting 40-50 orphans from their community into their home offering them one solid meal a day (which they paid for out of their own pocket). The majority of the kids suffer from AIDS passed on from their moms in childbirth. Martha currently houses 55 kids in the orphanage building The Crossing funded, runs a pre-school out of the building for more than 100 kids, provides tuition for some older kids to attend primary and secondary school, and takes any sick ones to the hospital for medicine and care.

I received this email from Martha just a few days after the violence began in the country:

“Thanks for your prayers, we really needed that. Yes, there was some bit of rioting in our area especially targeted to us because we don’t come from Meru. About 30 youths came at around midnight and started shouting and throwing stones towards the dormitory. They destroyed five windows and the children got really scared.

At around 3am, I gathered courage and I went to talk to them. God gave me favor, they stopped shouting and we even prepared them some coffee. That’s the worse it got.
Everything is now back in order and I know that Kenyans are peace loving people and its my honest prayer that something like this may never happen again."


New York Times - Kenya 1
New York Times - Kenya 2
BBC - "600,000 Displaced in Kenya"
Reuters - "Election Disputed"