How do you define “back to normal” in Kenya?
Are the many displaced people also going “back to normal”? And if yes, where to?
Ee, ndio wajibu wetu
Kenya istahili heshima
Yeah, right.
How do you define “back to normal” in Kenya?
Are the many displaced people also going “back to normal”? And if yes, where to?
Ee, ndio wajibu wetu
Kenya istahili heshima
Yeah, right.
Here’s a message of a displaced person (see my comment under “ach…”) she sent out today:
Dear Friends,
Only today I read your kind messages. I wish to thank
each one of you for the messages of good will that you
sent to me in person and to Kenyans in general. I have
no words with which to thank you. All of you offered
me a home and/or anything else that I needed that they
could offer. The hope I have got from each one of you
in your expression of love in different words is
extremely touching. Thank You, Thank You, Thank you. I
am safe with family. We have been holed up in my
mothers house until today when I managed to get to
some cyber cafe. We plan to return to Eldoret any time
now.
My only comment on the Kenyan situation is that what
we need is justice and peace. The way to peace is
justice but violence is not the way to justice. Why,
because there are no competitive efforts to justice.
This is to say that no person or group of people get
justice by denying another person or another group of
it. Justice for one is only justice if it
is for all. Kenya has a complex history and out of
this we can come up with different opinions depending
on where we are standing. But as people of good will
we must recognise that in situations of violence all
become losers as there are no winners – More so the
poor. Majority of those who have died, hurt or
property destroyed with the violence are poor, more so
women and children. The rich and the powerful from
whichever side who are often the real source of
violence are often safe as they can use their
resources and power to keep themselves and theirs
safe. Even where a little of their property is
destroyed, they do not feel it as they have more
elsewhere and sooner than alter they will step on us
ordinary and poor citizens to get more. My opinion
which could be wrong is that we have a situation where
the old generation of rich and powerful Kenyans is
seeking to retain power while a new generation is
seeking to get it from them. The poor and powerless
are simply like the grass that suffers when two bulls
fight. I do not see tribalism in it at all. The rich
and powerful are in all ethnic communities and so are
the poor. Unfortunately the powerful use the poor in
the name of tribe to cause violence. How have the poor
powerless ordinary Kenya families benefited since
independence? And every time the powerful are jostling
for power these families suffer most. I have a
testimony that tribalism is fake because my help in
this very difficult season has come from people
outside my ethnic community! Kenyans must embrace one
another and support each other against exploitation
even in the name of democracy! The major problem we
have in Kenya is of many unemployed disillusioned
youth from all communities. These are the ones that
are used by politicians from either side to cause
violence. These are the Mungiki among the Kikuyu
operating especially in Nairobi. Other communities
have them by different names even where we are not
aware of this. The people who were burning houses and
killing in Eldoret (I will talk of what I saw) were
not Luo or Kalenjin! They were disillusioned youths
either self driven or motivated by some politicians. I
repeat that much of the help I got to safety was from
people outside my tribe. How to empower Kenya youth
from a state of hopelessness and helplessness is the
key to peace in Kenya if you ask me. This is what all
Kenyans should focus on and pursue without violence.
Quote from Kenya Image:
http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=985&Itemid=141
“”Let Raila and Kibaki fight! They are the presidents;
we are just people!”
“Those, The New York Times reports, are the words of a
Luo man interviewed during a march for peace in a
Nairobi slum, a march attended by both Kikuyus and
Luos. And that really is the message we should be
sending to the young men and women killing each other
across the country – not the baseless, emotion-charged
arguments we continue to see on internet forums.”
At these moment I wish to call on all of you my dear
friends to thank and praise God for stopping the
violence and to beseech him to let peace prevail to
His glory. Meanwhile may our leaders from both sides
be guided by God to take responsibility and pursue
justice and peace fro ALL Kenyans. Justice for one
person or one group only is not real and will not be
justice. We need real justice which is justice fro
ALL. SO HELP US GOD.
I will get back to you individually in due course.
Thank YOU.
Eunice
Prof. Eunice Karanja Kamaara
Moi University
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
P.O. Box 3900 – 30100
ELDORET
Kenya
…..Pamoja kazini
Kila siku tuwe na shukrani.
Oh dear. Don’t those words seem very inappropriate right now?