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Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:41:03 +0300
From: Lisa Stewart <beachplumlisa@bellsouth.net>
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Dear All,
>  
> I hope you are interested in finding out what happened to the listening
> sessions in the local receiving communities that  the Friends Church
> Peace Team (FCPT) counselors have been doing for the last two weeks. To
> remind you, for seven week days the FCPT counselors were going to seven
> different locations (local communities) with the Nandi (a Kalinjin group)
> on the Uasin Gishu (Rift Valley province) side of the main road. Then we
> were going to do one listening session and an ecumenical service the next
> day on the Lugari side of the main road.
>  
> How did these go? The visits varied. One was cancelled because the
> President was visiting Eldoret and it was inappropriate to have a meeting
> with him so close by. Another one succeeded past our expectations. Mili
> Nne (Four Miles--meaning it is four miles from Eldoret) was extremely
> successful. The people were willing to receive the internally displaced
> people (IDP) who were at the Eldoret showground. The team there escorted
> the local District Officer and Chief to the IDP camp to talk to the
> people there about returning--this is the first time since January that
> these officials had gone to the IDP camp in Eldoret to visit the IDP's
> who came from their community.
>  
> At the two worst--Kipkarren River and Sugoi--, the people said that if
> the Kikuyu returned they would kill them. But the Sugoi people had an
> interesting story. Sugoi is the home town of William Ruto, the leader of
> the Kalinjins in Parliament, and one of the main members of the ODM
> opposition. His house was about half a mile from where the meeting was
> held. One older woman got up and said that on December 30 when the
> violence escalated, two of her sons armed themselves to go out and hunt
> the local Kikuyu (kill them?). She barred the door and crying told them
> not to do this. She called some elders and together they decided to
> rescue and hide the 15 Kikuyu in their community. This they did for three
> nights moving them from place to place. Then they became afraid that they
> would be discovered and so the escorted the Kikuyu to the IDP camp at the
> Turbo police station. They said that they had helped out the Kikuyu, but
> if they returned, this time they would kill them! My thought: everything
> is a shade of grey.
>  
> Yet in Sugoi and also at another place called Kapsabey, the people asked
> FCPT to come and hold peace seminars! At Kapsabey the people said that no
> other church had done anything like what the Friends were doing, asked
> them to build a church in the community, and offered two acres of land
> for the church! The team members said that they would tell the church
> leaders (Lugari Yearly Meeting) and they would have to come another time
> to discuss the idea of building a church there.
>  
> Even at Kipkarren River in the end the people decided to form a committee
> of ten elders (men), ten women, and ten youth to discuss on these
> matters. They met without FCPT for the first time last Thursday, but at
> present no one has a report of what happened.
>  
> At a place called Jua Kali ("Hot Sun" for a place were workers
> manufacture things in small scale enterprises), the people asked for a
> joint meeting with the IDP's. So this was arranged for the following
> Thursday. Unfortunately this did not go very well. The local people gave
> all their complaints to the Kikuyu, but when the Kikuyu spokesman began
> to respond, the crowd began to leave, interrupted him, and shouted him
> down. The next day I talked to George Njoroge, the Turbo IDP camp leader
> who had been the speaker, and he was very upset, indicating that
> reconciliation and return was a long way off.
>  
> The other three listening sessions were in between. In all of them there
> was a lot of hostile talk. But on the other hand in every case even the
> most bitter were pleased that someone (Friends Church Peace Teams) had
> come to listen to them. There were a few negative comments--at one
> meeting someone (the son of a Quaker) said that the FCPT was bad because
> we were being sent by the Government to trick the people into receiving
> the Kikuyus back. At Kipkarren River I understand there was a sign which
> said, "Peace Team don't come back." In another case we were challenged
> why we didn't bring any Kikuyu with us.
>  
> On the Lugari side of the border (where most people, like the Friends,
> are Luhya), the meeting was also quite hostile. The listening session was
> at a place called Mbagara, the most hard hit interior part of Lugari
> District. In this case I understand 5 Kikuyu were killed by the community
> and at least 9 youth from the community were killed by the police. The
> people attacked the Kikuyu and carried off their maize (corn). A few days
> later some of the Kikuyu returned with the police, pointed out where they
> suspected their stolen maize to be hidden, and the police then
> confiscated all the maize--stolen or otherwise--so that now the people in
> the area are short of food.
>  
> The hostility from all of this was clearly expressed in the listening
> session and most people did not want to welcome the return of the IDP's.
> This was attended by 13 members of FCPT including Gladys and myself and
> perhaps 40 leaders of the community including many pastors. Most of the
> speakers were not the pastors. The most sensible representation was from
> the youth leader of an organization (I think promoted by Florence
> Machayo, a leading Quaker politician in Lugari District) called "Youth
> Forum for Peace and Justice." Among other things, he said, it was the
> older men unable to carry the bags of maize that gave money and alcohol
> to the youth to steal the maize for them and carry it to their
> storerooms. Therefore the youth should not be blamed.  The ecumenical
> service the next day was attended by many more people. It really didn't
> end up being much of a "service," but rather another listening session.
>  
> Here are some of the kinds of comments heard at various of the listening
> sessions. Remember you are "listening" and not judging.
>  
> 1. "Good" Kikuyu will be allowed to return, but the bad ones can't. "We
> will tell the District Office which are the bad ones who can't return."
>  
> 2. The Kikuyu can't return because we have their cooking pot and if they
> return they will ask for it back. Another said that he had taken the
> door, windows, and iron sheets (roofing) from a Kikuyu house and if they
> returned, "They will point at my door and want it back."
>  
> 3. Kikuyu have long tongues and they should cut their tongues to be
> short. ("Long tongue" means that they talk rudely to others).
>  
> 4. One quoted a passage from Acts (sorry, but I can't remember the
> chapter and verse) which indicates that this land is ours and others
> should not come into our land. There were other examples where
> participants quoted passages in the Bible to justify their expulsion of
> the Kikuyu. For example, the Jews were 400 years in Egypt before they
> left so the Kikuyu have only been around for 40 years before they left.
>  
> 5. Kikuyu who had title deeds to land would be allowed to return but the
> "squatters" (those who have no land and therefore have to do petty
> trading or work as day labors for others to earn income) would not be
> allowed back. Note that this contradicts the concept that the Kikuyu are
> all rich from being good businessmen.
>  
> 6. I heard one man describe how three of his nephews had been beaten or
> killed by the Kikuyu in Naivasha and Nakuru. When families are as big as
> they are in Kenya--particularly in the days before 1980 when Kenya had
> one of the highest birth rates in the world--, everyone has hundreds of
> close relatives (siblings, parents, cousins, etc) and thousands of
> distant relatives (2nd, 3rd, and 4th cousins which in Africa are still
> all considered "cousins"). Therefore when one person is displaced,
> beaten, or killed, thousands of relatives know this story and take it
> personally.
>  
> 7. Many complained that the Government gave aid to the displaced people
> but not to the local people who were also affected by the violence.
>  
> Yesterday we had a debriefing session at Friends Peace Centre-Lubao.
> After we covered the material above (and much more), we assessed how we
> did. Here is what we said:
>  
> 1. We succeeded because in every case people were willing to talk to us
> even if they were somewhat cautious at the beginning. We went out to
> listen and that is what we did.
>  
> 2. While we had hoped that this would lead to acceptance of the returning
> community, this was not the goal of the listening session. The fact that
> in one case the receiving community was willing to bring back the
> returnees was an extra success.
>  
> 3. Even those who were most bitter and said that they would not accept
> (or even kill) the Kikuyu if they returned, our listening was not in vain
> since they were expressing their feelings and this in itself is a step
> towards healing and reconciliation.
>  
> 4. As I noted above, the Friends Church and its FCPT was received with
> gratitude even in the cases that we felt were most negative.
>  
> 5. The requests for a meeting with the IDP's at Jua Kali, the two
> communities who requested peace seminars, the committee formed in
> Kipkarren River, and the escorting of the local government officials in
> Mili Nne to the IDP's in Eldoret were all resounding successes.
>  
> Is the task finished? Obviously not, as it really is only beginning.
>  
> In the way forward, the Friends Church Peace Teams counseling committee
> has decided on the following activities: (1) we will write a report (as
> requested at many of the sites where we listened) of what we learned for
> the Government, NGO's and others, (2) develop the peace seminars for the
> two communities that asked for them, (3) be ready to accompany the
> returnees if and when they have to return to their communities--whether
> this return is voluntary or forced by the government, (4), prepare the
> Kikuyu for dialogue with the receiving communities, (5) conduct another
> Bible session in the Turbo IDP camp for children, youth, and adults, (6)
> do AVP with the youth at Mbagara, (7) develop sport activities for the
> youth in the various communities, (8) with the help of the local
> government officials, promote dialogue between the two communities, and
> (9) easiest of all, buy a portable bullhorn! On June 9 and 10 we will
> have another training session at Lubao focusing on how we can skillfully
> implement these activities.
>  
> Please keep the Friends Church Peace Team, the returning community, and
> the receiving community in your thoughts and prayers.
>  
> Peace,
> Dave
>  
> David Zarembka, Coordinator
> African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams
> P. O. Box 189, Kipkarren River 50241 Kenya  254 (0)726 590 783
> 1001 Park Avenue, St Louis, MO 63104 USA 314/647-1287
>
>


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Dear All,<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:md5:FFFFFFF11FFFFFFFE86AFFFFFFF33EFFFFFFD9FFFFFF"
 type="cite">&nbsp;<br>
I hope you are interested in finding out what happened to the
listening<br>
sessions in the local receiving communities that&nbsp; the Friends
Church<br>
Peace Team (FCPT) counselors have been doing for the last two weeks.
To<br>
remind you, for seven week days the FCPT counselors were going to
seven<br>
different locations (local communities) with the Nandi (a Kalinjin
group)<br>
on the Uasin Gishu (Rift Valley province) side of the main road. Then
we<br>
were going to do one listening session and an ecumenical service the
next<br>
day on the Lugari side of the main road.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
How did these go? The visits varied. One was cancelled because the<br>
President was visiting Eldoret and it was inappropriate to have a
meeting<br>
with him so close by. Another one succeeded past our expectations.
Mili<br>
Nne (Four Miles--meaning it is four miles from Eldoret) was
extremely<br>
successful. The people were willing to receive the internally
displaced<br>
people (IDP) who were at the Eldoret showground. The team there
escorted<br>
the local District Officer and Chief to the IDP camp to talk to the<br>
people there about returning--this is the first time since January
that<br>
these officials had gone to the IDP camp in Eldoret to visit the
IDP's<br>
who came from their community.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
At the two worst--Kipkarren River and Sugoi--, the people said that
if<br>
the Kikuyu returned they would kill them. But the Sugoi people had
an<br>
interesting story. Sugoi is the home town of William Ruto, the leader
of<br>
the Kalinjins in Parliament, and one of the main members of the ODM<br>
opposition. His house was about half a mile from where the meeting
was<br>
held. One older woman got up and said that on December 30 when the<br>
violence escalated, two of her sons armed themselves to go out and
hunt<br>
the local Kikuyu (kill them?). She barred the door and crying told
them<br>
not to do this. She called some elders and together they decided to<br>
rescue and hide the 15 Kikuyu in their community. This they did for
three<br>
nights moving them from place to place. Then they became afraid that
they<br>
would be discovered and so the escorted the Kikuyu to the IDP camp at
the<br>
Turbo police station. They said that they had helped out the Kikuyu,
but<br>
if they returned, this time they would kill them! My thought:
everything<br>
is a shade of grey.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Yet in Sugoi and also at another place called Kapsabey, the people
asked<br>
FCPT to come and hold peace seminars! At Kapsabey the people said that
no<br>
other church had done anything like what the Friends were doing,
asked<br>
them to build a church in the community, and offered two acres of
land<br>
for the church! The team members said that they would tell the
church<br>
leaders (Lugari Yearly Meeting) and they would have to come another
time<br>
to discuss the idea of building a church there.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Even at Kipkarren River in the end the people decided to form a
committee<br>
of ten elders (men), ten women, and ten youth to discuss on these<br>
matters. They met without FCPT for the first time last Thursday, but
at<br>
present no one has a report of what happened.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
At a place called Jua Kali ("Hot Sun" for a place were
workers<br>
manufacture things in small scale enterprises), the people asked for
a<br>
joint meeting with the IDP's. So this was arranged for the following<br>
Thursday. Unfortunately this did not go very well. The local people
gave<br>
all their complaints to the Kikuyu, but when the Kikuyu spokesman
began<br>
to respond, the crowd began to leave, interrupted him, and shouted
him<br>
down. The next day I talked to George Njoroge, the Turbo IDP camp
leader<br>
who had been the speaker, and he was very upset, indicating that<br>
reconciliation and return was a long way off.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
The other three listening sessions were in between. In all of them
there<br>
was a lot of hostile talk. But on the other hand in every case even
the<br>
most bitter were pleased that someone (Friends Church Peace Teams)
had<br>
come to listen to them. There were a few negative comments--at one<br>
meeting someone (the son of a Quaker) said that the FCPT was bad
because<br>
we were being sent by the Government to trick the people into
receiving<br>
the Kikuyus back. At Kipkarren River I understand there was a sign
which<br>
said, "Peace Team don't come back." In another case we were
challenged<br>
why we didn't bring any Kikuyu with us.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
On the Lugari side of the border (where most people, like the
Friends,<br>
are Luhya), the meeting was also quite hostile. The listening session
was<br>
at a place called Mbagara, the most hard hit interior part of Lugari<br>
District. In this case I understand 5 Kikuyu were killed by the
community<br>
and at least 9 youth from the community were killed by the police.
The<br>
people attacked the Kikuyu and carried off their maize (corn). A few
days<br>
later some of the Kikuyu returned with the police, pointed out where
they<br>
suspected their stolen maize to be hidden, and the police then<br>
confiscated all the maize--stolen or otherwise--so that now the people
in<br>
the area are short of food. <br>
&nbsp;<br>
The hostility from all of this was clearly expressed in the
listening<br>
session and most people did not want to welcome the return of the
IDP's.<br>
This was attended by 13 members of FCPT including Gladys and myself
and<br>
perhaps 40 leaders of the community including many pastors. Most of
the<br>
speakers were not the pastors. The most sensible representation was
from<br>
the youth leader of an organization (I think promoted by Florence<br>
Machayo, a leading Quaker politician in Lugari District) called
"Youth<br>
Forum for Peace and Justice." Among other things, he said, it was
the<br>
older men unable to carry the bags of maize that gave money and
alcohol<br>
to the youth to steal the maize for them and carry it to their<br>
storerooms. Therefore the youth should not be blamed.&nbsp; The
ecumenical<br>
service the next day was attended by many more people. It really
didn't<br>
end up being much of a "service," but rather another listening
session.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Here are some of the kinds of comments heard at various of the
listening<br>
sessions. Remember you are "listening" and not judging.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
1. "Good" Kikuyu will be allowed to return, but the bad ones
can't. "We<br>
will tell the District Office which are the bad ones who can't
return."<br>
&nbsp;<br>
2. The Kikuyu can't return because we have their cooking pot and if
they<br>
return they will ask for it back. Another said that he had taken the<br>
door, windows, and iron sheets (roofing) from a Kikuyu house and if
they<br>
returned, "They will point at my door and want it back."<br>
&nbsp;<br>
3. Kikuyu have long tongues and they should cut their tongues to be<br>
short. ("Long tongue" means that they talk rudely to
others).<br>
&nbsp;<br>
4. One quoted a passage from Acts (sorry, but I can't remember the<br>
chapter and verse) which indicates that this land is ours and others<br>
should not come into our land. There were other examples where<br>
participants quoted passages in the Bible to justify their expulsion
of<br>
the Kikuyu. For example, the Jews were 400 years in Egypt before
they<br>
left so the Kikuyu have only been around for 40 years before they
left.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
5. Kikuyu who had title deeds to land would be allowed to return but
the<br>
"squatters" (those who have no land and therefore have to do
petty<br>
trading or work as day labors for others to earn income) would not
be<br>
allowed back. Note that this contradicts the concept that the Kikuyu
are<br>
all rich from being good businessmen.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
6. I heard one man describe how three of his nephews had been beaten
or<br>
killed by the Kikuyu in Naivasha and Nakuru. When families are as big
as<br>
they are in Kenya--particularly in the days before 1980 when Kenya
had<br>
one of the highest birth rates in the world--, everyone has hundreds
of<br>
close relatives (siblings, parents, cousins, etc) and thousands of<br>
distant relatives (2nd, 3rd, and 4th cousins which in Africa are
still<br>
all considered "cousins"). Therefore when one person is
displaced,<br>
beaten, or killed, thousands of relatives know this story and take
it<br>
personally.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
7. Many complained that the Government gave aid to the displaced
people<br>
but not to the local people who were also affected by the violence.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Yesterday we had a debriefing session at Friends Peace Centre-Lubao.<br>
After we covered the material above (and much more), we assessed how
we<br>
did. Here is what we said:<br>
&nbsp;<br>
1. We succeeded because in every case people were willing to talk to
us<br>
even if they were somewhat cautious at the beginning. We went out to<br>
listen and that is what we did.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
2. While we had hoped that this would lead to acceptance of the
returning<br>
community, this was not the goal of the listening session. The fact
that<br>
in one case the receiving community was willing to bring back the<br>
returnees was an extra success.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
3. Even those who were most bitter and said that they would not
accept<br>
(or even kill) the Kikuyu if they returned, our listening was not in
vain<br>
since they were expressing their feelings and this in itself is a
step<br>
towards healing and reconciliation.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
4. As I noted above, the Friends Church and its FCPT was received
with<br>
gratitude even in the cases that we felt were most negative.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
5. The requests for a meeting with the IDP's at Jua Kali, the two<br>
communities who requested peace seminars, the committee formed in<br>
Kipkarren River, and the escorting of the local government officials
in<br>
Mili Nne to the IDP's in Eldoret were all resounding successes.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Is the task finished? Obviously not, as it really is only beginning.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
In the way forward, the Friends Church Peace Teams counseling
committee<br>
has decided on the following activities: (1) we will write a report
(as<br>
requested at many of the sites where we listened) of what we learned
for<br>
the Government, NGO's and others, (2) develop the peace seminars for
the<br>
two communities that asked for them, (3) be ready to accompany the<br>
returnees if and when they have to return to their
communities--whether<br>
this return is voluntary or forced by the government, (4), prepare
the<br>
Kikuyu for dialogue with the receiving communities, (5) conduct
another<br>
Bible session in the Turbo IDP camp for children, youth, and adults,
(6)<br>
do AVP with the youth at Mbagara, (7) develop sport activities for
the<br>
youth in the various communities, (8) with the help of the local<br>
government officials, promote dialogue between the two communities,
and<br>
(9) easiest of all, buy a portable bullhorn! On June 9 and 10 we
will<br>
have another training session at Lubao focusing on how we can
skillfully<br>
implement these activities.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Please keep the Friends Church Peace Team, the returning community,
and<br>
the receiving community in your thoughts and prayers.<br>
&nbsp;<br>
Peace,<br>
Dave<br>
&nbsp;<br>
David Zarembka, Coordinator<br>
African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams<br>
P. O. Box 189, Kipkarren River 50241 Kenya&nbsp; 254 (0)726 590 783<br>
1001 Park Avenue, St Louis, MO 63104 USA 314/647-1287<br>
  <br>
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