Michael and Lisa left for Cambodia today. Cindy Klassen left for Canada last night. We hope they all travel safely. They have been enormously good to work with and MCC is so fortunate to have people like them, working with us. Kim and Byron, John and Adam, Leon and I are now in Najile, where we arrived around 4 pm after having lunch with Waihenya and his family in Kimende. This is a very different part of Kenya from what we cycled through. Dryish... though it is quite green now and the goats and cattle are fat. And there are hundreds of goats, everywhere. At one point we spotted a Giraffe. We stopped, got out, walked towards him, and by the time we were within 200 meters, we could see 7 of them. What beautiful animals. In Ewuaso we had a flat tire. It was fixed by a tire shop that has no walls, in the middle of the town. Basic tools... but he got it down very quickly.
After supper with Joseph, Elizabeth and other members of their extended family, people started to drop by. Apparently sitting around in the evening, visiting, singing .. is quite common. A young man named Daniel came. He is aspiring to national leadership in Youth Programming and has worked recently with the National Truth and Reconcilation Commission, trying to sort of the messy and tragic situations that are the result of the 2007 post election violence. The Kikuyus are the dominant group in the country, and they acquired a lot of land and influence. And when it looked like their President, Ibaki, might have claim a victory in the election that was perhaps won by someone else, all hell broke loose. Over 1500 people killed. 640,000 became IDPs. Internally Displaced People. Many families were split because they were cross-tribal marriages. The children normally "become" the tribe of the father. But the mother would take the children when the marriage splits, usually. So, the children are now living in a community that may think they should not be there... but the mother should. So complicated. And the victims, as so often, are innocent children. People sold land to Kikuyus, and after the election, they tried to claim the land back. So far, only 100,000 have returned to their homes and lands. Very often, there is no home left. It was burned or otherwise destroyed. The Commission meets with anyone who wants to ... trying to help them sort out their lives ... so thay come out of the tragedy that has taken them over since the violence errupted.
We are in Najile for two days and then we hope to travel to the Maasai Mara Park for two nights.
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