Kenya is now struggling to figure out what to do with thousands and thousands and thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs). These are people who fled their homes and areas due to the violence. Many have lost everything – homes, land, personal belongings, fathers, mothers, daughters and sons. Many who have lost their family members know the people who committed these horrific acts. Now they are being told to return home. Where is home? How do you go back to a place where you were violently chased from? How do you return to live near the very people who killed your family members and burned your home? How to you ever feel safe again there? How do you raise your children near people who clearly hate you?
We drove by one of the camps in Naivasha. Because of the tribal tones of the unrest there is actually two camps in this town. One for Kikuyus and those siding with them and one for people whose ancestry is in western Kenya (Luos, Kalenjin…). The one we drove by was for the Kikuyu people and is now home to over 4000 people. There are tents for as far as you can see. As we stopped to take pictures it was impossible to miss the kids standing out front and it made me wonder what’s going on in their heads. Will they grow up with lives shaded by hatred and seek to exact revenge for what their families have suffered or will they seek to be a generation who seeks for peace and intermingling of the tribes?
My friend Evans went with Nairobi chapel to volunteer at an IDP camp. They spent time playing with kids and singing and praying and sharing the gospel. He was so struck by a baby that he met. Not yet one year old this baby has been separated from his parents. Whether they were killed or merely fled the violence in a rush without him seems unclear. Regardless, this small boy’s life will never be the same.
Pastor Steve has spent time in this IDP camp and tells the story of one man who watched his mother, father and three brothers all murdered by people who were previously his neighbors. Now the government is saying it will financially compensate people who were displaced if they return home. He is saying he wants to go back and die but he’s planning to use the money to buy a gun and take the murderers of his family with him. How do you talk someone out of understandable rage? Pastor Steve and other pastors have spent hours talking to this man. Pray that he changes his mind and finds the Lord.
Other IDPs have found their ways to family members in safer areas. One family in Eburru has taken in 27 family members who have lost everything. A church near Nakuru has taken in one IDP who lost his wife and 4 sons. They have gone together to purchase him a plot of land and are working to build him a house to help him start over.
In the media we hear all the horrible stories, so one of the truly great things about being in Kenya with the people who lived through the chaos was learning about how many heros stepped up to do what God has called us to do: to love our neighbor as ourselves. Learn more about that soon!
