In 2007 Kenya held elections, that resulted in a dispute. The election resulted in the current leader retaining power, but winning by only 50,000 votes. Many suspected corruption in the election process and were unhappy with the current government, which resulted in a conflict that lead to violence. Supporters of the opposition part took to the streets with machetes, hammers, anything they could get their hands on and committed acts of violence against supporters of the current president. Men were beat and killed, women gang raped, families were burned while locked in their houses, even those who took refuge in the churches were not spared, as churches were burned as well with the people inside. Many of those affected where middle class citizen, teachers, business owners an d professionals. The violence resulted in 1333 people killed and hundreds of thousands people were displaced. These are the people living in the Internal Displacement Camps (IDP)
The camp we visited originally had 158 families, now 50 are left. They are living in tents provided by the government that were made to use for 6 months. However this has been their home for 5 years and there is no opportunity to change this situation in the near future. The government has helped some people but the families left in the camps are not on the government’s list of post election violence victims, so there is no plan to help them. Several organizations have made pleas to the government on behalf of these people. They promise many things, but do not follow through. The land the camp is on is owned by a local man who is allowing them to stay there, however he has given them notice that they have to leave. He may come at any point and remove them from his property. There is also the danger of flash flood at the camp’s location and in the past all of their belongings have been washed away.
The first person we met upon arrival is Grace. She appears to be around 60 years old and invited us into a home of one of the residents. She explained that she is the chairperson, the leader of the camp. She organizes the camp life, handles donations and takes care of the sick. She appears to be a very competent and respected leader.
Next we went to Ester’s house. Ester is 70 years old. She has 13 children, currently 2 of her grown children are living with her at the camp. She works at the quarry breaking stones into smaller stones. She gets paid1000 ksh when she fills a truck that contains 7 tons of stones. This task takes her a month to complete. When you convert 1000 Ksh to dollars it equals approximately $12. $12 for a month’s worth of back breaking work. It works out to be 40 cents per day.
Finally we stopped at the school. This IDP camp has a two room school house for the children ages 3-6. In the babies class there are 50 children and one teacher. Another teacher handles the middle and top level classes. I estimate about 40 children were in this classroom. Both teachers are residents of the camp. We helped serve lunch, which consisted of a mug of porridge and since we were there today, the children also got 3 biscuit crackers.
People in the camp rely on volunteers and well wishers to help them. I went on an outreach program and paid a fee of $130. Part of this fee went towards food for the people living in the camp. Ugali is ground up corn, we separated into quart size sandwich bags and distributed these to the members of the camp. Grace had it organized and was calling the names of the residents one at a time, so that all members received their fair share according to family size.
After distributing the food, the other volunteers and I passed out the additional supplies we purchased in the grocery store before we came. I purchased soap, candles, matches, toothbrushes, toothpaste and some sweets for the children. I spent a total of 1300 Ksh – about $16. I gave away half my supplies at the IDP Camp, the rest I will use at the garbage slum. This distribution was not so orderly, we were each mobbed by adults and children alike to get much needed supplies. I tried to be fair and pass as much of it as possible to the adults, however everyone was desperately grabbing for anything. I cannot imagine being so desperate for such small necessities. I didn’t grow up with much money, but I always had a roof over my head, light to see, an opportunity to go to school and food to eat. This is not the case in the IDP camp in Kenya. It is especially sad here, since before the 2007 election violence these families had a middle class life. You never know what turns life are going to take. Take the time today to be grateful for what you have and you appreciate your current situation.
If you would like more information about this situation, there is a dvd that explains more about the 2007 election violence called Kenya’s Darkest Hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment