ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 30, 2008  

Lutheran Relief Efforts Continue in Kenya Following Election
08-128-LT*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church
(KELC), Nairobi, a companion church of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA), has made efforts to support people
affected by violence since the Dec. 27 presidential election
there.
     George Arende, communications director, KELC, has taken part
in KELC relief efforts.  He said the violence erupted when people
suspected the election was rigged in favor of incumbent candidate
Mwai Kibaki.  People were looting, stealing, burning properties
and killing, Arende said.  "They were agitating for justice.
They were agitating for good governance and just a process that
was transparent and acceptable to them," he said.
     ELCA International Disaster Response sent $10,000 to the
KELC for its initial emergency response in affected communities
in Kenya, according to the ELCA Disaster Response Web site.  It
sent another $15,000 to Church World Service which, together with
Norwegian Church Aid, is helping to facilitate the worldwide
response of Action by Churches Together (ACT).  Arende said the
money "helped (the KELC) to swing into operation."
     The ELCA participates in the work of Church World Service.
ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working
to save lives and support communities in emergency situations
worldwide.  It is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC)
and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva.  The ELCA is a
member of the WCC and LWF.
     The KELC helped to establish three camps for Kenyans
displaced from their homes -- two in the Mathare area and one in
the Kiambiyu area, Arende said.  These impoverished areas were
the focus of the violence in Nairobi, he said.  The KELC
distributed food, mosquito nets and such non-food items as soap
and sanitary towels.  "Our role was to fill in the gaps of other
humanitarian organizations on the ground," Arende said.
     Now that months have passed, Arende said the Kenyan
government is urging people living in the camps to return to
their homes.  But the low supply of food is keeping Kenyans from
returning home.  "The current situation is still volatile, but
it's kind of silent," Arende said.  "The government is on one
side urging people to return to their homes, and these people who
are living in the camps moved from their homes because they lost
some of their brothers and sisters and some of their neighbors
who were hacked to death, their property destroyed, houses razed
down."
     "We have one group saying that justice has to prevail and
the other group insisting that amnesty be given as a process for
peace building," Arende said.  "If they return, the memories will
continue haunting them.  They cannot leave harmoniously, whatever
the case."
     Arende said promises from the government to compensate
people living in camps are causing residents to hold out with the
hope of being paid.  He said the government does not have the
resources for compensation.  "They (the people) are still in the
camps because they perceive that, if they leave the camps, their
stories will be finished, nobody will think about them," Arende
said.  "The government itself is focusing on other priorities and
doesn't have money to give them, so it's a back-and-forth
scenario."
     Bringing relief efforts to these areas was often met with
hostility, according to Arende.  He said volunteers with the Red
Cross were attacked by "marauding youth, who had crude weapons,
such as machetes."
     "They were not allowing police to come in.  They were not
allowing the Red Cross to come in," Arende said, "but I don't
know what happened that they allowed us to come in."
     "For me the risk level is high, but on the other side it's
rewarding when you see the joy in people's eyes.  That's what
keeps me going," Arende said.  "We cannot provide everything, but
dividing the effort and multiplying the effect I think you can
have an impact on people's lives."
-- -- --
     Information about the KELC is at http://www.kelc.or.ke/ on
the Web.
     An audio report on this story is at
http://media.ELCA.org/ramgen/audionews/080730.mp3 on the ELCA Web
site.

*Luke Tatge is a senior journalism major at Augustana College,
Sioux Falls, S.D.  This summer he is an intern with the ELCA News
Service.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
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