Internally displaced people queue up for food aid at the Jamhuri grounds, Nairobi.
(Photo: © Julius Mwelu/IRIN)
As post-election violence in Kenya descends into a spiral of revenge killings, some church groups are aiming to take the lead in reconciliation.
Two weeks ago, CMS mission partner Colin Smith reported a reconciliation service in a Nairobi slum and now CMS Africa is set to pilot a listening and reconciliation process that it hopes will be a model for churches across the country.
Dennis Tongoi, CMS Africa director, on a brief visit to the UK this week, said, “We are bringing multi-ethnic groups together, debriefing with them and asking, ‘What does reconciliation look like?’”
There is already a working group, hosted at the CMS Nairobi office, looking at how churches can help people restart businesses ruined in the rioting.
Related stories
News
Ugandans aid Kenyan refugees
CMS Africa update - 16 Jan 08
Text rescue in Kenya
From our correspondents
Grief, anger and injustice
Election at first hand
Comment
Forgotten youth demand a voice
But the task of reconciliation will be even harder. While President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have been pictured shaking hands, everyone knows this is only a tentative first step on the path to a solution.
Meanwhile, reports of killings continue to come in, with an estimated 800 people having lost their lives since the elections
Dennis is insistent there is some good news among the bad. “In Kisumu, people were driven out of their homes but sent food back to their attackers. There are these examples of Christlike action going on.
“Churches are reaching out across the ethnic divide and ministering, but that doesn’t reach the press.”
However, CMS and other partners in the newly constituted National Alliance of Churches, which came together through the relief effort, are under no illusion about the size of the task.
Colin Smith, who works in Kibera, was hit by the loss of a whole section of the community as he walked its streets.
“There are no remaining butchers shops or stalls, almost no vegetable stalls, the flour mill is silent, and prices have doubled or tripled as those who were the suppliers or traders in the community have been forced to flee.
“Some of their shops have become homes.
“Those who ran small businesses at the road side had their stalls burnt for fire wood. It was heartbreaking to see a once thriving vibrant community become so subdued.
“It is also difficult to see how the rebuilding and reconstruction of lives and communities can take place when so many have been displaced.”
Dennis Tongoi believes reconciliation and the rebuilding of trust needs to precede resettlement. He also believes that this is the church’s role.
“This is what the church is meant to be – a light in the darkness. It is time for the church in Kenya to really be the church of Christ in this situation.”
You can use the link below to give towards the vital contribution that Dennis and the CMS Africa team are making.
|
|
Please give what you can, writing “KENYA CRISIS” in the box when asked for a specific cause.
DONATE >>
|