People receiving food aid in Kibera, Nairobi. (Photo: © IRIN) That man is CMS Africa Director Dennis Tongoi, who is in the thick of local initiatives to help to meet the needs of ordinary Kenyans.
His mobile phone quickly became the co-ordinating centre for the country-wide response of Kenya’s churches.
Dennis arranged for his mobile to be used as a text-messaging centre, advertised as such in the Christian media.
Callers have been able to text in the locations of displaced people, their numbers and their needs.
Crucially, this detailed information has been shared with the Red Cross and the United Nations.
The new ‘National Alliance of Churches’ team has been able to co-ordinate the distribution of food to 20,000 displaced people, some of whom had been in isolation for five days, in Eldoret and Burnt Forest.
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“Several Churches have set up feeding centres to feed vulnerable mothers and children,” says Dennis.
“We are setting up a co-ordination centre for one week – hoping that, by then, the very stretched Government systems will be able to kick in and provide much needed food and medical support.”
The death toll in Kenya since the disputed victory of President Mwai Kibaki in December's election is now put at 600 by senior police officers.
Moreover, some 250,000 people have reportedly fled their homes in violent clashes between rival political supporters, ethnic groups and the police.
The country-wide violence has directly affected daily Kenyan life. Ordinary Kenyans are crying out for relief and a return to civic, communal and political sanity.
Apart from diplomatic efforts by John Kufuor, Chairman of the African Union, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and America's top official for Africa to find answers to the crisis, local actions to help civilians are being pursued vigorously too.
Dennis Tongoi is co-ordinating emergency responses on which several development agencies are collaborating.
This co-ordination has been pursued under the umbrella of a newly constituted "National Alliance of Churches".
Dennis' team has personally ensured that three families who had to flee Kibera, a large slum area on the edge of Nairobi, were safely housed.
One such group had to be dramatically rescued from a contact point outside Kibera, even as "the mobs were charging down the road".
Dennis has asked for the modest sum of £5,000 to ensure the continuity of such vital efforts.
While he has cleared his diary for the next two weeks to lead initial efforts, he is also looking to the longer-term process of rebuilding communities that have been torn apart by violence.
“We are now mobilising trained counsellors to meet with the victims of violence – this would be for the next three months.”
Dennis is also seeking to put together a forum of agencies that will not only help to address the physical rebuilding but also provide education and discipleship training to address emotional and spiritual needs.
Dennis also asks us to "Keep praying that there would be a speedy political solution to this crisis."
CMS, Dennis and his team would appreciate any contribution that you can make to the £5,000 needed for the initial phase of "relief and rescue".
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