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Friends United
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31 January 2008
Many Friends are inquiring how we are doing at Friends Theological College in Kaimosi. Well, today, even as the country reacted to the killing of the second opposition Member of Parliament, our area remained calm. While some friends reported chaotic conditions in the nearest large shopping-towns of Kisumu and Kakamega, and on the road to Kapsabet, there was also good news. Two more of our students arrived on campus today, so we are almost all here. Two of our staff colleagues actually accomplished some college business in Kakamega, and arrived back on campus safe. Friends will also be glad to hear that when we spoke with John Moru tonight, he reported that he and family are fine.
We start each day with worship at 7:40 a.m. prior to the first classes, and our prayers for peace in Kenya are fervent. So are the joyful songs of praise that start each morning. God has been faithful, and Jody notes that we feel God pushing back the darkness during these times of worship singing.
Wednesday we had a "convocation" for the college at which we reported on the recent conference of Friends church leaders about peace, and this opened a lively discussion. Jody led a portion of the report on the theme of trauma healing and that led to a good time of praying for one another. You know how we have been giving opportunities for students to share their stories. Today, one of the older students told of his return from Nairobi, where he had gone to take his grandson. His story was too complicated to report all the details, but he was traveling by bus in a convoy. They were stopped at many, many places along the road by youth blockades, with bows, arrows, and pangas. At one, they evacuated everyone from the bus (helping people get all their luggage off) and then burned the bus. They had police escorts part of the way, but the youth blockaders particularly threatened the police, and it was terrifying. Somewhere along the way, the scenario at the roadblocks changed: the youth went from checking for Luos to checking for Kikuyus. In the cycle of violence, everyone is threatened, but as our student said, thanks to God, they made it through. Even while giving testimony to God's saving protection along the way, he admitted that he is suffering from some of the symptoms of trauma after this journey. Please pray with us for deep healing for all our students and staff who have had to face frightful experiences.
Ben was able to meet Wednesday morning with the chair of the Board of Governors of the College and the chair of the Board's development committee, who agreed on final instructions for our architect to prepare detailed drawings for the proposed new administration block. So, amazingly, "normal" life continues to be lived. There was a very delightful, but too short, rain Wednesday evening, and then we had a lovely glowing orange sunset. Following that, a red-tailed monkey ran across our yard...
We are so grateful for the prayers and support of Friends everywhere. Please keep praying that God will hold open the doorways to peace in the coming critical days.
Ben and Jody
24 January 2008
Dear Friends,
Since our last newsletter, a lot has happened, so we are writing again to update you and to ask you to redouble your prayers for Friends in Kenya. FTC opened this week (as you will remember, we delayed opening for a week due in hope that the situation would normalize). Today, about half of our students are back on campus.
We last wrote that Kaimosi remained an island of peace. Shortly after sending out that newsletter, clashes began in our area. Houses have been burned just the other side of Cheptulu, our nearby market. Quite a few have been injured with arrow and panga (long, sword-like knives) wounds, and are being treated at the Kaimosi hospital just down our road. Some of the kiosks at the junction were burned the other night. (Those of you who know Alex, will be glad to know that his kiosk is okay.) Two people have been killed in the area: one, the uncle of a recent graduate. One of our groundsmen is "sleeping out" meaning that he and his wife are sleeping in the forest because homes near their home have been burned. Other staff members are caring for relatives who have had to leave their homes.
We should reassure you that the college and the mission compound in general have remained safe. Last night, according to reports, things were calm in our area. Perhaps, this is a good reaction to the Kofi Annan mediation efforts, and the response of the opposition leadership which called off plans for mass demonstrations today.
Tuesday was scheduled to be our first day of classes. Instead, the faculty decided to cancel classes and devote the day to sharing our stories and praying for one another and the general situation. Those students who had been able to travel to the college, together with faculty and staff, gathered in the Dining Hall, and for three hours recounted the impact of the clashes in personal stories. Some had experienced terrifying moments at roadblocks. Others told of neighbor's houses burned, or people killed. Several pastors recounted how they had given refuge to members of targeted tribes. Others recounted how family members had had to flee from their homes in the face of threats. One mentioned that gunshots in his vicinity became so common that they almost began to seem normal. Others reported that calm prevailed in their areas, but all were affected by seeing "a Kenya they had never seen before in their lives."
Jody led that session, with Pamela Igesa, the College chaplain. Ben preached from Luke 4 and Isaiah 61 about the healing power of the spirit and contrasted the heresy of a "gospel" that pretends God's love is only for "our community" with Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom of God that embraces all communities. One member of our staff shared an incident of this lived out, when a vehicle carrying refugees from violence-torn areas came through his village in the first few days after troubles began. He was amazed and touched to witness a number of market vendors gave food to them freely, never asking for any money. We'll remember the image of street vendors tossing avocados into a truck full of their hungry "enemies"!
Ben preached again the next morning, at our regular daily worship, carrying forward the story in the Gospel of Luke to the sermon on the plain in chapter 6. He drew on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1957 sermon on loving your enemies, in which he said, "So this morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you, 'I love you. I would rather die than hate you.'" Later in the day, we held a convocation at which Mary Lord, a Friend from Baltimore Yearly Meeting with vast experience in peacemaking work, spoke. She rooted the Friends' peace testimony in our experience of the power and love of God, and Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. She then recounted stories to illustrate many ways in which Quakers have lived out the peace witness to demonstrate what a vast toolbox is available to peacemakers. In the question and answer period, one of the teachers asked Mary to talk about the biggest obstacles she has faced and overcome. Mary responded from her own experience the need to forgive violence she experienced as a child; and then told about how God had, unknown to her, used a conference she had organized in the 1980s about the effects of nuclear weapons, to impact Ronald Reagan and start the beginning of Reagan's pulling back from nuclear brinksmanship. Today, Mary spoke to Jody's class on Peace and Conflict Transformation about the cycle of violence. Students and faculty have been deeply engaged.
In Quaker Theology, we have modified the syllabus to begin from an experiential basis to ask what theological questions rise out of our experience. Ben and Jody have invited the students to think over the last weeks and ask what mental images come to mind, and then share why they are important. Some of the images: "people being slashed in nearby homestead; young kids, displaced from their homes in Eldoret walking by my place to find refuge; people burning down houses and looting; members of parliament on TV pouring out their anger, seeking power; a young child in the hospital with an arrow sticking in him; a member of the church, home from Mombasa, asking for prayer because he was being sacked from his work in a hotel, and facing an unknown future; women being fallen on by soldiers, and young men and even old men ("wazee") and being raped." One image was of "a man being slaughtered, the way one would slaughter a hen."
Even if the Annan peace efforts succeed today, and peace returns to the land, and all the hundreds of thousands of displaced were able to go back to their homes (many of which are, of course, burned), there would still be a tremendous need for trauma healing. There is fear, distrust, and deep uncertainty because people who seemed to be friends so easily became enemies. What theological questions does all this raise?
This is a testing time for the church in Kenya. Will we be able to be bearers of Good News that is deep enough to bring healing and hope to those who have been traumatized, and reconciliation to those who have experienced the reality of enmity? Will you pray for a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
In the midst of these extraordinary circumstances, normal life also continues. We are making progress on the design of a new administration building, and wrapping up final details on the new Meetinghouse. To continue to pursue "normalcy" is a part of living the Kingdom of God in these times-proclaiming hope that God plans for a good future for Kenya.
Thank you for your prayers, and support.
Jody and Ben Richmond
18 January 2008
Dear Friends and Family,
We praise God that the area for about 15 kilometers around Kaimosi - where we are located - has remained an island of calm in the midst of all the chaos that has resulted from Kenya's election vote counting debacle. Some other communities have even complained that this community has failed to participate in the upheavals, and wonder why. Nevertheless, what is happening throughout Kenya cannot help but also affect us. Food is scarce, and what there is has increased in price, often to double what it was prior to the election! Other things, such as fuel and cell phone airtime, remain scarce and higher in price, as well.
Of the staff and students we have been able to reach since these troubles began, all have reported that they remain alive and well. However, a number of them have spoken of difficulty getting food, and some have reported very close family members who have had their homes burned or broken into with everything removed. Family members had to flee for their lives. These are parents, and brothers and sisters of our friends, so you can imagine that everyone is feeling a great deal of stress.
Several students have reported to us that the fund-raising they had planned for their college fees has been impossible due to the turmoil. For instance, one student had been depending on a generous contribution from his aunt, but a couple of weeks ago she had to flee from her home and is now having to start life over as an internally displaced person. Even if things stabilize soon, the impact of the last few weeks is going to be very difficult for everyone, including on the financial life of Friends Theological College. FUM has announced an emergency appeal that will help all its Kenya-based projects: go to www.fum.org and see the January 8 "Update" under Kenya.
It is a very sad thing to witness a people's hope and trust in democracy being destroyed. (Read the pastoral letter from the Friends Church in Kenya, also on the FUM website.)
We have not written sooner as we have been watching and waiting to see if the situation here would become more stabilized in time for our students to return on Monday 21 January. We already postponed the opening of this semester by a week, in the hope that the situation would have truly calmed down with the extra week of delay. Instead, mass actions and harsh police response this Wednesday - Friday has kept the country paralyzed, with major travel routes throughout the Western Province sealed off. Matatus have stopped running; even travelers in private vehicles have been unable to get through.
On the other hand, today (Friday) Ben was able to drive with some staff by back roads to deliver a package to a delivery company, and had no problems. Early next week, we hope that the immediate situation will have become calm, and our students will have been able to travel and get to class.
Thanks for all your prayers and support! We are doing okay but depend on your prayers.
Jody and Ben