Letter from Kitale
This page is regularly updated with news and comments directly from Kitale
Today's Weather in Kitale
31 July 2008
Dear Friends,
At last we can make some meaningful income generation following a generous donation by Kitchen Table Charities Trust. The donation of £5,000 was to purchase another 510 chairs and 4 function tents which are now available for hire. Now we have the tents we have been distributing flyers in the hope of drumming up some business. If successful we will cover the food needs of all our projects while gradually adding to our 1,000 chairs and 4 tents.
Congratulations are due to Eric, our accountant, and his wife who have had their first baby together - a bouncing baby girl who has been named Hazel after a long standing friend of NPYT - Congratulations! Eric is now on a months paternity leave.
Best regards, OL
14 May 2008
Dear Friends,
Today I met with Pete Kent, Project Director with Railway Children who virtually single handily sponsor Birunda Rescue Centre. We met at Euston station as he had traveled from Crew where RC is based. Pete was as concerned as I about the future of Liyavo Childcare Centre, our long stay home. LCC had been funded almost exclusively by Terre des Hommes NL since 1995, in late 2005 TdH made a strategic decision to group the projects they support and have a field office to partner each grouping - unfortunately NPYT was a lone beneficiary in the Kitale area and so was to be dropped at the end of 2007. No one could have predicted the mayhem that has gripped Kenya since December 2007; tribal and political violence brought the country to a standstill and resulted in the death of over 1,000 people and left hundreds of thousands refugees in their own country. The resulting travel warnings and the impossibility of traveling to parts of the country, including Kitale, meant potential partners canceled their planned visits, and, as yet, have not rescheduled. This has and is of great concern to us as we literally do not have sufficient funds for LCC to keep operating - if nothing changes in the next 2 months 80 children will be sent away from the project (their home), 16 children will cease going to secondary school and 14 will prematurely go home from vocational skills training. Please, please, please. If you can contribute or sponsor a child do so today; you will find it a rewarding gesture.
Many thanks and best wishes.
OL
Make a donation or Sponsor a Child
29 February 2008
Dear All.
The situation here is still tense though there has been some significant breakthrough in the political negotiations. Just yesterday afternoon it was announced that an agreement has been reached and Kibaki and Odinga have signed a document sharing power. The exact content of that document we do not yet know, though if the political divisions are overcome that will at least stop the calls for 'Mass Action' which have shed so much blood in recent weeks.
Are things back to normal? No. There are still at least 500,000 people displaced who are not earning, not tilling and not planting. Prices are rising almost daily though that should level off or they may even go down a little when things do get back to normal. The banking and business communities are counting their losses but most are running 100% again. Those who have really lost out are transporters and producers of perishable goods, and of course those displaced.
There is an uneasy calm though, as you know, there is always sporadic fighting breaking out between communities in some hot spots around Kitale. Earlier this week an MPs farm near Endebess (about 20kms away) was raided and over 200 people arrested who were camping there. All were armed with crude weapons apparently preparing for war if mass action was called. What is clear is that if fighting does break out again it will be much bloodier as people and communities have armed themselves and are ready.
All hopes of peace depend on political and personal change. The political agreement being signed and adhered to is important, and then some kind of truth and reconciliation mechanisms must be put into place. Generally people have to put less emphasis on tribe and more on nationality. This will take considerable effort at schools, in the home and at projects, it will take many years. What the government can do immediately is remove tribe from ID cards, Birth Certificates and all other forms and licenses were that appears.
Is there hope? There is always hope though sporadic tribal rumblings are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
NPYT projects are running smoothly the biggest challenges being finding children's families; with hiked fuel and transport costs and some communities still unable to travel to certain areas of the country. We are continuing and have had some success in tracing a couple of children's families - we are working with the Red Cross to establish if the families are in the IDP camps or if any of their neighbours are there and know what happened to them.
Kenya is in a transitional period that could go either way. It is now the people really need help and support. Be it IDPs, people with injuries or the hundreds of children separated from their families or just lost. They have seen, felt and shed so much sorrow, tears and blood that projects like ours are vital in offering children protection, counselling, and some kind of organised methodology in reuniting families and offering love and compassion in the long weeks that takes. Though the crisis has brought some children to the project who would not otherwise ended up there our outreach work to the street continues unabated the crisis has just added a new activity which has necessitated more networking with new agencies.
OL
27th January 2008,
It is now exactly one month since the ill fated presidential elections, Kibaki and Raila have shaken hands though I fear it will take much more than that to stem what seems to be a snow balling of racial hatred. In Kitale things are relatively quiet though the IDP camps are filling up and we have taken 7 children from the streets who have been separated from their families - they have horrific stories to tell. At the moment we are cut off from Nairobi as fighting in Eldoret, Nakuru and Kisumu have cut all road, rail and air links. That said there appears to be a good supply of essentials in town though prices have rocketed.
Kofi Annan has visited some of the clash torn areas, he now also understands that this is no longer a political stalemate but that the violence stems from much deeper rooted and historical divisions brought, once again, to the surface by the current political temperature.
As we try and trace the families of the clash victims the numbers increase and certain areas of the country have become literarily no-go areas unless you are of a certain tribe. Being a mzungu (white man)is no safeguard either as at the end of the day Mzungu is another tribe.
On a sad note; I have just heard that Mercy Ogadia has died in hospital last night. She was 13 years old and had been battling AIDS. Though on RIV treatment she either refused to, or was unable to eat a balanced diet and she literally faded away. RIP.
OL
24 January 2008
On December 27th, 2007 Kenya held general and presidential elections which have since plunged the country into violence and chaos reminiscent of the clashes of 1992. The disputed presidential election results have sparked inter communal violence which has cost at least 600 lives and displaced many hundreds of thousands of people. While the politicians remain largely unscathed and therefore somewhat indifferent the poor of this country are tearing each other apart. The economic knock on effect is also tragic as neighboring countries who used Kenya as their main rout for imports suffer shortages and price increases. Within Kenya land is left untilled, tourists have fled, shortages of basic essentials is pushing inflation to 40% in three weeks and tax collection has plummeted.
As neighbours turn on neighbours and some parts of the country become 'no go' areas for certain Kenyans. The tribalistic divides are becoming deeper and ever more bitter, the leaders are becoming more entrenched. Is there really hope for peace? Mediators are here but no side appears willing to change their position making mediation somewhat futile. Some say "no peace without justice". Is hacking your neighbour to pieces because he or she is from a different tribe, justice? Is burning women and children alive justice? Is shooting unarmed youth justice? No! You should be saying 'there cannot be justice without peace'. Teach your children they are first Kenyans who happen to have a tribal ancestry of no more importance than the colour of your eyes.
PEACE
OL
20 November 2007
This is more a letter from London than from Kitale. I am here in the UK for a visit following the death of my father. It was a simple service at a crematorium in Brighton followed by a reception at a nearby hotel. Though a sad occasion his friends, family and colleagues did their best to make it a celebration as my father had wished. This was a relief and a credit to the many people who obviously had a great love for him. RIP.
What has struck me this visit is how much more violent our society has apparently become. Murders are a daily occurrence as are other violent crimes. One wonders why? What has changed, or is it just that the media revel in it?
What is clear and sad is that the media and politically correct society have trivialised such violent crimes by calling vandalism and mugging 'antisocial behaviour' while murder, if you film it on your mobile phone, is called 'happy slapping'. What is happy about murder!
Wake up England. Please.
OL
1st October, 2007
The benefit concert held at the Residencia hotel in Mallorca, Spain, was not as well attended as we had hoped but was certainly a success. The turnover was 1,250 Euros, which covered all the expenses and then donations totaling 600 Euros to date. This type of event is more for publicity than to actually raise funds - that come in the longer term as coincidental knock on effects take hold and hopefully have some results
All said and done - a success - thank you to all those who participated.
OL
21st June, 2007
Yesterday was World Refugee Day when we reflect on the many millions of people who for diverse reasons cannot stay in their homes. The vast majority of refugees are refugees in their own countries. They are popularly known as Internally Displaced People (IDPs) which, though politically correct, makes them sound less in need than their international counterparts. The fact is 'refugees' can access help and have rights through governments and international organisations such as the UN. IDPs have to rely on local NGOs and local government who were often complicit in them having become IDPs in the first place.
Trans Nzoia District has it's share of IDPs; roughly half of the 700,000 odd population are technically squatters, most having fled their homes due to politically instigated tribal clashes that still rage on today. The official line on these tribopolitcal refugees is that they do not exist, they therefore cannot access help or indeed the basic rights afforded most human beings.
This large number of squatters are mostly unable to afford to send their children to school and often the children have to join the labour market or fend for themselves, which in turn drives them to Kitale town where they join the large number of street children. Street Children are among the most vulnerable group of people on earth.
With little or no adult supervision the children learn from their peers, and the bottom line is survival. For young children they are open to abuse by their peers, especially favours in return for protection. The whole group is open to violence from the local administration, the public in general and rival gangs or groups. Some people despise them, a few pity them but the vast majority ignore them, a few actually understand them.
It is hoped that through NPYT and similar minded organisations, greater awareness and understanding of the street children and their issues can lead to a more sympathetic public that will to allow them their basic human and children's rights, and afford them dignity. In a world where governments either cannot or choose not to provide for their populations and children then the child's right to be a street child must be respected!
Best regards.
OL
6th March, 2007
Great news from Birunda Rescue Centre where we finally have water. For the last five years water has had to be transported 12kms from Kitale town; daily. This was a strain on our poor pickup and staff. A 80m bore well and hand pump now provide ample clean water - later a submersible pump will be installed to fill header tanks for showers and kitchen.
In other news we are keenly awaiting a visit from a group of students from Cornwall, England who will be visiting in April. Pete Gray is the team leader and is a regular visitor and contributor to our children's projects - this year he is providing new bedding for all the children.
Also in the pipeline is a visit from Pete Kent of Railway Children, though his plans still have to be confirmed.
OL.
25 January 2007,
As the World Social Forum meet in Nairobi it is good to hear a lot of positive ideas and views being expressed; especially from Kenya's home grown Nobel laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai. Prof. Maathai is a great source of pride for many Kenyans and her campaigns for green issues have become substantial movements thanks to her popularity. Companies, groups and individuals have taken up her call to respect nature and endeavour to protect and re-establish forests, rivers and lakes in the hope that we are not too late to restore natures balance that is key to maintaining the delicate eco-systems that support life on this planet.
We sincerely hope that people in Africa, and indeed the whole world, take global warming seriously as an issue that we as continents, nations and individuals can make a difference to.
Plant a tree, turn off electrical appliances rather than leaving them on standby, take the bus or cycle - better still walk, re-use where possible where not recycle, do not buy mineral water unless there is no other source of potable water. In other words "use your heads", please! We all have to change
Thanks, from us all.
OL
OL