Sunday, November 14, 2010

Internally Displaced People in Mau Forest, Kenya

Friends, 

You know my heart is with the Kenyan people. Recently one of my friends was part of an initiative to bring humanitarian relief to the over 4000 Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) who currently live in the Mau Forest. These people have nothing, absolutely nothing and you can see the destitution and hardship written all over their faces. 

Please, I ask you to read this report with a prayerful heart as to what you can possibly do to help them, especially as we near this season of Christmas. God bless you.  Now here is the post from my friend. You can also read it directly on his blog here.  You can also read more about the conditions of the IDPs here.  The situation is dire as the people have been evicted from the forest but they have no where to go.
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We still have many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kenya. I am just hoping this will be a thing of the past soon, but the challenges are still there for all to see.

It is foggy as we head into the Mau Forest IDP camp.
 I guess we need a marshal plan to end this kind of disaster.

Team leaders gather and speak to the people.

There are over 4000 people in this camp. They need a permanent solution soonest. Please pray for them.
Every face in this next series of photos tells a story of the hardships these people face.
Look how frightened and uncertain this young girl looks. Young children should be free from hunger, homelessness, illness and uncertainty. You can be a part of putting a smile back on this young girl's face by helping to ensure she gets all of these necessities of life.
This man has lived a long life. He should now be enjoying his later years with dignity and certainty of food and housing.  Just think about how he feels about now being landless and unable to work and provide for himself and his loved ones.
In this entire crowd of mostly women you can see the hardships of life etched on every face.  Some of these women are young and some are old but they are all living a very hard life with few people to care about what happens to them.
Hardship is written on his countenance.

Continue to support us as we meet the needs of these dear ones as we did this week. We had a lot of contributions from the doctors and VCT counsellors who helped us in providing medical services and testing the folks here.

Hospital help with doctors and medicines was a huge part of the day's help for the IDPs.
Some medical supplies.

Food relief.
Medical help.
IDP patients in the medical tent.
People line up for medicine.

What a challenge it was! Especially driving on the roads. But we did really love this great work of service to help the Mau IDPs. 

The roads are really difficult to traverse. There is thick mud everywhere. You need a really good four wheel drive.
Me with the IDP camp and humanitarian relief effort in background. It was touching to help these people. Will you join with us?  I hope to hear from you.

Enjoy the pics.
God bless,

13 comments:

OtienoHongo said...

Re your question on my blog the other day: Hey Joyful, I have heard of Mwelu foundation, worked with some of their members and seen their work. They are a good organization and work with young people and photography in mathare. I have not heard anything about moving pple out of the slums, especially mathare, if there were such plans I'd have heard about it! my address is otienohongo@gmail should you want to talk about this further.

Joyful said...

Thank you Otieno. I think I had made a mistake about closure of the Mathare slum. I did hear about some relocation of people out of Kibera however. I just today agreed to sponsor a little boy out of Mathare and I wanted to know what might happen to him in future. I will be sure to keep your email address. Thank you!

My Castle in Spain said...

I too want to be optimistic and be able to say that one day, poverty and misery will be a thing of the past. So i greatly admire the work done by your friends organization. But tell me, will you go there this year or perhaps later ?
A big hug to you
Lala

Anonymous said...

Dear...I understand what its mean....I visited kenya and saw...

God bless u...

I hope I can go back again to Kenya dn can help these people there

Grace Olsson
graceolsson.com/blog

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

As long as there are wealthy people who can oppress the needy the picture will not change for many. We have yet to get across the idea that all people deserve the right to dignity and a safe affordable life style.

Kilauea Poetry said...

Hey..it's sad to see this. I have prayed and maybe a door will be open. There is so much turmoil everywhere and no easy answers, but we do what we can do and make sure to work within our sphere. I missed you and hope your doing well! Wishing you a peaceful and blessed Thanksgiving my friend! Make sure to post an update and your plans (hugs)-:)

Joyful said...

Hello LALA, I am in Kenya now. I have been here just over a week so have been very busy. Will be here several weeks more so hope to make a post in coming days.

Joyful said...

GRACE, so glad you were able to get to Kenya. If I am able, I will go to Mau Forest while I am here. I hope you can get back to Kenya soon.

Joyful said...

KLEINSTEMOTTE, you are so right. Those of us that do know the difference can all help to be the change we want to see in the world.

Joyful said...

REGINA, thank you so much my friend for your prayers. I pray all is well with you. I hope to make a detailed post later. Blessings to you and please continue to pray for these dear ones.

Joyful said...

GRACE, so glad you were able to get to Kenya. If I am able, I will go to Mau Forest while I am here. I hope you can get back to Kenya soon.

Joyful said...

Hey..it's sad to see this. I have prayed and maybe a door will be open. There is so much turmoil everywhere and no easy answers, but we do what we can do and make sure to work within our sphere. I missed you and hope your doing well! Wishing you a peaceful and blessed Thanksgiving my friend! Make sure to post an update and your plans (hugs)-:)

Joyful said...

As long as there are wealthy people who can oppress the needy the picture will not change for many. We have yet to get across the idea that all people deserve the right to dignity and a safe affordable life style.

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