Christmas for the IDPs

On Christmas Eve day,  my Kenyan friend Jonah went shopping for food at the local Gilani's Supermarket in Nakuru town. He hired a truck and got together some volunteers. (Click all collages for a large view).

Their mission was to visit and encourage some people living in a camp for Internally Displaced Persons outside of Nakuru.  These people live in deep poverty.  That means they do  not have proper housing, jobs or food or clothes.  They live in ragged tents and ramshackle buildings constructed with scraps they have been able to find. They live without water, electricity or basic toilets. It is a miserable and hard life.

Now and then if they are lucky they might get a glimmer of hope through the gifts of strangers like Jonah and those that help him in the missions.

Here are a few photos of the children and the people of the camp.

Children love to be remembered. These small gifts of snacks made them happy at this time of year.

The grownups also love to be encouraged and remembered.  Many of the people in IDP camps once had land, homes, jobs. Now they live like beggars not knowing what will happen to them tomorrow. They are trying very hard to get some kind of compensation and a new start from the governing powers.

They were very happy to receive the gifts.

This is what the spirit of the Christmas season is about.
Bringing joy to others.

Blessings of the season to you.

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,

These are Kenya's Children

Some of you know that I have a friend in Kericho, Kenya who is a youth pastor. I am always trying to let others know of his work in the hopes that others would come along side him and help him with his ministry to the orphans and widows in his village and further abroad.

Since the January 2008 elections in Kenya there have been many more refugees added to the countryside. My friend and many of his colleagues go out and minister to these internally displaces people as they are enabled. You can read about his last visit to a refugee camp in the post below the photo. If you can help in this work, please let me know and I will give you the information you need. Otherwise you can pray for the people and their needs as well as the ministers and agencies who try to help. I know that many of you are focused on Haiti right now and that is a good thing. But at the same time, let us not forget about the many others who are also homeless and without food.

Hello friends,

I am sitting here and my mind is far away. I have been praying for those in Haiti and thinking about the sights and voices there that I see on the news.

Here in Kenya, I am thinking of those who are in the internally displaced people camps (IDPs). Their tents are torn and leaking. It is sad that we have a cruel world.

I am saddened more with the sight of the children, crying for help, and not knowing the dangers of over exposure to cold and bad weather. The worst thing is that they don't have enough clothes to cover them.

I also met Rachael who gave birth at the camp. We asked her how she got to her child without the services of a matron, and she said, the Lord was on her side. She appealed for help in terms of clothes and warm items to keep the baby warm as they live in the tent.

We need to stand out and pray for the hurting world. It is such a sad time for those in the IDP camps.

God Bless
Pastor Jonah

Visiting the Dispossessed

My friend, Pastor Jonah in Kenya visited a camp for internally

displaced persons

recently. Here is his story.

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Our visit to the Internally Displaced Persons IDPs Center was quite devastating. The IDPs have experienced so much loss to their lives and personal dignity.



We were without words as we visited this place. I have uploaded a lot of pictures here of all the parts of the Center that we visited so that you can see what it is really like.













I am now trying to implement what I learned at the Amahoro Gathering I attended the week before last in Hekspoort, South Africa; teachings about community building and reconciliation. We Christians are called to be peace makers.

God bless.
Jonah
Missions of Hope