Benjamin Cherono, a deacon from the Bureti Adventist Church, was among church leaders who joined government officials and peace workers last month to pledge to lasting stability in areas hardest hit during last year's conflict.
Each of the 65 tents in Ann Kamau's crowed refugee camp accommodates at least seven adults.
Last year, Sheila Adoyo’s neighbor threatened to burn down her house and her brother was hospitalized following a brutal machete attack by ethnic rivals. The widowed mother of eight witnessed countless murders during rampant violence following Kenya’s December 2007 contested presidential election.
“How I survived I can never tell,” Adoyo says now, from her home—an internally displaced persons camp near Kayole—on the outskirts of the Eastern African country’s capitol, Nairobi.
Adoyo, a Seventh-day Adventist, is one of the more than 90,000 who remain displaced a year after months of conflict shattered Kenya, non-governmental agencies estimate.
The violence that exacerbated ethnic tensions and crippled economic development in the country didn’t spare Adventists, church leaders in the country say.
Last month, local church officials joined Rift Valley provincial commissioner Noor Hassan Noor in Nakuru, the region’s provincial capital, to note the return of peace to areas hardest hit by the violence, and to pledge to lasting stability in the region. The group urged the members of affected communities to forgive each other and band together to rebuild lives and villages.
“It is very unfortunate that we allowed our political differences to disrupt [our spirituality] and destroy our mutual understanding and peaceful co-existence,” said Benjamin Cherono, a deacon from the Bureti Adventist Church, who was among the church leaders in attendance.
Of greatest concern is the situation of the thousands living in IDP camps, where squalid living conditions, a lack of adequate food and water and sexual coercion threaten lives and make transitioning back into society difficult, church leaders say.
Church member and IDP Ann Kamau, 65, has battled diabetes in a refugee camp for the past year. Sitting outside her makeshift tent, a shawl draped over her swollen legs, Kamau told church leaders of the difficulties of her life. Each of the 65 tents in her camp accommodates upwards of seven adults.
Motivated to help Kamau and others like her to return to their homes, members of the Elbagon Adventist Church and the surrounding community now dedicate three days each week to rebuilding houses for IDPs, focusing on the sick and elderly, whose needs are most pressing. They also provide meals and farming equipment for returning refugees to help them settle smoothly back into their lives.
One member, Nancy Malel, says involving community members has made the relief work possible. With so many church members still in IDP camps, securing any sort of spiritual, social or economic growth in the affected communities is impossible without everyone’s help.
Members of Cherono’s church are also concerned by the plight of teenage girls—some as young as 14—in IDP camps, many of whom fall subject to sexual coercion and exploitation during their stays. High poverty level indexes within the camps mean few girls can afford to attend school, making them more susceptible to drug abuse and other risky behaviors, church leaders say.
Leaders at the Bureti Adventist Church have requested more support from local and international organizations to help finance education for the affected girls and distribute antiviral drugs for those who’ve acquired HIV/AIDS.
James Momanyi, one returning refugee, says he appreciates the good relationships that are developing between neighbors who are also ethnic rivals because of the effort. “Once again, we are able to interact peacefully and fellowship together in church,” he says.