Barack Obama has just been elected as the next president of the United States. It is quite amazing that someone whose father was not American could become president.
There is great celebration in Kenya following Obama's win. Kisumu is celebrating. Chickens are being slaughtered and apparently even bulls are ending up in the cooking pot to commemorate this momentous event.
Even here in Naivasha people are excited about someone with links to Kenya getting into the presidency. In town the street vendors are selling American flags.
Everybody is speculating whether a public holiday will be announced tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened on the one hand, though it would shock me as well. After all, Kenya already has so many holidays! In October alone we had three public holidays.
An additional holiday will bode well for those who have their day's off paid. But it's a different matter entirely for contract labourers who will subsequently lose a day of pay. Around us people may be pleased about the election results in America, but they are definitely not happy that they will be unable to work tomorrow. When you have to count your schillings to survive, losing a day's wages hurts.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Updates on Situation in Naivasha
Things were quiet in the two IDP camps in Naivasha today. In the Stadium camp the leaders went to Nakuru to speak about the situation with some government officials. No lorries were present to transport people away from the camp and nobody came to pay any of the IDP their restitution money. Water was once again available and people were taking advantage of that and stocking up.
Even the young children
help with carrying water
As for the IDP at the Kedong Camp, some have left. For those who remain they have tried to set up some plastic sheets to protect themselves from the elements. They no longer have any tents which they can use as these were taken by the police. No government official or police officer came by today but there has been a rumour that someone at the UN may be sitting up and taking notice of the travesty of what has happened with those at the Kedong Camp. One can only pray that this is the case!
Meanwhile the work progresses at the training centre. We were pouring concrete today. This time we were putting the floor slab onto the top story. The job was much more labour intensive than the way it would be done in the West. Cement had to be shoveled up one grade, then another, then a third, and finally a fourth before it could then be shoveled into the wheelbarrows. Half of the work was completed today. Tomorrow we hope to finish the rest.
Getting the cement to the top floor,
one step at a time
The work has gone well and so far we have not had the threats of strike or other related issues like we faced last time. Today we were more stringent in our hiring practices and tried to avoid getting any trouble makers. When you hear all the horror stories about how the work gangs in Naivasha try to force the employer to pay them more, it is frightening.
Joram preparing mandazis for our IDP students
This morning we had over 200 people at the gate looking for work. We hired 55 including a fair number of IDP. They were so grateful for the opportunity to work. You wish you could help more, but even with 55 people, that will drain our resources! Cement prices have also risen steeply since the last time we did concrete work a couple of months ago. The tax on imported cement was either reduced or lowered in the last government budget. But that hasn't brought the cost down at all. Instead, the price continues to climb.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Harassed by Police to Leave – Again
We made another trip to the Kedong IDP camp today to see what we could do to help those still stranded there. The numbers are slowly dwindling as people are giving up hope of ever seeing the money that is due them to enable them to start their lives afresh. The conditions too must be so difficult for many to bear. There has not been any rain since Sunday so the nights are not as cold. But without any form of protection available from the elements, surely that cannot be easy to endure for much longer!
We heard more disturbing news that the police had returned to try and convince the remaining people to leave. Initially they came last night at 2100 and told the IDP that they were to go to the DO’s office. Everybody refused to leave.
Today the police returned at around 0800 in the morning. This time, when the IDP refused to go with them, the police tore down the make-shift shelters people had set up and confiscated all of the tents along with some other personal possessions. Now they have nothing to protect them from the cold by night or the heat of the sun by day. Many people just have pieces of cardboard on the ground between them and the dusty earth.
How much longer can people be expected to withstand such conditions? And will they ever see any of those possessions again which were taken by the police? It’s no wonder that many are now talking of moving on. They have tried to get what is theirs but it looks like they’re fighting a force too strong for them.
We had shared with some of our church members on Sunday what has been happening at the Kedong camp. Some friends wanted to do their part to help and provided us with extra clothing which we could distribute to the IDP. It is so little, and you sometimes wonder whether it is even worth it. Yet many still appreciate the gesture and that then makes it all worthwhile.
While we were handing out clothing everybody suddenly started to yell and jeer at two men passing along the road. It turns out the men were two of the police officers who had come that morning to try and force people to leave. This time they were in plain clothes, not in their police uniform. Did they come to see how many people were still holding out?
Waiting patiently for a small gift of clothing
We heard more disturbing news that the police had returned to try and convince the remaining people to leave. Initially they came last night at 2100 and told the IDP that they were to go to the DO’s office. Everybody refused to leave.
Today the police returned at around 0800 in the morning. This time, when the IDP refused to go with them, the police tore down the make-shift shelters people had set up and confiscated all of the tents along with some other personal possessions. Now they have nothing to protect them from the cold by night or the heat of the sun by day. Many people just have pieces of cardboard on the ground between them and the dusty earth.
How much longer can people be expected to withstand such conditions? And will they ever see any of those possessions again which were taken by the police? It’s no wonder that many are now talking of moving on. They have tried to get what is theirs but it looks like they’re fighting a force too strong for them.
We had shared with some of our church members on Sunday what has been happening at the Kedong camp. Some friends wanted to do their part to help and provided us with extra clothing which we could distribute to the IDP. It is so little, and you sometimes wonder whether it is even worth it. Yet many still appreciate the gesture and that then makes it all worthwhile.
While we were handing out clothing everybody suddenly started to yell and jeer at two men passing along the road. It turns out the men were two of the police officers who had come that morning to try and force people to leave. This time they were in plain clothes, not in their police uniform. Did they come to see how many people were still holding out?
The small gift of food we could make
seemed so trivial compared to the need
We also brought some food to give out. Sometimes you feel so powerless! You wish you could do more. What is so little food amongst so many? Or so few clothes for those who lost so much? Yet despite these feeble efforts, people were so appreciative. Maybe part of that is because it shows that they have not been forgotten. I am saddened that none of the local newspapers have picked up the story of what has happened at the Kedong IDP camp. How much longer will these people be willing or able to wait for what is due them before they all resign themselves to the inevitable and disappear?
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Refugees Evicted from IDP Camp in Dead of Night
On Friday morning, the 4th of July, 2008 at around 0400 the police suddenly stormed the Kedong Refugee camp and forcibly removed the remaining internally displaced people. Six months earlier the same people had been chased out of their former residences in Naivasha often by neighbours and acquaintances when violence exploded in and around the town. This time it was the police doing the evicting.
The tents were torn down, often with the inhabitants still inside. Meagre possessions which had been saved in the first wave of violence were now tossed about as the police pushed the people to leave the Kedong IDP camp. In one tent a one year old boy was trampled, his screams mixed with the cries of fear and anger coming from other parts of the encampment.
The refugee camp at Kedong in Naivasha was set up primarily by some local flower farms for their employees. However, though many of the residents were local farm employees, a fair number were also unemployed, some having lost their businesses when violence rocked the town of Naivasha early this year.
The government had insisted the camp should be closed by the 29th of June. To facilitate the transition the government promised each of the displaced Ksh 10,000 (about $160 US). For the most part the payment of this money ran smoothly. But by the end of last week, despite the passing of the deadline and the departure of the Red Cross, there were still some who were waiting to be paid.
On Thursday evening the government officials paid half of the remaining people, promising to return the following day to pay the rest. But early the following morning, while it was still dark, the police arrived and evicted those still left in the camp.
When the police stormed the camp, some of the residents were at work. They arrived the following morning to find their tents gone and most of their possessions looted.
Two sick people still in the camp were taken, along with their meagre possessions, and were left outside of the police station in Naivasha, their fate to be determined at some later date.
The police action in the Kedong camp raised the anxiety level of those in the other IDP camp in Naivasha. The government has assured refugees that their resettlement is voluntary. But those in the Naivasha Stadium now fear that they too may have the police come to evict them against their will, and perhaps even violently.
The remainder of the people from the Kedong camp have now set up forms of shelter outside the abandoned settlement. Inside the neighbouring wire enclosure the watch towers, toilets and water tanks are all that are left of the former IDP camp. But the refugees have been prohibited from entering the area where sheep now graze on what was their temporary home just a few days ago. Now they must live off of the goodwill of well wishers while they wait for the government to recognise their plight.
Shocking too is how this incident has been ignored by the media. The government officials chose to send in the police under cover of darkness, with no Red Cross official or no journalist present to witness the event. Since then the refugees who have lost so much continue to wait for someone to sit up and take notice of their plight.
The tents were torn down, often with the inhabitants still inside. Meagre possessions which had been saved in the first wave of violence were now tossed about as the police pushed the people to leave the Kedong IDP camp. In one tent a one year old boy was trampled, his screams mixed with the cries of fear and anger coming from other parts of the encampment.
The refugee camp at Kedong in Naivasha was set up primarily by some local flower farms for their employees. However, though many of the residents were local farm employees, a fair number were also unemployed, some having lost their businesses when violence rocked the town of Naivasha early this year.
The government had insisted the camp should be closed by the 29th of June. To facilitate the transition the government promised each of the displaced Ksh 10,000 (about $160 US). For the most part the payment of this money ran smoothly. But by the end of last week, despite the passing of the deadline and the departure of the Red Cross, there were still some who were waiting to be paid.
On Thursday evening the government officials paid half of the remaining people, promising to return the following day to pay the rest. But early the following morning, while it was still dark, the police arrived and evicted those still left in the camp.
Children are amongst the evicted now
living outside Kedong camp
When the police stormed the camp, some of the residents were at work. They arrived the following morning to find their tents gone and most of their possessions looted.
Two sick people still in the camp were taken, along with their meagre possessions, and were left outside of the police station in Naivasha, their fate to be determined at some later date.
The police action in the Kedong camp raised the anxiety level of those in the other IDP camp in Naivasha. The government has assured refugees that their resettlement is voluntary. But those in the Naivasha Stadium now fear that they too may have the police come to evict them against their will, and perhaps even violently.
The remainder of the people from the Kedong camp have now set up forms of shelter outside the abandoned settlement. Inside the neighbouring wire enclosure the watch towers, toilets and water tanks are all that are left of the former IDP camp. But the refugees have been prohibited from entering the area where sheep now graze on what was their temporary home just a few days ago. Now they must live off of the goodwill of well wishers while they wait for the government to recognise their plight.
Internally Displaced Forgotten by All
Shocking too is how this incident has been ignored by the media. The government officials chose to send in the police under cover of darkness, with no Red Cross official or no journalist present to witness the event. Since then the refugees who have lost so much continue to wait for someone to sit up and take notice of their plight.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Deserted IDP Camp - Almost
A lot can change in a week yet sometimes not as much as one expects. The government had said all were to be out of the Kedong IDP camp by Sunday. That has clearly not happened though most have been able to take advantage of the free transport and have secured new living quarters elsewhere.
Where once there were 100s of tents,
now only a few remain.
now only a few remain.
Many of the IDP have returned to Naivasha town. Although there is still fear about returning to the areas which saw so much violence earlier in the year, it helps that there are now more members from other tribes in the community.
I was told by some of the stragglers left in the Kedong camp that the government was no longer providing free transport as everybody was to have left the camp by Sunday. This proved not to be the case, however, as I saw two army lorries arrive just as I was leaving. Transport to Naivasha town may no longer be available, but for those wanting to return to their homelands in the West of the country, they can still do so at the government's expense.
Some of the last camp inhabitants are still there, holding out to see whether they will get anything else from the government. That is unlikely as the flower farm which provided the security and water is preparing to dismantle the infrastructure which has not yet been destroyed or stolen. It is amazing how many things "disappeared" after the Red Cross left, and how many plastic bags suddenly appeared, blowing in the wind and getting trapped in the nearest thorn bushes.
My guess is that, besides those in the camp holding out for a better deal, many of those who will be left behind will be those too poor to move on or those with no options of where to go. I'll check back at the Kedong camp later in the week to see if there is anything we can do to help. I'm sure the living conditions will deteriorate very quickly now. They still had some water available but that will probably change very soon.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Kedong IDP camp in Naivasha had about 2,500 residents. All have been told that they must be out by this weekend. But so far only around 500 have received their compensation money. Yesterday the government officials were paying the IDP their dues until almost midnight. Until they finish, people will not leave the camp.
Handing out clothes to those who lost so much.
So much need, but impossible to help all.
So much need, but impossible to help all.
The Kikuyu IDP in the Naivasha stadium are not being paid any compensation. If they want to get the Ksh 10,000/ they are due, then they must return to their homes. But most refuse to do so. They fear returning to the places where they lost everything, where their lives were threatened. That, they say, they will not do. Not even for money.
Preparing to leave the camp
for a new home.
But what will they do here? This morning the Red Cross left the Naivasha stadium. The camp IDP have all received a month’s rations of food. But how can people live without water? Four days now the Naivasha municipality has not provided any water!
Providing water to friends in need.
The government is pushing to put this problem behind them. They want the people out of the camps by the end of this weekend. You can only wonder what this coming week will bring.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Kedong IDP Camp, Naivasha
Sunday (the 22nd of June) the Red Cross left the Kedong IDP camp in Naivasha. That left everyone scared and worried. What now? Many still feared returning to the local community believing it was not yet safe to do so. But what were their alternatives?
Today the government promised to send army lorries to the camp to take the people and their belongings back home - "like cattle" was one resident's observation. The transport did not arrive in the morning as promised. Instead, it came in the evening. People are to leave the camp at night? And what are they then to do once they arrive at their destination in the middle of the night? Who is actually arranging this debacle?
Onlookers watching the army lorries
Each person was also given Ksh 10,000/ (US $166) as compensation, to enable them to start their lives afresh. But how far would that money reach?
Since the Red Cross has left the residents complain that the state of the camp is deteriorating. Rubbish is lying all around, and the toilets smell. Last night the canvas was stolen off of the UNICEF tents from the former school. Canvas also disappeared from the shower blocks. People witnessed the perpetrators, but nobody really cares anymore. So nothing was done to stop them.
What will happen to those who have nowhere to go?
Today the government promised to send army lorries to the camp to take the people and their belongings back home - "like cattle" was one resident's observation. The transport did not arrive in the morning as promised. Instead, it came in the evening. People are to leave the camp at night? And what are they then to do once they arrive at their destination in the middle of the night? Who is actually arranging this debacle?
Onlookers watching the army lorries being packed and others being paid their compensation
Each person was also given Ksh 10,000/ (US $166) as compensation, to enable them to start their lives afresh. But how far would that money reach?
Since the Red Cross has left the residents complain that the state of the camp is deteriorating. Rubbish is lying all around, and the toilets smell. Last night the canvas was stolen off of the UNICEF tents from the former school. Canvas also disappeared from the shower blocks. People witnessed the perpetrators, but nobody really cares anymore. So nothing was done to stop them.
What will happen to those who have nowhere to go?
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