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in kenya, road to peace built by communities working together

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

A little more than one year ago, the Peace and Justice director of the Diocese of Eldoret in western Kenya was waiting at the diocesan offices to pay poll watchers after voting in the national election when postelection violence erupted in the country.

James Kimisoi said it was the Christmas holidays and diocesan offices were closed.
“I was just there to pay the workers,” he said.

As soon as Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the national election and sworn into office an hour later, homes were looted and burned — some with the people locked inside: and others were beaten and/or killed.

People in the Eldoret diocese went by the thousands to the cathedral grounds seeking safety.
The bishop and those diocesan workers who could safely make it to the diocesan compound, opened the gates and about 10,000 people were sheltered there.

By Feb. 28, 2008 when a power-sharing government was announced, the overt violence stopped, and all of the diocesan resources were being directed at taking care of the area’s internally displaced persons while promoting reconciliation and peace building.

One year later, the diocese and its bishop, Cornelius Kirir, have made great strides in rebuilding trust among neighbors, but the diocese has run out of money to provide most of the services they had been before the violence began.

Speaking on behalf of Bishop Kirir who was not in the diocese at the time, Father Michael Rop, diocesan vicar general, said: “The political violence has disrupted pastoral activities. This is the biggest disruption anyone has seen.”
Eldoret, in the Rift Valley of Kenya, has been described as one of the “hot spots” or epicenters of the country-wide violence. It is also called “the bread basket of Kenya” because of its fertile ground and the amount of food grown there.

On the other side of the country, on the coast in Malindi, Bishop Francis Baldacchino said the violence “was horrible. Nobody expected such a tragedy.”

Now, an uneasy peace crisscrosses the country, where many have said it bubbles just below the surface, ready to explode again.

Part of the unease remains because people don’t trust one another, Father Charles Lukati, development coordinator for the Diocese of Eldoret, said.

Another reason for the mistrust: The perpetrators of the violence have not been named or brought to justice, and many people worry if these people are not held accountable for their crimes, the violence will be repeated and possibly escalate.

“The Kenya Conference of Bishops says the perpetrators should be named and prosecuted,” Father Rop said. “There should be a national Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission where the offenders would meet.”
In fact, a commission was named in 2008 to investigate the postelection violence.

The commission was agreed upon as part of an accord setting up power sharing between the two presidential candidates, President Kubaki and his opponent, Raila Odinga who became Kenya’s prime minister.
Called the Waki Commission because of one its members, Judge Philip Waki, of Kenya’s Court of Appeals served as chairman, the members interviewed people across the country to determine how the violence was perpetrated and carried out.

A list of people was drawn up and given to Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary General, but the list was not made public.

At the outset, the violence was directed at supporters of President Kubaki’s political party — the Party of National Unity — by supporters of the challenger, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement.

Postelection violence has been recorded in Kenya after national elections since 1992, but none of the incidences has resulted in such widespread destruction of life and property.

As the church helps people rebuild their lives and their homes, the need for justice outweighs the concern that naming the perpetrators will bring the pain and suffering back to the surface.
“Without justice there can be no peace,” Father Rop said.

While the government has promised to help those families who suffered losses of life and property, the Catholic church has delivered. First, people were given sanctuary at the diocesan compound. Catholic Relief Services responded immediately, setting up water and sanitation on the diocesan grounds.

Later, people were moved into tents at county fair grounds. The government, in an effort to respond to the people, moved people from the large tent cities into smaller ones nearer to the people’s homes. The fact remains: Some people have been living in tents and sleeping on the ground for more than a year.

Some people have received help to rebuild with grants from the diocese through international aid agencies like CRS and Caritas Australia.

Voucher programs in villages have given people money to spend on materials to rebuild and replace some of the household items and farm implements that were destroyed in the violence.

To reduce or eliminate fraud, vendors must be screened and only sell approved items to the person holding the voucher. In villages, committees to determine those most in need were set up to select recipients, and committees were directed to look first at women and children and single heads of households in determining eligibility.
While not everyone qualified to receive the vouchers, the program has made a difference in villages where it was used.

One project in the Eldoret diocese pulled people in two communities together to build a “peace road.”
A portion of the road always existed, and the two villages, who supported different political candidates in the election, belonged to the same parish: St. Mary’s, with pastor, Father Thomas Dougherty, SPS, a missionary from Scotland who has lived in Kenya many years.

One of the villages, Yammumbi, supported Kibaki and the PNU. Many of their homes were destroyed and people were killed. They believed their neighbors, who supported Odinga and the ODM, in Kapteldon, had something to do with the violence that occurred in Yammumbi.

People in Kapteldon said perpetrators went through their village, but none of the people who lived there acted against their neighbors.

A great deal of mistrust existed between the two villages and spilled over into the parish.
Bishop Kirir and the diocesan staff have spent many hours working with the people to reestablish trust. The peace road and the necessary cooperation to make the project work has brought the communities back to a certain level of trust.

“This is a miracle road,” Father Dougherty said. “The Kikuyu (tribe that supports the PNU) and the Kalenjins (who support the ODM) are working together on the road. It’s a real miracle after what happened to us.”
The project requires youth from both villages to work an eight-hour day, and their wages are paid from a grant from Caritas Australia.

During the postelection violence, disaffected and unemployed youth were, in some cases, paid by politicians and business leaders responsible for the destruction, according to the Waki Commission.
To make sure their youth are given something to do — build the road — and some money for their efforts, elders from both villages were asked to mentor the youth.

Since the road is almost finished, the youth are asking for other projects they can work on together.
“The people of both communities are showing the world action,” Father Dougherty said. “The country of Kenya is full of talk but little action. A man told me: ‘Our words of peace and unity are in this road because we did it together.’”
Eldoret’s diocesan director, Kimisoi, said the work that went into the project before it was begun, the hours and hours of meetings with the bishop and among themselves have paid off. “That’s why they have not had any difficulties (with the road project),” he said.

Other peace-building projects continue in various communities.

One village, Burnt Forest, has established an ecumenical “peace choir” at St. Patrick’s Parish with members of various ethnic backgrounds. The choir goes to villages “to sing and talk about peace,” pastor, Father Charles Kirui, said.

The critically important part of the choir is its multi-ethnic makeup. During the postelection violence, those supporting the two political parties broke along ethnic lines, and as the violence continued and escalated, it became tribal violence.

Always just below the surface is the issue of land ownership as well. The postelection violence begins as a politically motivated event, then degenerates into ethnic violence and at the core are issues of land ownership that were not settled in the 1960s when the British relinquished its colonial ties on the country.

No final decisions have been made about what to do with the list of perpetrators in Kofi Annan’s possession. Some want the list taken to the International Criminal Court at the Hague in the Netherlands so that the guilty can be tried while the Kibaki and Odinga government want local justice tribunals set up in Kenya.

Now, calls for another election are being discussed, but Bishop Korir said it was not time to call for new elections since peace had not been restored since the last election.

It’s complicated, Father Kirui said, but “at the end of the day, we’re all God’s children.”

To make a donation to the Diocese of Eldoret, contact The Messenger at 233-8670 or cathnews@bellevillemessenger.org or go directly through Catholic Relief Services at crs.org.