Turkana Friends Mission in need of regular support - Fri 7/25/2008

TURKANA FRIENDS MISSION, NORTHERN KENYA, EAST AFRICA
> > > ORGANIZE A "Christmas in July" FUNDRAISING EVENT

Turkana Friends Mission extends vital outreach for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in East Africa. With an independent board of governors, the mission sponsors Friends churches, water projects, primary and nursery schools and scholarships for female high school students.

Could Monthly Meetings in your area band together to create a partnership with these special Quakers?

In this semi-arid region of north-western Kenya beset by poverty and drought conditions, Friends' witnesses provide hope, and Friends' worship expresses joy that many people in Turkana have discovered by following Jesus Christ.

> Click here to find out about Kenya and Turkana through links.

Learn more about Turkana Friends Mission - Kenya, on the web page of Friends United Meeting: www.fum.org

Turkana is one of the poorest regions of Kenya, often troubled by armed fighting with neighboring ethnic groups, such as the Pokot and the Samburu. Characterized mostly by nomadic pastoralist communities, Friends in Turkana live simply and lack material resources, but they are rich in Christ's love and joy.

You can help needy Friends in Turkana by contributing funds through Friends United Meeting.

Monthly, quarterly or annual pledges help the mission staff and volunteers to plan their activities.

Your gift will:

• Sponsor a secondary school student
• Promote education for girls, who often marry young
• Help bring water to thirsty communities
• Educate new pastors
• Provide transportation for pastors to reach members in rough terrain
• Promote peacebuilding and conflict resolution
• Plant churches in remote areas

> Click here and specify that your gift is for "Turkana Friends Mission - Kenya" when you make your online gift, or write it on the memo line, if you send a check to:

Friends United Meeting Global Ministries
ATTN: Turkana Friends Mission contribution
101 Quaker Hill Drive
Richmond IN 47374-1980 USA.

Update from John Muhanji, FUM African Ministries Office Director:

The Turkana issue is a big challenge now, since finances and support have drastically gone down.

Last month they received $ 186.00 instead of $ 2000.00.

These were the only funds that had come in. The more funds dwindle, the more problems increase in the area. It is a challenge and half.

But the mission is very faithful and they use the little they get very efficiently. I love those people but I lack what to do for them....

Each of our FUM Project Partners got a grant from the FUM Relief Fund (for the post-election crisis), and Turkana Friends Mission used it to support the IDPs (internally displaced people) in Lodwar.

These are Turkanans who had been living in the central Rift Valley for decades. They have been trucked to Lodwar and dumped there [by government officials] with no assistance from anyone. There isn't even a pit toilet in the camp!

Our pastors and church members [some of whom have been trained in the Alternatives to Violence Project] reached out to them, providing food and other humanitarian aid.

For more information, contact Terri Johns at Friends United Meeting:
email: terrij - at - fum.org
tel: (765) 962-7573.

Taize gathers youth in Nairobi, Kenya - Nov 26-30

From Dar-es-Salaam to Nairobi

I am a Tanzanian aged 25 years old. I am from Dar es Salaam, and I am a laboratory technician by profession. I was in Taizé, France during the summer months of 2006. Currently I am on my annual leave so I decided to spend some days as a volunteer, to help with the preparation of the meeting in Nairobi....

The way I see the preparation for the November meeting is that things are moving at quite a good pace. It seems to be well organised.

This meeting will be a golden opportunity for the youth to discover themselves and spend quality time for their spiritual life and growth in the Church and stop, listen and reflect to what our rapid changing societies are offering us today.

On a very personal note, I thank God for giving us this opportunity to be part of this pilgrimage of trust in East Africa and Africa as a Continent. It will be a time for us to discover and learn something from other youth coming from several African countries.

And for the youth coming from outside Africa it will be a memorable time to know more about our peoples, lives, culture and give Africa a new face. ...

Keep the spirit high up

"Kwa pamoja tutafuta njia ya matumaini"
Together seeking paths of Hope.

Karibuni Sana!!
Kwenye mkutano wa vijana tarehe 26-30 Novemba 2008.

Asante!
Makolo Christopher Ludosha.

http://www.taize.fr/en_article7168.html

The meeting in Nairobi will take place from 26 to 30 November 2008: http://www.taize.fr/en_article6670.html

Practical information and registration: http://www.taize.fr/en_article6671.html

To Nairobi from South Africa: http://www.taize.fr/en_article7114.html

Prayer
God of peace, your presence is often a mystery for us; to welcome you we need a heart that is simple, and filled with trust.

---

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> Click here for the Taizé website home page

IDPs continue to suffer - IRIN Wed 7/23/2008

KENYA: Hundreds still displaced in Nairobi

NAIROBI, 22 July (IRIN) - Hundreds of Kenyans displaced during post-election violence in early 2008 in the capital, Nairobi, are still in camps more than two months after the government launched a countrywide resettlement programme.

"Many of the displaced were tenants whose houses were destroyed or have since been occupied by other people; dozens were landlords, mostly in the Mathare slums, and these are the ones whose resettlement is difficult," Abdi Galgalo, the chief of Mathare, told IRIN on 21 July.

Anthony Mwangi, the public relations manager for the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), knew of 778 IDPs in the city.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA-Kenya) said in an update covering 3-9 July that some 59,666 IDPs remained in 89 IDP camps, while 98,289 others had been registered in 134 transit sites across the country. Government figures indicated that 212,590 IDPs had returned to areas where they had been displaced. [NB: accuracy of government figures??]

The government, through the ministry of special programmes, launched "Operation Rudi Nyumbani" (Return Home) on 5 May, targeting at least 158,000 IDPs in camps across the country, most of them in Rift Valley Province, which bore the brunt of the violence.

With more than 85,000 of the displaced having left the camps since then, the government began the "reconstruction" phase of the programme on 20 July, to help the returnees build their homes and restart subsistence activities. Special Programmes Minister Naomi Shaban launched the programme in Uasin Gishu district in the Rift Valley.

Displaced in the city
Galgalo said the IDP camp near his office had been emptying gradually since May, with 213 IDPs in July.

The problem with IDPs in urban areas, he said, was that the majority were from slum areas where land disputes were common, hence their reluctance to move out of the camps.

"Food and availability of medicine are key problems for those still in the camp as they depend on well-wishers and they remain here as efforts are being made to resettle them," Galgalo said.

He said disputes over land in the slums, especially for those who owned houses, had complicated and slowed the IDPs' return to their homes. He added that the government had set up peace-building committees to help reconcile the slum dwellers and encourage the displaced to return home.

Godfrey Ngugi, the chairman of the IDP camp in Mathare, said the recent cold weather had made conditions even more difficult.

"The major problem for us is when one of the IDPs falls ill; the cold season has not helped matters and we have had cases of cold-related ailments increasing," Ngugi said. "Although we have the Kenya Red Cross assisting us, we need medical attention."

He said there were dozens of children under five who need medical attention due to the cold.

On 12 May, the government raised Ksh1.46 billion (US$22.4 million) of the Ksh30 billion ($462 million) it said it needed to resettle at least 350,000 IDPs.

"The magnitude of the destruction caused by the violence was enormous; we will therefore require about 30 billion shillings to meet the full costs of resettlement, including reconstruction of basic housing, replacement of household effects, as well as rehabilitation of community utilities and institutions destroyed during the violence," President Mwai Kibaki said on 12 May during a funding drive in Nairobi.

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