30 January 2008
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you all, and huge thanks for your messages of support and
encouragement. You have truly been sustaining us through these troubling times.
Yesterday, our family left Kisumu on a chartered flight sent by the US Embassy
to bring out families with children. The situation in Kisumu (and all of western
Kenya ) has taken a turn for the worse since the horrible events in Nakuru and
Naivasha over the weekend, and it was no longer prudent to stay where we were.
For the moment, we are staying at the Mennonite Guest House, and taking things
day by day. Eden is continuing to work, and can actually get more done in
Nairobi , where there is freedom of movement, than in Kisumu where she was
confined to the house. James and the kids are planning to spend their mornings
doing some informal homeschooling. We are all grateful to be in a calm and
restful environment, and plan to do a lot of sleeping!
This comes, of course, as a shock and disappointment, since it seemed last week
like things were starting to improve. Kofi Annan is still here, and there is
still some hope for the political mediation process, but at this point, it will
be very difficult to quell the violence, even if the politicians reach a
settlement. Kenya is in desperate need of your intercessions!
We held a very successful National Kenyan Quaker Peace Conference last weekend
in Kakamega -- truly the Lord wanted this conference to succeed, since a
"window" of peace opened up just for those four days, and we were able to travel
and meet together! The Conference emerged with some very strong ideas for
immediate action that Friends can take. If you haven't done so, we encourage you
to read the conference documents on Mary Kay's blog --
http://www.updatesonkenya.blogspot.com/ .
Our work now is to implement the Plan of Action. Eden was appointed Treasurer of
the Coordinating Committee, which means that she will be responsible for
overseeing the right use of your contributions toward this work. We really hope
that you will be able to partner with us, and encourage you to contribute at
www.fum.org . The need is enormous!
Our thanks go out to Ginna, who felt a burden on our behalf to draw your
attention to the fact that our family's livelihood is not covered by the
outpouring of emergency relief funds from Friends. We have important work to do
now, and we do ask for your contribution toward our ministry account, so that we
can continue to play our part in God's work here. Thanks, Ginna, for helping
"toot our horn"! We really do need you at this time.
Please, please continue praying for peace in Kenya . Things have reached a
frightening "tipping point", where we can envision a truly horrible future. But
at the same time, we know that God is a miracle-worker, and that He has not
abandoned Kenya , so we remain hopeful. Please join us in pleading for His hand
of calm to stay the angry hearts, His hand of comfort to bind up the wounded in
body and spirit, and His hand of wisdom to guide all of us who seek to do His
will today and every day.
In Christian fellowship,
Eden