Report from Malesi, January 2
Dear Friends
Yesterday I was able to leave my house. The previous days had been crazy with police running after youths who kept throwing stones and the police shooting. The gunshots made me think maybe I was in Rwanda or Burundi. Today is better but confusion still reigns in this usually very, very peaceful town.
As soon as the election results were announced youths armed with petrol went for some Kikuyu properties not just here but in Nyanza, Rift Valley, Nairobi and Coast provinces. Many Kikuyu families are in Displaced Camps in police stations around the country. About 400 went to a church in Eldoret and something burning was thrown in. About 30 people died, mainly children. We have received a security alert that we should not travel to Nairobi because the Luo, Luhya and Kalenjim tribesmen are being flushed out and their heads cut around Naivasha, Kijabe, a few kilometers from Nairobi.
You note I have not begun with Happy New year. There is nothing happy here. The intensity of the anger, especially among the youths, is palpable. Young people in Kenya are people who feel disillusioned, discouraged and angry. They came to vote in their thousands because they believed that the change Raila was promising would involve them. They feel cheated. So many of them have been guuned down by the police yet they remain adamant.
So I can only say pray for Kenya. We are going to a very dangerous place. We are going to meet just now to see what we can do especially in terms of the people at the police station. There no public vehicles moving.
Malesi
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