While the churches there are doing what they can to assist the refugees, they too are under attack. More than 92 churches have been destroyed with more than 70,000 people displaced. The need for aid simply outweighs their ability to respond– most people are sleeping out on the open ground with no covering at all even though temperatures drop during the night. Your gifts will help!
Convoy of Hope President Hal Donaldson remarks on the tragedy tearing communities apart, "Cruelty between humans makes for the worst of disasters, which makes our job so more important. We've been monitoring this from day one and are taking advantage of the break in violence to get much needed assistance into the hands of desperate children and their families."
While the violence isn't directed at westerners, for their own safety, Convoy of Hope representative Bryan Burr and his family have remained sheltered in their home during the peak of violence. Burr says, "The peace talks have "collapsed," and next week the opposition has planned rallies all across the nation. While we feel safe, our Kenyan friends fear for their lives and for their families. Going just a few steps down the street from our house to shop at the market, our friend was asked what tribe he is from. He was shocked, telling them, 'I've given you my business for years – why would you even ask me such a question?!' People he has seen every day of his life are now suspicious and interrogating him."
Convoy of Hope sponsors a feeding program for hundreds of young students at the Mathare Community Development Center (MCDC). With their villages unsafe and many homes destroyed with families separated, these children and hundreds of other refugees are seeking shelter inside the MCDC.
Burr shares countless stories, his voice filled with disbelief even as he tells them, "Jane has worked with us for years. She says she has never seen this kind of hatred and tribal violence in Kenya before. She told us that gangs were going through the neighborhoods where they live, raping and torturing people, doing horrible things and forcing family members to do unthinkable things to one another."
Will you help us send immediate aid to our workers and the people of this region? Your gifts to the Convoy of Hope International Disaster fund will help the people of Kenya recover from this devastating violence while demonstrating that they are not forgotten and people care. Please help by donating now! |
