Please pray for Kenya as the recent election results were announced today. Rioting is spreading around the country, with a number of deaths already reported within an hour after the announcement of the results. These elections have been strongly contested, and the results were very drawn out. Voting took place last Thursday (27th), so the Kenyan people have been waiting for several days for the final results. Some tallies seem inconsistent, but the system is also rather complicated to follow. The final numbers are disputed. The incumbent President, Mwai Kibaki, has been announced as the winner of the elections, due to serve another 5 year term. He was sworn into office within an hour after the final results were announced.
Kevin preached today at ICF, with 164 people in attendance! We were expecting the total to be quite a bit lower due to the violence in the city. Robin & the kids stayed home in case the roads became dangerous. We debated whether or not to have service today since many mission groups advised their missionaries to stay home yesterday, but with advice from several people, including some safety information from our embassy, we decided to go ahead and have service at ICF. It seemed to really minister to many. Kevin arrived home safely, only to go back out (with a colleague) to help another colleague whose car had broken down. This isn't the time to be stuck in your vehicle around Nairobi! They were able to help tow his car to the mechanic. Kevin said there were very few people out and about -- the streets are strangely almost-empty. In a city of 4+ million, the streets are NEVER empty!!
Our kids happily played on the compound today - we will not be heading out anywhere tomorrow as tensions are high and rioting is occurring all around the city of Nairobi, as well as in several more towns around the country. There has been looting, and burning of cars and kiosks (small businesses). We have been stocking up on extra flour, sugar, eggs, filtered water, meat, and milk/ powdered milk for the past few weeks. I guess since both Kevin and I grew up in the countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), we just felt like stocking up was the normal thing to do....
We can hear a lot of protests vs. celebrations going on in areas nearby. We have been hearing a lot of gunfire as well. Mary (our oldest) is very aware of what is going on and is quite concerned when she hears the gunshots. We have music playing in their room as they go to sleep. These events come on the heels of another situation that our family came upon as we were driving home.
A week or so ago we were returning home from an afternoon of shopping together as a family. We were just about 10 minutes from our house when our car was stopped by a security officer, right in front of a pretty rough scene at a security barrier -- the police had just shot and killed at least 3 suspected thugs/ carjackers, and their bodies still lay on the ground by the security booth. It was 7:30 pm, so even though it was fairly dark and our kids didn't see everything, they still saw too much. Police do not cover dead bodies here like they do in the U.S. We had to turn around and go back home another way. By the time we figured out what was going on, we asked the kids to put their heads down and not look. They obeyed right away, but by the time we had asked them to close their eyes, Mary had already seen the bodies on the ground. Christina obviously related this incident to her experience of being carjacked at gunpoint a few years ago, and found it difficult to understand how the police would know not to shoot her if they thought she might be a thug. Both girls had nightmares or trouble sleeping for a few nights. These recent events will make things even more difficult in their little hearts.
We just spent a quiet little family Christmas last week, and are grateful for so many things, in spite of the current unrest. These recent events seem to completely overshadow the celebration of Christmas. Christ came to bring peace in our hearts, even when peace does not reign on earth. We are trusting the Prince of Peace to reign in our hearts, and especially in the hearts of our children and the people of Kenya. How God must grieve to see such pain on the earth.
Praying for peace,
Kevin & Robin
Mary, Christina & Jonathan
