Editor's Note: International Partners in Mission (IPM) works across borders of faith and culture on behalf of children, women, and youth to create partnerships that build justice, peace, and hope. Their geographic focal areas for support include: the Indian Sub-Continent, Latin America & the Caribbean, the Sub-Saharan Africa and the USA. IPM currently supports more than 70 projects in 25 countries around the world. The letter below, written by IPM's Executive Director, Joe Cistone, provides close insight into the cost of the unrest in Kenya. I personalizes it for me, and perhaps for you, in a way no news article can. Joe has been to Nairobi since this letter to assure our projects' health during the crisis and to visit Were's (pronounced "way-ray") family. [more]
Crisis in Kenya Update-the Murder of Melitus Mugabe Were
I first met Melitus Mugabe Were in early 2003 when I traveled to Kenya to explore IPM's possible growth in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Were's reputation preceded him. We shared a graduate school advisor at the Gregorian University in Rome-the noted Jesuit Scholar Robert White. When Bob heard that I was going through Nairobi on my way to Rwanda he insisted that I meet Were. "Melitus is, by far, the Kenyan graduate of the Gregorian who has done more for his people than any other...he's heavily involved in community building in one of Nairobi's largest slums and has put his own life on the line many times." Were had chosen not to stay on in Italy-like so many of our classmates-but had returned home at almost unimaginable personal sacrifice to work for change.
Were and a few friends met me outside the Landmark Hotel in Nairobi's Westlands neighborhood. Over the next few days, I spent my time with Were-then a newly elected member of the Nairobi City Council-meeting the very folks he returned to work for: orphaned children, women forced into prostitution to feed their families, and young people struggling with HIV/AIDS. We walked through the Dandora Slum, within the Embakasi constituency that Were was recently elected to represent in Parliament, and Were shared with me his dreams for the community as an endless stream of Nairobi's most marginalized citizens came over to greet Were and his Mzungu (European or white) friend. Ever the savvy political operator, Were had me put on my best shirt and we met with the Mayor of Nairobi and the Dandora Police Chief. Over beer, we talked well into the night. I was humbled and amazed by Were's vision for his community and the ever-present risk he was taking (death threats came often) by challenging Kenya's status quo. I promised that I would do everything in my power to find a way to support both his vision and community.
Over the past five years, we met and spoke regularly. As Were moved up the political ladder, non partisan IPM simultaneously "distanced" ourselves from Were's political maneuvering while becoming a willing partner in many of the community-based programs he had helped get off the ground. We supported a group of women as they started a poultry program; we provided technical assistance and support to the Dandora Women's Forum-a network of 30+ women's groups working together across boundaries of faith, culture, and ethnicity to improve the lives of all Dandorans; we discussed ways to enhance a teen-led HIV/AIDS peer tutoring program; we brought countless delegations from Europe and North America to visit with the children of the Villa Teag Orphanage that Were founded in memory of his mother; and, we purchased thousands of the beautiful black and blue IPM Immersion Experience bracelets-one of which I'm wearing as I write tonight...
On Tuesday morning, Were was murdered outside his home. Were was not a saint-how many of us are?-but his killing was clearly well planned and politically motivated. As I watched the video of police storming Were's home yesterday, the faces were all too familiar. Marc Otieno, who coordinates hospitality for the orphans at Villa Teag and greets all of IPM's Kenya Immersion Experience delegations with a smile, was clubbed mercilessly; Dandora Forum Members ran wailing from the charging police and sailing tear gas canisters; a student, who had benefited from one of the scholarships Were had solicited from friends in Italy and the USA, tearfully spoke of her fear for the future of Kenya...
Another friend of Were's and mine who serves on IPM's Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Council, summed up Were's murder and the situation in Kenya better then I ever could. "The sad news is that Mugabe Were is shot dead. The war in Kenya is about haves against the have-nots. Corrupt against the non corrupt, thieves against non thieves, tribalists against non tribalists, non reformist against reformist, land grabbers against non land grabbers, non democrats against democrats, unjust against just-but the just shall win. We know many more honest men and women like Were will die before justice will prevail. Let the international community not just stand by watching. Speak out boldly." We need to give Were and his vision for Kenya voice.
As the violence in Kenya continues, IPM continues to monitor the situation of its Advisors, Staff, and Project Partners on the ground. Although recent negotiations initiated by Kofi Annan seem promising, the intensity of the violence has increased, particularly in the western part of the country. The violence has undoubtedly compromised economic stability and international involvement in Kenya. As neighborhoods become increasingly dangerous, the price of commodities continues to rise, leaving thousands of families without basic necessities such as bread and milk.
Beyond Dandora, IPM's Project Partners country-wide continue to be affected greatly by the violence. The Dandora Women's Forum and the Villa Teag orphanage in particular have suffered great losses. Nineteen women have lost their businesses to fires, and four women have lost their homes. Some fifty children can no longer be housed in the Villa Teag school because the cost of living has increased so rapidly the school cannot afford to feed them nor provide a safe environment. The Josera Street Children Project in Nakuru is housing seven couples and their families and reports increasing deaths and burning homes as that central Kenyan town implodes before us. As a result to the vast displacement, the Kajiado AIC Primary School and Bride Rescue Project have seen an increased admission of girls from affected areas of Kenya. These are just a few examples of the horrors wrecking IPM's Kenyan Partners.
Another Jesuit, Salvdoran Jon Sobrino, has written that the greatest enemy of hope is despair. As we consider IPM's next steps in Kenya, we will continue to look despair in the face with our eyes wide open-knowing that Were was martyred for loving Kenya and for believing in the mission of IPM: promoting justice, peace, and hope around the world.
Amani (Peace)!
Joseph F. Cistone
January 30, 2008
Cleveland, USA