KANYAGIA INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS
Thank you to all for waiting patiently for our updates and giving us your continued support and help.
Our recent project was a big project and it could not have been done without the help of each and everyone of you.
During the second weekend of March - Director and Mrs. Shiojiri, staff from ACEF and staff from Embu Children Clinic traveled over two and half hours to Kanyagia (near Nyahururu town) to a IDP (internally displaced persons) place to donate more than $1500 worth of food and supplies.
Some of these IDP groups are recognized by the government that they get aids from the Red Cross or other organizations. However, some are in the interior and are hardly recognized by any organization and are helpless and desperate for relief.
The place where our group went was one of these unrecognized ones and they were soo happy to get the relief. The approximate number of people around this area is about 1,200 but only about 400 people were able to know about the donation and succeeded to come. They appreciated so much for our mobile clinic since there were a lot of diseases spread due to uncleanliness, lack of water, sharing utensils, and undernourishment. These people are not planning to go back to their home lands because of the fear that they might be chased away or be in turmoil again.
Here is the breakdown of the donation:
30 bags of maize (90kg each) - 40,000Ksh = $597.01
5 bags of beans (90kg each) - 22,500Ksh = $335.82
240 tins of cooking fat - 19,090Ksh = $284.77
240 pieces of cooking salt (1/2 kg) - 1,980Ksh = $29.55
240 bars of laundry soap - 12,400Ksh = $185.07
2 bags of assorted clothes
Medine - 9,000Ksh = $134.32
Total - 104,960Ksh = $1,566.57
Pictures of the Mobile Clinic - thanks to volunteers from ENA Children Clinic and donated medicine, we were able to assist many women and children.
Thank you to all who helped make this happen! Let us continue to work towards helping those in need and making a difference the best way we can with what we have.
Below is a message from Kazumichi Shiojiri - Manager of EM Technologies and son of the Director of ACEF. Please read below for more information regarding the IDPs and problems occurring in Kenya. Any contributions you can make towards helping those in Kenya right now is always greatly appreciated!
"As you already know, there are many tribes in Kenya and not all of them are amicable and some had always been envious and scoring against others. The start of this problem goes back to the times of colonial and independence. British colony had come and took people's land by force regardless of the tribes. People in the Western Kenya who were mostly Luo had also been taken their land. But when Kenya got independence in 1963, Brithsh government returned most of the lands to Kenyan government. The president of that time, (Kenyatta) who was Kikuyu had advantage over the control of the returned lands. The government took over these lands and started selling the lands mainly to Kikuyu business people. Luos, the former owners of the lands in Western had nothing to do because they had no title deeds to prove that the lands belonged to them. This is how hatred started between these tribes and others too.
After Kibaki was reelected as the president of Kenya, Raila started claiming about the lands of Luo and how Luos were mistreated. This stimulated Luos to revenge on the mistreatment and grab back their lands. They started attacking Kikuyu by burning their houses and churches, killing, raping, whatever they could do to pay them back. Some were even neighbors!! Kikuyus had to run away from this turmoil to safety places like Nyahururu, Nakuru, Naivasha, where many other Kikuyus lived.
They now have to sleep on the cold mud floor in a house of a stranger who offered them to stay temporarily. Some don't even have a blanket to cover themselves to overcome cold nights in Nyahururu. Therefore, they appreciated very much for our relief, but if we are able to come once again, they were kindly asking for blankets. I think you are familiar with how cold it is in Nyahururu. It becomes very cold especially at night.
Other things they need are: Blankets, basins, texts and notebooks, stationeries, and uniforms for children. Microfinance loan for capital to start a small businesses. It will be good if you could also continue to assist and support for this project. Even though Kenya seems to have recovered peace, people are still fighting in some areas and IDPs are still increasing. I can say the real struggle for Kenyans has just started. Thank you very much for your support."
03-15-08
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