english update

Hello,

This is Sunday morning, again a very beautiul sunny morning in a highly expectant Kenya. The peace negotiations are continuing under the leadership of Kofi Annan. He manages to get the two opposing sides together and at least to talk to one another. Their positions are still hard but at least the talks edge forward a little bit, they are not at a standstill, which gives a lot of hope to many Kenyans and us. Tensions still remain high in various areas of the Rift Valley and Western Kenya and traffic hasn't come back to normal yet, in some of those areas you can't really go without Police escort. We were used to such kind of security measures in North Eastern Kenya years ago, but never heard of such things in other parts of the country. The disturbing thing for many of us is the departure of thousands, back to their ancestral land. The government is not able to guarantee security for those of the tribe other than the original tribe in the particular area. Therefore many choose to go home in order to save their lives, which has a huge impact in literally all aspects of life in Kenya. In one of the towns which was severely affected by mass killings, that is Naivasha, Gangs are now ruling the town and have ordered that no woman is allowed to wear trousers. If they are found, they will be stripped naked and left with their shame. The police has at this moment no control over the situation.

The face of Kenya has changed so much over the past month. But we believe that many Kenyans wake up and sincerely seek God in this situation to come and heal this land. We were reading Ps. 46 and were greatly encouraged by the fact that God indeed sees what is happening and is not surprised, even for a moment.
Even our neighbour to the east is still facing serious challenges, fighting everyday and the capital city almost empty. But the good news is that some of us have gone to one area to see how things are on the ground. They found people extremely welcoming and friendly. We will see what will come out of that and what can be done in the future.
I will let you know of what is happening, Thomas