news in english

Hi,
Just came back from our clinic in the Somalisection of Nairobi. It was interesting to be there the day after the bombing of a town in central Somalia. The american missile attack targeted a subgroup of Al Qaeda and hit the house where its leader was residing. During the raid 9 people died including the leader of the group. We could feel quite a bit of tension especially with an american in our group. One said to the doctor, thanks for treating my mom, but I am going to Somalia and fight in the Jihad there, and die in the cause of Allah. He was a very angry man, and one can see that people are torn, they want to like us for what we are doing, but in the same time they should hate us, for whom we represent. It is a difficult situation for many. The country is in pieces and there is no immediate hope for a political solution for the countries problems.
One day earlier we went down to the border of Tansania, a small town called Namanga. There are actually two towns which are almost completely taken over by Somalis. We went down there in order to encourage local Pastors to see this as an opportunity for them to reach the people with the Gospel. The local Massai population including the leadership of the towns are intimated by the massive growth and aggression of the Somali influx and with it the growth of Islam in that area. Some of the indigenous people started to fight the recent immigrants with weapons only to realize that this is not the right way to go. Over time the locals also saw that Islam is indeed a foreign religion for them and they started taking their kids out of their schools and refused their girls to be married by Muslim men. In a sense it is quite impressive in what speed these people are moving into a place and have the capability of adapting to a new place and almost colonise an area. We are praying now that the local pastors and christians would lose their fear and go out boldly and share the love of God with these new immigrants to their land and would use the weapons God has given to us, that is love and prayer.
Have a great weekend, Thomas