Trips

Hello,

This week, Dorothy and I were able to get in the car and we drove down to the border with Tanzania, a place called Namanga. We have some friends there who work in different capacities. We wanted to spend some time with them, see how they are doing and just get a sense of how things are in that part of the country. We had a friend with us who helped us in ministering to our friends. It is a pretty little town which used to be inhabited by the Massai people only. Not so long ago another tribe from the Northeast discovered that this is actually a nice place to live and within a short time thousands of them moved in and brought a new culture and religion. They are incredibly good in doing business and especially right there at the border trade is going on very well and money can easily be made. 

Every now and then tension is flaring up and the mood between the two groups gets sour and only through very intentional peace initiatives and effort from the christian leaders can conflict be avoided. Ethnic tensions are felt in many places in Kenya these days and we are saddened by it. Currently fighting is going on between two warring groups in Wajir and in Mandera. Houses were burned, property destroyed and even people got killed. Through some of our efforts here in our organisation we were able to conduct peacetalks between two tribes along the Tana River after some horrible tribal clashes which happened in September and October. Besides the peacetalks we gave food and other items to those affected worth Euro 1,200 just this past week. Those who received were very happy and thanked God for coming to their rescue. It is hard to make the right decision sometimes when so many are suffering and we can only do so much in order to alleviate some of their pain and suffering. 

We are grateful for the little we can do in a world full of suffering, Have a lovely day, Thomas