Happy New Year in Nairobi
By Keith Ham, CMF missionary

People in Nairobi are finally beginning to say “Happy New Year.” A power-sharing deal was signed on February 28 between the country’s key political players, ending two months of post-election violence. Now our focus is on resettlement, locating sponsored kids, peace initiatives and helping people restart their small businesses. Most of the displaced people are from Kibera and Mathare, the country’s largest informal settlements (or slums).

What we’re doing is exactly what the folks are asking for: providing money restart their businesses and to rent a house so they can get out of the wind, rain, mosquitoes and have some small measure of security. There are few housing options because of the vandalism, fires and illegally occupation of homes. But hundreds like Mary Anyango have managed to find a place.

We resettled Mary about 3 weeks ago. She has two children; one is in our centre at Bondeni (a village in Mathare) and one is 2 years old. When we went to visit her and give her a “house-warming” gift of food, she told me her story. As she talked, she cried and couldn’t stop, but in between the tears she shared how her husband died two months ago, not due to the violence, but from AIDS. (That’s why we accepted her older child last year to the Bondeni center.) When the violence began, she had to run to the Air Force camp because her home burnt to the ground. That’s where one of our social workers found her. She and her kids are safe and in “a home” now.She’s back to work sometimes at her “casual job” -- meaning day-to-day employment washing clothes by hand for others. She brings home 70 cents a day when she gets work. She’s in our HIV/AIDS home-based care program and doing great with others to support her and keep her from social stigma. The week before I saw her, she was visited by one of our church leaders, and he shared the love of God with her, and she dedicated her life to Him. Pray for Mary.