Signs of peace but the work just begins...

Sunday morning: I think for the first time since the elections on December 27th, things feel normal - at least for us who are fortunate and have not been directly affected by the senseless violence caused by the elections. For the innocent victims, their struggle continues as more than 250,000 people have been displaced. The WFP has been quick to respond to the food crises as reported on the BBC
I spoke to my folks this morning who went for a drive in search of bread and they said they are also seeing the first signs of attempts to return to normal. There are a few people on the streets and some people are coming out to sell what little they have. There has been quite a large exodus of minority communities including South Asians but my father has strongly expressed to the media that this has not been against the South Asians. This has been about Kenyans as a whole. He spoke to the Hindustan Times.
So now it is time for the people of Kenya to pick up the pieces and rebuild the country that has been destroyed by our leaders who we had so much faith in. As you know Kisumu, the third largest city which is predominantly Luo, the main ethnic group that supported the opposition - ODM - has been one of the worst hit areas in terms of destruction and loss of property. People are hungry as the shops are empty and not fresh food has been arriving in town.
Ladies in Action have started preparing the mass feeeding programme. We have been working hard to get the online donation facility running. Fortunately, we have also found a much easier solution to receiving funds and delivering to Ladies in Action. Susan Deans from Jersey Island, UK, started a registered charity: Kisumu Orphans Education Fund [Member of Jersey Association of Charities no 306]. They have been supporting various development and poverty eradication programmes in Kisumu for a while and are now making appeals to raise funds to deal with the current problem. The Kisumu Orphans Education Fund has kindly agreed to allow us to use their charity to receive the funds that we will be requesting on this blog and they will transfer the funds to Ladies in Action. We should have the application up and running today thanks to David Njuguna who is a computer guru and my colleague at WildlifeDirect
Have a wonderful sunday and if you pray, today is the day to remember Kenya's people...