GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL! DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT 200!

CAN YOU WEAR THIS?

Destruction constructed...

Ignorance unclothed...

"This will go down as the worse day of my life. In the emergency room I step over the dead to reach for those dying. They were out of supplies. They had to use the same needle to suture multiple people. They were out of IV's in the hospital and all drug stores in town are closed. Called the owner of Eldochem and he met me at his shop within 10 minutes. Loaded my car to the brim with all of his IV fluids, tubing and suture sets and returned to the ER. Many burns along with at least a hundred with lacerations all over their bodies. Too many were just bodies. We lost an unknown number of children in Eldoret in a single church fire. Best guess is >30 children may have died in this single blaze. Many of the burned adults and children survivors are in our ER."

"More people have died today in Eldoret than the number reported in the media for all of Kenya! Got our food truck and formed a caravan: Armed guards in front and behind, our truck, I was in a Kenyan Red Cross truck. We drove to the Eldoret airport to pick up supplies flown in to us by the Red Cross. We loaded literally tons of wonderful supplies and just got them back to the hospital. Even included a Red Cross trauma surgeon who flew up with the supplies. The drive to the airport is just too much. There are fires in all directions as homes and shops burn. Literally hundreds of refugees walk along the road. Sometimes it is 30-50 children and a single adult walking along carrying what they can. The road itself was cluttered by large stones that represented road blocks where they look in the car for those who are the "wrong tribe". There must be 20 blocked areas in that short drive. Most abandoned but not all. Passed many burned out homes and shops on the way. Standing on the tarmac of the airport, I could see smoke coming up on the horizon in all directions. I have pictures but lack the courage to even look at them myself much less send them until I relax a bit."

"It is my understanding that things in Western Province are pretty stable. The bulk of the crisis is in Rift Valley where we are, Nyanza, Nairobi and Coast. Those who flew in on the plane describe smoke coming up all along between Nakuru and Eldoret. I will not be able to process what I have seen; perhaps never understand my feelings. Be assured that the human genome needs many more years of evolution if it can get there biologically. The only way I can see to jump our inherent flaws as a race is to encounter something deeper in our lives than just self. It is a precious thing to have a deep feeling of being changed by our faith."

"Never take that for granted. It is all that gives sanity to what I have seen today."

PRINA SHAH
b.1973, Nairobi, Kenya
Live and Work in Kenya
Probe:
The Amnesia Project Platform 7

PROBE...

Lest we forget...

Christmas Day: a day synonymous with joy and happiness. But for post elections clash victims still living in camps, celebrating Christmas with no food and clothing is a hard lump to swallow. Politics ruined their lives and Christmas, and for now it's just a fairy tale...



From Citizen TV

Sukuma Kisumu - Where we are

On 27th December 2007, the Election Council of Kenya announced the results of the presidential elections. The story that followed is one that has been told from 1001 fingers, mouths and eyes. There was little we could do besides watch in fear as the wrath of poverty spilled across the country. The violence subsided and hundreds of thousands across the country squatted in displacement mourning the loss of friends and relatives, homes and shambas.
Tis' the goodwill of the common that helped. Sukuma Kenya was one such example that was initially created as a space for people with links to Kisumu to help do what they can. In just over one month after putting out an appeal for funds, £9168 was raised. Ladies In Action set out to help as many people as possible through basic food provisions, transport away from ethnic persecution, distribution of basic necessities and assisting people getting on their feet again.
Thanks to the Susan Deans who founded the Kisumu Orphans Education Fund, we were able to set up a paypal account to receive the donations from all our friends and friends of friends. It never ceases to touch my soul when I think about the fact that hundreds of people donated.
Unfortunately, we had a few hiccups with transferring the cash to the account in Kisumu and Ladies In Action were often forced to use funds from other sources. We have just managed to confirm that all the funds are no accessible and after balancing the books, there is still £3712 left from the Sukuma appeal fund which will be used for more long term sustainable small projects. With so many people affected in the Kisumu region and the ever rising cost of food, Ladies In Action will do what they can to help provide food security through helping people farm land in a more productive and environmentally friendly manner. It is a drop in the ocean but we all know that is all we can do. A break down of funds below:
Those of you who have been following this blog would have noticed that Sukuma Kenya has changed tack. We are angry. The politicians got away with murder. Their hands are covered in blood. It is that simple. Posts on this blog will back up that statement as will the obvious. Kenya is poorer than it ever was and all we have to show for a free and fair election is a bloated cabinet that is going to cost Kenyans an additional US $4.6 billion.
What more is there to say. The facts are at your fingertips. So my last appeal to everyone who has been with us is to show our self-imposed government that you are disappointed to. I don't know what else to do but I figure if we all sign the petition (Click here) and we manage to get 10,000 signatures to say that we think that MPs are paid far too much and have ample resources, especially land, we could start to solve some of our problems and they could actually do something to help. Okay, so there is a slim chance that it is going to change much but in the current circumstances, I don't know how else we can express our frustration pragmatically.
So, hey watch the video in the post below from Amnesty International, sign the petition if you want to, and most importantly don't lose hope in us Kenyans. And for all my fellow Kenyans, we must never stop fighting for equality for all.

Lest we forget...

Its all well and good that the parliamentarians are sitting snuggly next to eachother sharing the cake but the country is still boiling, people are still dying and hundreds of thousands are still displaced. I just can't see how more talk shops are going to resolve this. We need affirmative action. We need our leaders to donate parts of their personal spoils - their land, their salaries. We need them to go out to their people and be on the ground because the last time everyone was busy filling in bits of paper this was the result...