These past couple weeks I have been down to the IDP camp
several times. The first time I went down to the valley I was overwhelmed to
see that in the main camp there were so many houses. The last time I had been
there it was a tent city made of tarps that had done their best to withstand a
year and a half of sun wind and rain. (Photo below was taken in 2009).
This time as we approached the main camp, it was a whole
different sight. The shiny tin roofs sparked under the hot sun. It was exciting
to know that so many families had a decent place to call home.
We continued to drive past the main camp to Camp Tumaini
(Camp Vision), a smaller camp that has received much less help over the past
three and a half years, which is where our focus is. There were no homes built
there. It is hard to even call it a tent city, as most of the tents have not
been able to hold up this long. Instead, the homes are made mostly out of tethered
and torn tarps and scraps of trash. For these people, things have not gotten
better with time, but more worn out.
This is the home of a beautiful woman named Elizabeth. She
is the mother of four. The oldest son, Denis, speaks English fairly well.
During my visit to their home he showed me their barren shamba (small plot of
farm land) and their two chickens. Before I left he wanted to offer me an egg. This
type of generosity astounds me!
My prayer continues to be that each of these families will
have a house to call home. A safe place that can protect them and shelter them
from the elements. It seems so simple or basic, but baby Salome has never had a
house.
I hope I’ll have the chance to someday visit her and her family within
four walls and under a shiny roof of their home.
