Shelter
The Problem:
When violence broke out from tribalism in the 2007/2008
elections here in Kenya, thousands of people fled their homes. They were forced to leave the lives
they had established and start from ground zero. Many of the IDPs in the Maai Mahiu area pulled what money
they were given by the government and purchased land together. They then setup tents and tarps to live
in. These temporary structures are
just that…temporary. However, some
people have been living in the, for years. They are tattered and don’t provide much protection from the
rain and sun that beats down on them in the Rift Valley.
Eventually Habitat for Humanity got involved and agreed to
build over 300 homes. They are
currently trying to finish up a few remaining homes in the next couple
months. However, there are still
camps in the area with families living in tents…and Tumaini is one of those
camps. We’ve tried working with
Habitat too see if they would continue to build homes for people in need, but
it doesn’t look like they are going to be able to help beyond the initial
commitment they made.
The Solution:
God gave us a heart to work to better this situation. We’ve been trying to get things
arranged to have the community take ownership of a building project where they
are making bricks and building home for themselves. The photo at the right is the brick press we’d like to use
to aid in construction. This has
been a long process and is still being worked on, but we’ve encountered a lot
of roadblocks. We need the
government’s approval to move forward with endeavor, but because of a lot of
issues and quarreling in Tumaini, the government has asked us to hold off doing
anything until all the problems can be resolved.
Please join us in praying for Tumaini’s unity. There are deeper issues here than just
getting everyone to agree, and we need Tumaini to become unified for anything
to move forward. I’m excited for
what could take place, but we need the Lord to bring it and everyone together
for this to even get off the ground!
