Joe Peterson, the Demon basketball assistant coach (1999-2001) now in Kenya as a missionary/teacher, filed a much more ominous update this morning, just a little more than a day after things seemed to be calming down:
"Written 1-29-08 at 5:25 AM PST
"Safe" is a relative term these days. I may have spoken too early in the last update. Mbita is much safer than most places in Kenya, but that doesn't mean we are always safe. Kenya is quickly becoming another Somalia where there is no government. This country is not being run by a government right now; it is being ruled by the mobs. The mobs tell you when it is ok to travel or not. They tell you when to open your shop or keep it closed. And they tell you when you can go to school or not.
Yesterday most schools around the Province opened. In Mbita things went on well, but on the news I saw many pictures in Homa Bay and Kisumu of parents rushing back to schools to retrieve their kids and bring them home when more rioting began. On Tuesday the schools in Mbita started their days normally. It was a great morning. The kids were so happy to be back in school and the teachers were busy teaching their lessons. Around 9:30 A.M. my phone began ringing furiously, and it didn't stop ringing for almost ten minutes. Parents were calling to inform us that riots had broken out in town and the mobs were targeting schools and teachers. All the schools in the area quickly dismissed their kids to go home. We rushed to the classes and asked the kids to get their things and come to assembly. After informing them of what was happening we prayed over them and sent them home. It was a dangerous situation. A mob from Mbita was coming in our direction and another mob was coming from Sindo, a nearby town in the other direction. Our teachers grabbed the littlest ones who could not walk fast enough and ensured all of the children's safety. I managed to escort the group of children living around Mbita town to their homes through some back ways. We are sure that all of staff and children made it safely to their homes.
People are protesting because of the violence that was inflicted on their Luo tribe over the weekend in other parts of the country, and also because a Member of Parliament from the opposition party (ODM) was assassinated at his home this morning. People were burning many tires all over town throughout the day. They went to a secondary school on Rusinga Island to attack the teachers there and vandalize the school. They also went to Mbita High School to threaten them, but eventually left after they were given money and about ten tires (so they can burn them). This mob was different than the ones I have seen in Mbita in previous weeks. In this one, most were armed with 1-2 machetes and there were even some bows and arrows.
Currently as I write this, both sides of the political divide are arriving at County Hall in Nairobi to begin official negotiations with the mediating team, headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Looking at it through my own eyes, a suitable solution that will bring long lasting peace is highly unlikely. Looking at it from a Biblical perspective, I know God is in control and everything is possible with him!
It doesn't look like we will be going to school for quite a while
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