Human need, humanitarian effort

Dorcas Ngure is the Kenyan Red Cross's regional manager for Central Kenya. She has been called into Nairobi to help coordinate the relief efforts around the country. They are currently focusing on help for the people who have been displaced from their homes during this conflict.

I spoke with her briefly this morning, as crowds of volunteers loaded worn old trucks with food and clothing supplies for people who have been displaced in several Nairobi slums, including Kibera, Kiambu, Mathare, Limuru and Korogocho.

What are you focusing your efforts on?

We are doing assessments to establish how many people have been displaced. It is changing on a daily basis. We are also distributing food items. In some instances, we are distributing non-food items.  We are tying to get some wheelchairs and clothes to distribute. We are also dealing with groups with HIV and AIDS. We are trying to collect special supplements to distribute to them. We are also linking up with those who offer [anti-retroviral drugs], so that those on ARVs can continue with their medication.

How are you helping people with water?

Wherever we have our teams, we have sent them out with an emergency response unit for the water. There are 10,000 liter bladder tanks in Eldoret, Burnt Forest and wherever people are camping. For the food, we have done our best to distribute food. We are doing this daily to various camps.

What is your current estimate of the number of people displaced in Kenya?

Currently, we are working with 257,000. That is the official number given by the government. But we are seeing that numbers are increasing.

What potential do you think there is for people to be taken back to their homes?

What we are seeing is the government trying to relocate the displaced people to their homes of origin. But we don't know how long that will take.

We are [expecting that people will need our help for] a period lasting about six months... people were supposed to be harvesting in March, but because of the destruction of crops, people can only plant again after the short rains and they will be able to harvest again in June and July. We are looking forward to that season, when people will be able to produce their own food.

What are the greatest challenges in the work you are trying to do?

The large number of groups that are turning out. We register 500 people, then 3000 turn up when they hear there is a distribution. Trying to control that crowd is a challenge.

What kind of support are you getting from the government?

The government is giving us some food items like cereals. It is also giving us some logistic help, not transportation but security. We are working with the District Officers and the Chiefs. That is how we are able to maneuver in these areas. Our food distribution is mainly in the DOs or the Chief's offices. The government is also giving us information about how many people are dead or displaced.

What are the needs of people with HIV/AIDS who have been affected?

They are affected because they do not have their normal supplies of supplements. Maybe these are people who received them from organized groups. The other [need] is anti-retroviral drugs, since they are displaced, they can not get them from the clinics where they were [usually] supplied.

What do women and children in particular need?

In fact, these are the most affected. We need the sanitary towels for the women. We also need the drugs for the children who are getting some minor infections. For the women, we also need a kind of protection and shelter.

If people want to help you, how can they do that?

There is an on-line donation on our website. We require a lot of support. It is to be used not only in the current operation, but over the next six months. Currently, people need food.

In the next two or three months, we will need to start reconstructing the houses of these people. We will need to start reconstructing the schools, the churches that were burned down. We are looking at a larger picture.

Those who are giving us food and non-food items, we sincerely appreciate but we also want people to come out and help us in the long term.

Thursday update

I was unexpectedly on the edge of my first real Nairobi protest today. Of course, for once, I didn't have my equipment with me.

It was a medium-sized march of female ODM supporters. They were chanting, "No Raila, No Peace!"

Things here have settled to a steady simmer. Every day there seems to be a little trouble somewhere in town... protests on Junga Road, trouble for Kambas in Mathare, a woman's march in Hurlingham.

The unrest continues, in part, because of some people's desire to revenge the violence and property damage against their community. The larger cause is the continuing political tensions.

Although Odinga and Kibaki's meetings with Ghana's Kufuor and other international visitors are still going on, there seems to be little movement on the road to resolution.

Kibaki has assigned half of his cabinet seats. Some people here are speculating that he left the other half open as a gesture to Odinga to say, "If we can strike a deal, there is still some room for your supporters in high office." Other people think the open seats are meant to lure ODM members of parliament to jump ship to PNU.

ODM's parliamentary majority is close to the number of seats needed to pass a vote of no-confidence that would force a new election. But that would require MPs to be willing to face another poll race as well, unlike a re-run of the Presidential ballot.

Odinga continues to vow not to stand down until there is a new Presidential race. He called off a scheduled ODM rally on Tuesday. Supporters around the country were planning to converge on city centers to name Odinga "The People's President." Despite the cancellation, and agreeing to meet with international delegates, Odinga has done little to encourage his supporters to stop their protests. He has been repeating the names and poll numbers from sites around the country where there is suspected poll-rigging.

On Tuesday, Odinga appointed the Presidential runner-up, Kalonzo, as his Vice President. That has led to violence targeting the Kamba community, as some people feel Kalonzo's acceptance of the post means he is taking Kibaki's side in the dispute.

Some street-corner political commentators here suggest that, by naming Kalonzo as VP, Kibaki is trying to dissuade Odinga from continuing to push for a new presidential ballot. They say Kibaki is hoping Odinga will fear that the nine or ten percent of the vote Kalonzo won last time, would go to the incumbent in a re-run.

Meanwhile, it is the poorest Kenyans and people in neighboring countries who continue to suffer. Thousands of businesses have been burned. Many people who were skating on the thin ice of small business are now without livelihoods. As prices for staples continue to rise (someone tried to sell me bananas for 10 shillings a piece yesterday... that is twice the regular mzungu price of five shillings), no regular income is leaving people without resources to buy food.

And then there are the approximately 250,000 Kenyans who are displaced from their homes. Many of those people are unlikely to return any time soon. Increased inter-tribal tensions are one reason for finding a new place to call home. Other people have no homes to which they can return.

Kibaki made an announcement yesterday that he would send out the police and the army's General Service Unit to maintain the fragile calm in the country. He also promised to help resettle people to their homes. As news crews were filming his speech, smoke was rising in the background from more homes in flames.

True to Kibaki's promise, today there are more security personnel on the ground. As we drove through one round-about today, a group of GSU in green fatigues were clustered around one copy of a newspaper, catching up on politics.

Report from Uganda

Christopher Mason, a colleague working in Uganda, sent in this report and photos. You can read more from him at his blog, Caked in Red Clay.

Thanks, Chris!

Here in Uganda there is a widespread sense of disbelief over what is happening in Kenya. Since the era of independence more than 40 years ago, Kenya has been the stable neighbour for not just Uganda but much of East Africa. Uganda's history has been pockmarked with coups, military leaders, civil wars and tribal clashes that have, at various times, sent Ugandan refugees fleeing into Kenya.

Today, thousands (the last report said 5,000 but it is higher now) of Kenyan refugees have fled into eastern Uganda, seeking to escape the violence. On a recent reporting trip to the border, the conditions of those coming into the country revealed the extent of the violence in western Kenya. 

Some had been hacked with pangas and machetes, and had the deep, bone-revealing wounds to prove it. Others were limping or bandaged from having been stoned. Most I met at an impromptu refugee camp had lost their homes and businesses.

And that's what makes this class of refugees unique. Today they are typical refugees, with little more than the clothes on their backs. But barely a week ago most of them owned homes and businesses.

"Two weeks ago we were business people, but today we are typical refugees. We have nothing," one refugee, who owned a dairy a week ago, told me. He said his house and business have since been destroyed.

"They even took my clothes," he said.

This status as business owners is why, they say, they were targeted. In western Kenya, the Kikuyu form the bulk of the business-owning class. They moved west from central Kenya, into lands dominated those from the Teso and Luo tribes. The Kikuyu owned businesses, ran hotels and were generally better off than the rest of the western population. Over the years this led to a previously-hidden hostility that exploded when last month's election results were announced.

Ugandans have so far been welcoming to the refugees. Many of the relief workers in eastern Uganda say they are happy to return the hospitality that, over the years, Kenyans often offered to fleeing Ugandans.

"Ugandans have been refugees and it was Kenya who sheltered us," said one Ugandan relief worker I spoke with. "So when Kenyans began coming across it was a form of payback."

Here in the capital, Kampala, people are far enough away from the border that they rely on media reports for updates on the situation.  But the election and violent aftermath have had a tangible effect on the region.

As a landlocked country, Uganda relies largely on Kenya's port in Mombasa for supplies of all kinds. That supply route dried up because of the violence and with a couple days the country's fuel supplies had completely evaporated. I was flying back into Uganda on the 2nd, and arrived at the airport to find taxi drivers charging 100,000 Ugandan shillings (about $60) for the taxi trip back to Kampala, rather than the normal 45,000-50,000. They were doing this because prices at the few stations that still had fuel had quadrupled to 10,000 shillings a litre (about $6 a litre).

Gas prices have now gone down to 3,500-4,000 shillings a litre, though many stations are still dry. But many drivers have still left their vehicles at home, unable to afford the cost of driving and unwilling to spend hours waiting in line for fuel.

When the worst of the shortage hit, Uganda worked out an agreement with Kenya that Kenya would provide armed guards to escort supply trucks to the border so they could reach Uganda. Once the crisis has passed, many here hope leaders will have learned a lesson that a more reliable system of supply, and reserves, needs to be established to avoid this from happening again.

Widespread sexual violence: an interview with Dr. Thenya

Sam Thenya is the CEO of The Nairobi Women's Hospital, a 57-bed hospital that offers ob-gyn and other sexual health services to women.

We met for a brief interview. He was watching the latest news update while we talked, trying to stay up to date about the ever-shifting situation here.

Here's what he had to say about the sexual violence that has been part of this conflict:

We�ve seen a lot of post-election violence. One of the most disheartening issues that we have been handling are gang rapes that are occurring in the areas where the skirmished are taking place. We are seeing women, girls, even boys sodomized in front of their families. People are breaking into their houses and gang raping these women and children. The women who have come to us are telling us that there are many other people who are unable to come to the hospital.

Currently, we have teamed up with the Kenya Red Cross and the Kenya Association of Psychologists to give psycho-social trauma counselling to these survivors who have been displaced.

The Red Cross is providing the food and all the other things that they need. St. John�s Ambulance is providing transport. We are providing counselling services.

We have set up camps within Nairobi. We have sent two people to rift valley to assess the situation and we will be setting up camps in Rift Valley and Western Province.

How many people do you have in your hospital?

Yesterday we saw at least nine survivors of gang rapes. We are providing emergency care and then we send them back, unfortunately, to the camps. We are also following them up for counselling.

I don�t think we have anybody physically admitted. We only admit those who have severe unjuries that need hospitalization. And, of course, children. They get severe injuries and they need to be reconstructed. It�s only in extreme cases, because we don�t want to crowd the hospital.

What are the patterns you are seeing in the people who are coming in?

They seem to be targeted, but I don�t want to give the details of who is targeting who, because I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. They are happening both during the day and during the night. These people are gang raping with impunity. They are not worried about anything. It�s really really bad out there.

What do you think needs to happen for that part of this conflict to ease?

The first thing, of course, the political crisis needs to be sorted out. And of course the violence has to stop. That is the only way we will be able to stop the gang rapes. It is very clear that the gang rapes are occurring because of the lawlessness that is already existing on the ground.

What are some of the long-term impacts that you would expect in communities and for individual women and children from this kind of violence?

When we went down to provide this psycho-social support, we discovered that women and even men who have been displaced, some of them are HIV-positive. They don�t have their anti-retoviral drugs.

We also discovered that in the places where they are camping, in showground and other places, there are no formal structures. The next thing you are going to find, there is also rape and a lot of HIV-transmission amongst those who are displaced.

The gains made in the country in terms of HIV control is going to be lost. The other thing we are going to have is resistance, because these people are discontinuing their treatment. So you are going to have resistance to anti-retroviral drugs. It�s a big problem.

Taking these people back to their homes later and resettling them is going to be a big, big problem. One of the things that they have told us on the ground, is that they are very, very worried. The hatred, they don�t know how to handle it.

We have gone into teaching them about conflict resolution. They are very bitter. They need to know how to live harmoniously with their neighbors, even after all they have witnessed. It�s going to be a big big problem but we are doing the best we can do in the given circumstances.

Who are you calling on to help you with your work right now?

We are calling on the media to let people know where we have set up camps to help. That�s an immediate need. We are also calling upon anywhere which has counselors, medical personnel who can volunteer, especially to go outside Nairobi for at least a week. We are working closely with the Red Cross. Any help that can also go to the Red Cross, we�d be very happy.

Back in the office - Monday morning

On Monday morning, the African Woman and Child Feature Service opened after the holiday break.

Some of our colleagues are still marooned in their rural homes. Others are unwilling or unable to leave their Nairobi homes to travel across town to the office.

The talk amongst those of us who were in the office was all elections and post-election violence (as the broadcasters here have seemed to name it). Everyone had stories of shock at the conflict here, of friends in trouble, of threats to personal security and of hopes for peace.

African Woman and Child Feature Service is a diverse group. There are staff of all ages, from late teens to late forties. There are people from many tribal groups.

Our director, Rosemary, gathered us all to take tea late in the morning. We had a long talk about the conflict and the way forward.

The meeting was a great taste of the different viewpoints people have on the conflict and on what needs to happen to move toward long-term peace and true democracy.

Here are some excerpts from that conversation. You can read a longer transcript in the expanded version of this post, below.

"When God says, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself," he didn�t say that your neighbor will be [a certain tribe], he said your neighbor can be anybody. It is that neighbor that, when you are in distress, you call. "

"...my name is Juliana and I come form Busia or wherever. That won�t change. Even the attorney general can not help me with that one. That is part of my identity. But it does not give me permission to desecrate another person."

"When we went to vote, I remember we were on the line and I have my friends who are [supporters of another party]. And we were talking so positively. You don�t care whether they were voting for PNU or ODM. It was your democratic right. At that level, people didn�t care. What they wanted was just justice, a free and fair election. People were saying, �if you win, you have won. We are Kenyans.�

You know the other time I voted when Moi was in power, you could not even talk that. People feared. People did not want to know your political affiliation. This time people were talking openly.

Then this thing happened and you can see, if you listen to international media, some people are saying they wish this election had never happened."

"Ordinary people in Kenya, are just normally resigned to bear fate and say, �OK, I think the best we can do is pray.� But I think right now we must very pro-actively begin look for strategies in the work that we do that bring leaders to account for the things that they have done. We have to use our work to demand for truth and justice. That is the only way we can realize long-lasting peace.

Peace is something that people build over a long period of time. In Rwanda they are still building peace. Civil society people like us have the space and the means to begin to show that route to everyone else in our society."

"We are on the edge of the abyss. We cannot afford to go down. Not us. Us as individuals and us as a country. As Kenya. We can�t. It is too terrible to imagine... I am praying that we will be a model of leadership as individuals and as an organization. That we speak that word of power, that word of peace, reconciliation and moving forward. "

Here's the longer transcript of the meeting...

Rosemary

We don�t take it forgranted that we are all here. There are those of us who are still stranded�

When God says, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself," he didn�t say that your neighbor will be [a certain tribe], he said your neighbor can be anybody. It is that neighbor that, when you are in distress, you call.

So even as we are going to interact here, let�s ask God to give us the wisdom to pronounce peace, to pronounce love, to pronounce justice and harmony among us. Any change starts with you and with me�

AWC, we can be the model of Kenya, we are so diverse here. If we live in harmony, we will be a center for peace�

People have to talk. Let�s no censor ourselves. Talk anything. Even if you feel somebody is talking bad about your tribe. Let�s find solutions in an amicable way, knowing that we are here for each other. We are sisters and brothers. We care about one another�

It�s so sad to see people being displaced, people losing their livelihood. Three-quarters of people in Central, in Rift Valley, their life will never be the same. One week ago it was normal, now it is all gone. What is gone is years and years and years of hard work and investment and planning and energy�

Juliana

I thank God. I don�t take it for granted that we are back here. Even the people who are stranded wherever they are, they still have their lives with them.

We lost a friend, actually. He was an aspirant [for political office]. He came in second or third. We don�t know who shot him or why. We have lost friends. It hurts. When I think of him, I think, shame� this country has lost one more fantastic, brilliant person. Of course, he has left a very young family. I don�t know how that will be�

We have the power, in our own individual ways, to stop this rubbish. We just can�t go on this way. Being sensitive to the fact that my name is Juliana and I come form Busia or wherever. That won�t change. Even the attorney general can not help me with that one. That is part of my identity. But it does not give me permission to desecrate another person. I am just praying that out of this mess, something good will come out.

I am praying that we will be a model of leadership as individuals and as an organization. That we speak that word of power, that word of peace, reconciliation and moving forward. We are on the edge of the abyss. We cannot afford to go down. Not us. Us as individuals and us as a country. As Kenya. We can�t. It is too terrible to imagine.

Rosemary

We need to look at righteousness and truth and justice and mercy.

If only, we can open our eyes, to use our diversity in a very positive way, Kenya will go very, very far. All of us didn�t apply to be who we are. We found ourselves in this. You don�t punish another tribe because of who they are.

Ruth

I thank God for being here today. It�s taken the hand of good. Because us, we have been staying here. Everybody has been calling me, �What is happening on Ngong Road?� because everybody is watching Ngong Road on TV. But the lord has kept us safe. In the midst of all that confusion, tear gas, we all get scared. We got a chance to go to Kibera and we�ve seen massive, massive destruction in Kibera�

If we work hard as a team, love one another, cherish one another, we will be able to speak peace to the other people who are scattered all across Kenya.

Arthur

When we went to vote, I remember we were on the line and I have my friends who are [supporters of another party]. And we were talking so positively. You don�t care whether they were voting for PNU or ODM. It was your democratic right. At that level, people didn�t care. What they wanted was just justice, a free and fair election. People were saying, �if you win, you have won. We are Kenyans.�

That was the talk on the lines. I could not imagine. You know the other time I voted when Moi was in power, you could not even talk that. People feared. People did not want to know your political affiliation. This time people were talking openly.

Then this thing happened and you can see, if you listen to international media, some people are saying they wish this election had never happened. People were saying, you stay with somebody for 20 years, and it�s just because of an election, someone is burning your house and you are being chased out.

These are people you have lived with, people you have helped, people you fall back to when you have a problem. I think the public is taking leadership. They don�t even now want leaders to steer the process. Only by us taking leadership, we shall change things.

Juliana

Yesterday at church, there was this reverend, she said �I want to stand here as a representative of [my] community. There are things that we have spoken that have not been good. I want to confess on my behalf and on behalf of the community I represent, that we have not always been fair.�

And she called up another member of [another community]. She said, �come and stand here. I want to face you. I want to apologize publicly for things that we said and did that were not right, even as people of the church and as individuals.� It was really powerful.

Then they said, �now we are going to pray.� It was a very long, powerful prayer. People cried. People actually wept. For me, I thought there was power in the public acknowledgement that wrongs had been committed on both sides.

This man who came up, he said, �you see, when you listen to my prayer and even my apology on behalf of the people I represent, it is many years of heartbreak, many years of being put down, many years of injustice. And all this bitterness and the fact that there is no justice. People have been crying over the years and there has been nothing coming through. And now there is rage. And now we are associated with all this violence.�

I thought that was really powerful, even within the church. Even the church leadership admitting they were divided� For me that was a very deep acknowledgement. I was just thinking that if that model can be replicated, maybe that is where we need to begin.

Those images we see. Those SMSs we have received. Frantic phone calls from friends, relatives. You know us, we have friends across every tribe. You know, when people call you at one AM in distress. All you can tell them is, �let me look for whoever I can find, the best I can do right now is just pray but keep your phone open, we will see how it goes.� I didn�t sleep this whole holiday, this whole week.

Rosemary

You know what is happening now, we see Eldoret [on TV] but the people in those small, small towns, they are starving. They are stranded.

Arthur

I talked to [a TV station] and I told them, �don�t� just focus on Nairobi and Eldoret.� There are things which are happening in other towns. Even in the villages. Even in Nairobi, they were just focusing on Nairobi and Kibera.

I went to Eastlands, even now, by six pm, people are not walking. People are walking and at eight, somebody just stops and asks you to produce your ID. And yet the police commissioner says there is peace. There is peace and calm during the day. At night, there is no peace.

The night before we were attacked, I found men outside when I was coming back at around eight, men with pangas [machetes]. You know we are near this slum. They said, �you guys, you are there in comfort, we are coming to attack.�

Rosemary

Hunger is going to bring another face of war.

Juliana

A friend of mine in Langata says people are going around, just begging. Her landlady said we can�t help them. But even if you don�t, it will reach a point when people will jump over. You�ve barricaded yourself inside your gate, your walled compound and people in desperation are going to come through.

Arthur

You saw what happened, in Kibera, with the police, with their food. It was on [TV news]. People just took the food and the police were helpless. And children. Grown men grabbed food from children.

Joyce

When we say that it starts from the individual, it�s very important. Because even in this organization, we didn�t support one person but we are all getting along. In the queues, I heard people say ODM, PNU, but we got along. Starting from the individual level, interpersonal relationships. The little thing we can do as a person. If we all put it together, it�s a lot. I think we should not undermine our personal efforts.

Trying in the little way and subtle ways we can, to make a better place.

Yesterday, I tuned into the one hour of prayer and I liked what I saw. I didn�t see any political leader. Just church people, poets, musicians, people coming out to say, �we have lived together as one, why are we having issues right now?�

Why are we trying to fight other people�s battles? People are just trying to settle their own scores. As individuals, we just go on with our lives. As individuals, try to do the best we can.

Even if Kibaki has been our president for five years, he doesn�t know me and I am a Kikuyu. He doesn�t. He doesn�t know how I went through school. I never got a bursary or anything. I coped, just like every other Kenyan. So this belief, that if someone form my community becomes our president, my life will change, it wouldn�t�

Alix

Whatever is happening, at least at AWC we are all together, regardless of where you come from. When I was coming from home, I told the people there, �I am going back to Nairobi, I am going back to work.� So they asked me, �What kind of people do you work with?� �With everyone. With different people.� �And who is your boss?� I told them my boss is a Luo. They told me, �Gosh. And you are going back to Nairobi?!?� <everyone laughs> I told them, �Don�t worry. I�m confident, where I am going to work, everyone is intelligent and, at least, when it comes to the office work, we all stand together.� I am happy. We are together. We are in peace.

I called my father this morning and I told him, �I am in the office. And everything is OK.� He wishes AWC a lot of peace. But Kenya, if there is no peace in the country, even if there is peace here in AWC, we don�t exist. We don�t exist on our own, actually, alone. We work with partners, with donors and the government.

Wilson

There are many things in my mind. I wonder how to frame them. The work that we do as civil society from now, onwards, should aim at bringing leaders to account for these things that are happening now and for the many other things that have happened in the past. We sort just prayed and let leaders off the hook.

Ordinary people in Kenya, are just normally resigned to bear fate and say, �OK, I think the best we can do is pray.� But I think right now we must very pro-actively begin to look for strategies in the work that we do that bring leaders to account for the things that they have done. We have to use our work to demand for truth and justice. That is the only way we can realize long-lasting peace.

Peace is something that people build over a long period of time. In Rwanda they are still building peace. Civil society people like us have the space and the means to begin to show that route to everyone else in our society.

Anne

As Rosemary said, nobody chose to be born a Luo, a Kikuyu, a Mehru. I realized that [many people I know and work with are from another tribe]. I have no reason to have hatred towards them because of all these clashes. Let�s work as an AWC tribe.

Alex

There�s a quote that says a successful organization is one that finds opportunities in problems, not problems in opportunities� So we can maybe look out for things we can cover in this post-election violence. We just bring our means together and see what we can do.

Rosemary

AWC has partnered with the senior women editors to start a white ribbon, heal the nation campaign� Then there is a project we are working on to bring a peace journalism training to all the journalists here. Because when we were having a meeting last week with the senior editors, one thing came out, language is key in this peace process. Even they, themselves, they don�t know how to deal with the situation� Language and portrayal. You can not do it if you have never been exposed to a war like now and if you have never been taught�

Arthur

I like what the archbishop said, you can never push for peace if you don�t push for justice. In Zimbabwe, you remember, they started with �Peace. Peace. Peace.� But they realized, you can pray, but as long as there is not justice� Even if you look in the bible, there are places where justice has to be done. Where there is justice, there is peace�

Where we are now in the crisis, the moment people will see this justice, you will not see any other problems. We need an open forum, just to ask why certain tribes have lived together but how something small can ignite a massacre.

Report from Tanzania

My good friend Allison Dempster, another JHR trainer and CBC journalist, has sent in this essay about how this conflict is affecting Tanzania. She also writes about how the tribal tensions that are flaring here right now have got her thinking about the role of tribes in Tanzania.

I'm hoping some friends in Uganda and Rwanda will file reports from their stations soon.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here's Alli:

While more reports come in from Kenya on the numbers of dead and displaced, and the International Monetary Fund sounds the alarm about the effect of the post-election violence on East African economies, I made a trip to the Village Museum in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

I learned about tribes I had never heard of: how they build their houses, prepare their food and celebrate rites of passage. There are more than 120 tribes in Tanzania and I felt a little ashamed that I knew so little about them. It occurred to me that while I've lived in Tanzania for almost six months and I probably could have named just as many, if not more, Kenyan tribes as Tanzanian. And I've only been to Kenya once for a long weekend.

It's not a good excuse for my long overdue trip to the museum, but many Tanzanians have told me that tribes aren't really a big deal here. Sometimes they add the comparison, '...at least not the way they are in Kenya'.

I've even come across safari companies in Tanzania that have managed to work the country's history of being generally free from tribal conflict into their sales pitches. Against an animal print backdrop, one company's website boasts, "Thanks to its political stability and ethnic unity, 'tribalism' or tribal conflicts have never been a problem. Christians, Muslims and other religious denominations co-exist peacefully."

As Tanzanians watch Kenyan democracy flail, bloggers, editorialists and sidewalk newstand commentators here muse on tribalism. They are talking about what fuels it and what transcends it. This almost always leads to a discussion about 'Baba ya taifa', the 'father of the nation', Julius Nyerere, who led the former British protectorate of Tanganyika to independence in 1961. He became its first Prime Minister, later its first President.

Nyerere's African socialist experiment with community-based farming collectives may have failed economically, plunging the country into debt, but he is widely credited for bringing Tanzanians together with a national ideology that went beyond tribal allegiances. With so many tribes to unite over signifcant distances, this may have been a politically pragmatic move, as much as an ideological one. Nevertheless, described as a 'skilled nation-builder' Nyerere is championed for fighting tribalism, rather than using it to his political advantage.      

Tanzanian writer Godfrey Mwakikagile puts it this way:  "We may not have conquered tribalism in Tanzania, but we have been able to contain it effectively. And that's no mean achievement; a rare feat on a continent where the idea of nation as a transcendent phenomenon in a polyethnic context remains a nebulous concept."

Tanzania is now host to hundreds of Kenyans who have crossed the border to escape the post-election violence. One report estimates 1,000 people have made the trip.

The Kenyan conflict is putting Tanzania in the economic choke-hold that land-locked East African countries are experiencing, but debate is stirring over whether the Dar Es Salaam port can handle some of the Uganda and Rwanda-bound goods and fuel that would normally leave from Mombasa.

Back at the village museum, tourists wander through a display of traditional houses made out of different combinations of mud, clay, bambo and elephant grass.

There's also a baobab with a placard explaining the tree's spiritual significance to different tribes in Africa. Some leave offerings and prayers at the foot of baobab trees; even political leaders will pay them a visit to try to get in the good graces of their ancestors. Here's hoping Kenyan leaders find grace soon.

One day of rest: people, power, possibility

There is a magician downstairs.

He is saying "Abracadabra! Abracadabra!"

Kids are laughing. There are balloons and one of those inflatable trampoline things and cake and a big Happy Birthday sign. Someone is having a party around the sad little pool that borders our parking lot.

The small crowd gathered downstairs includes indigenous Kenyans, white folks and East Indians. It is taking all of my willpower not to go down and start interviewing people about conflict, race, tribes and politics. I would love to ask the magician-cum-clown how he managed to put on that red nose and a smile today.

But it's a party. And today is Sunday. Most of Kenya seems to be taking a day of rest.

I'm at home for the first time in many days. The shops and kiosks in the neighborhood are all closed. I imagine that everyone is at church this Sunday.

I've checked in with people around the country and, other than a sense of suspended animation and the ongoing need for food and paraffin, things are quiet.

On the political front, we have heard talk of coalition governments, vote re-counts and new elections. There seems to be little significant movement on any of those fronts.

Tomorrow some people will try to go back to work. Others will try to rally in downtown Nairobi. On Tuesday, demonstrations are expected in towns across the country.

Today, as people across the country take a deep breath and prepare themselves for a week of uncertainty, I want to take a step back from updates and look at the bigger picture.

The Problem

The Kikuyus and Luos are the two largest tribes in Kenya, where there are more than 40 distinct ethnic groups. Those tribes mingle in Nairobi, on the coast and in many smaller towns around the country. Much of rural Kenya is still largely divided up into tribal regions: Swahili on the coast, Luo and Luhya in the West, Kikuyu around Mt. Kenya.

Kibaki is Kikuyu. Most Kikuyus support him. Odinga is Luo. Most Luos support him, as do other people from tribes that are traditionally associated with western Kenya.The ethnic lines along which Odinga's ODM and Kibaki's PNU coalesced only reinforced the role of tribe in politics and business here.

This country has only had one truly fair democratic election, back in 2002. That's when Kibaki took over from Daniel Arap Moi. Moi, a member of the Kalenjin community, had been in power since 1978. He was constitutionally barred from running in the 2002 race. He had taken over after the death of Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu who led Kenya from independence in 1963.

I have only been here for about five months now. I don't pretend to be any expert on Kenyan politics, history or culture. But I feel confident in saying that tribe is not just a name here in Kenya. It is a culture. There are different languages, different traditions and different social mores.

There is a growing body of writing on the role of culture in development. I am only beginning to scratch the surface in my own reading. But suffice it to say that what is happening in Kenya right now is, in part, an example of what can happen when people from many cultural communities live together in one nation state, with widespread poverty and the general perception that holding political power is an essential way to build prosperity for themselves.

If there was a history of leaders from one community serving the country as whole, of not putting their cultural community ahead of others, then people here might be more willing to support a leader from another tribe. With such a history, we might see a well-formed party structure that is based around issues and platforms, not just tribe and personality.

Perhaps democracy is more than just whether a leader won the majority of the votes without any electoral fraud. Perhaps democracy is also a population that believes that a national government is a group of people who will work together to serve the good of the country.

The People

Whether or not they identify as a nation, the conflict in Kenya right now is affecting people around this country.

There are widespread shortages of food and water. Although people here and overseas aid agencies are donating food, the deliveries are delayed for fear that hungry people along the roads might swarm convoys.

Food is not moving around the country. Neither are people. Either there is no transport available or people are scared by stories of occasional marauding groups attacking cars or the price of transport has risen beyond their means.

In classic conflict fashion, Kenya's currency is faltering. Yesterday, a group of international donors issued a joint statement that urged Odinga and Kibaki to come to some sort of resolution, or risk permanent damage to the Kenyan economy.

The economy has had about five percent annual growth over the past five years. It is slowly weaning itself off foreign aid.

But right now people can not get to work. Goods can not get around the country.

The people living in slums provide much of the labour force in urban areas. With the poor security and limited transportation, they can not get to work. Other people who left urban areas to go to their rural homes for voting and December holidays can not get back to urban centers to and back to their jobs.

Those urban workers support countless family members in rural Kenya. If they are not making money, then they are not sending money home. In a country where the average daily wage is still below $1.50 USD, most people do not have much savings to drawn from.

Goods can not get to stores around the country. Export commodities can not get out. Traffic at the Mombasa port has been slow, if not stopped, over the past week. Trucks full of flowers and produce have had a hard time getting to the planes that would carry them to markets in Europe and elsewhere.

Perhaps the industry with the most to lose in the long run is the tourism sector. Tourism and horticulture (flowers, vegetables, fruit) are the top two industries in Kenya. But some local tour operators say most of their bookings for the next six months have been cancelled. Many European safari operators have voluntarily cancelled tours in the face of warnings or bans against travel to Kenya.

Part of something larger

Many economies in this region rely on stability in Kenya. Goods move through this country on their way to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Already those countries are seeing shortages in fuel and other staples, as supply lines through Kenya have slowed or stopped. Aid supplies also transit through Kenya on their way to Somalia, Sudan and eastern Congo.

While goods are not moving across the border, people are. They are reports of Kenyans fleeing to Uganda and Tanzania to get away from the fighting here. The idea of taking refuge in Uganda leaves many Kenyans shaking their heads, but a local paper reports more than five thousand people have crossed the border so far.

There is a large diaspora of Kenyans around the world. The conflict here is affecting them as well. There was a demonstration in front of the Kenyan embassy in Washington, DC on Thrusday. People called for an independent audit of the votes here.

On Saturday, there was a march in London, from Parliament, past 10 Downing Street, to the Kenyan Embassy. A Kenyan blogger living in London posted an essay about the event. One part of her story was particularly interesting to me. She wrote:

We walked to No.10 chanting demo slogans like "We want justice! Stop the killing Now!" The police stepped in to stop us from raising banners along Whitehall due to anti-terror legislation. I asked somebody which act they were using and somebody said "I don�t know. I don�t even think that the police know!"

�It was surreal. Here we were demanding that the British government respect the democratic will of Kenyans, but here in Britain 2008 the right to peacefully assemble and demonstrate is under attack.

For a moment I felt a terrible sense of impotence which quickly dissipated when I remembered that this is a matter for Kenyans to resolve, who needs Gordon Brown and his ridiculous ideas of coalition governments?

The Possibilities

A coalition government is what some other countries are suggesting Odinga and Kibaki form. If it is not working in England, with its relative cultural homogeneity and long democratic tradition, what kind of chance does it stand in an emerging democracy such as Kenya?

But maybe it is that kind of brave break from personality politics that will bring about true democracy here. Maybe Odinga and Kibaki can surrender their egos for the good of this country. As a friend of mine said today, "It's not their kids in Kibera or in Mathari, but they should still care about kids dying."

Other people suggest an independent body be brought in to recount the votes. As I have written here before, it seems clear that the ballots have not been secured since election day, so a recount probably will not put to rest all concerns about rigging.

There are reports that the Electoral Commission of Kenya will go to the courts for resolution of the election question. Some people have said that they think Kibaki will just dictate the court's findings. But for that to happen, in terms of Kenyan law, one of the parties must bring the complaint before the court. So far, neither ODM nor PNU has done so.

The other suggestion is another round of elections. Whether that would mean more time to arrange more rigging from both sides and a three-month respite before another round of conflict, I don't know. At this point, perhaps a new election overseen by a truly independent body is the fairest way forward.

Otherwise, maybe ODM supporters will run out of steam and Kibaki will lead the country for the next five years. Whatever happens, I am planning to stick around, to keep sharing the voices of Kenyans.

The Power of Words

"On Tuesday, it will be chaos."

"No, no. They won't rally. It will be quiet."

The crowd around the pool has shifted now. The sky is darkening and the adults have moved in. They are, of course, talking politics. I am, of course, eavesdropping.

It's taken me a long time to write this post. I know it's taken you a long time to read it.

There have been a lot of weighty terms thrown around about Kenya lately. For the first time, I have heard Kenyans use slang terms to refer to various tribal groups. Before last week, people always used formal tribal names in front of me.

During an interview with a Canadian news program last week, the host tried to get me to use the term "ethnic cleansing" to describe the situation here. I told her I had ethical issues with sticking such a weighty label on a sensitive situation.

I am cautious because I know the power of words. Kikuyu. Luo. They shape our perceptions. ODM. PNU. And those perceptions change our actions. Rally. Riot. Our actions change situations. Ethnic cleansing. Civil war. Genocide.

Even though the way forward is not clear, I will leave you with some optimistic words.

Not magic words. But hopeful words.

Somehow, someway, peace is always possible.