Voices of women and children: launching a new project

It's the same story every time. Women, children and people living in poverty are the most affected by violence and unrest.

But each woman and every child has their own story to tell about the confict in Kenya.


There are stories of fleeing hometowns because people with certain last names were suddenly not welcome. There are stories of struggling to find food, clean water and medicine. There are stories of lost husbands, fathers, children. There are stories of rape, riot and murder. And there are stories of hope, of brotherhood in the face of ethnic violence. 

The African Woman and Child Feature Service is launching a project to help women and children tell the stories of how they are affected by the post-election violence. The Urgent Action Fund is supporting the project. Over the next couple of months, the reporting and editorial staff will be gathering these stories. We will be distributing them to media around the region and I will be posting some of them here.

Here is the first Voices posting. It was written by Joyce Chimbi, a program officer and junior reporter at AWCFS.

Double jeoprdy for refugees in Kenya   

When Hamida Sheikh fled Ethiopia in 2002 and took refuge in Kenya, she hoped that her life would take a turn for the better.

In her home country, Sheikh was associated with an anti-government rebel group. She says that endangered her life, and the lives of her five children. She had to take some drastic measures.

"My husband was arrested for allegedly supporting a rebel group. Life became very hard. Without him for protection, I knew it was only a matter of time before I was killed," she says.

Her husband is still in detention back in Ethiopia, and it has been a long time since they saw one another. Her youngest child is a constant reminder of the humiliation and assault she endured at the end of her time in Ethiopia. It's a child born out of rape.

Hamida is one of the estimated 310 refugees who have been camping at Nairobi's Jamhuri Park. She is caught up in a struggle that she does not even comprehend.

The hardship these refugees are now facing, in a foreign country torn by conflict is not unique. In search of safety, many refugees have sought asylum in countries that are themselves ablaze with conflict.

When violence erupted in Kenya following the December elections, people seeking asylum in Kenya were not spared the disruption in many parts of the country.

"Although we have no political affiliations, when the supporters of the two main political protagonists crashed, we were caught in the middle," Sheikh says.

She says people in her community did not initially feel threatened because, as foreigners, they were neutral, as far as tribal identities were concerned. In the end, she says, that was not enough for them to avoid the chaos that has pervaded the country.

Hamida says that she knew it was time to seek protection at the displaced persons' camp when leaflets were dropped at night, ordering the refugees to vacate their houses or face dire consequences.

Having been at the camp for about three weeks, most of the Ethiopians sit in groups smoking tobacco and chewing miraa, as they contemplate a way out of their predicament.

"This is called shisha," says 25-year-old Kadio Wako, gesturing to tall, colorful pipe. "It's a form of tobacco from Egypt .It has helped us to remain sane because it stimulates our nerves, keeping away stress."

He says they have had tobacco throughout conflict, because they bought plenty of it in Garissa, before the violence erupted.

Wako was studying law in Ethiopia when the political situation there became too volatile in 2003 and he decided to flee the country. The fact that his father was actively involved in politics and had been a Minister of Finance, put him in a very dangerous position.

"I'm Oromo, the majority ethnic group which in Ethiopia. That automatically qualifies you as a rebel against TPLF [Tigray People's Liberation Front] government," Wako says.

Wako's experience of strife and flight in Ethiopia is unfortunately being repeated in Kenya. He says that having to live through it again is tragic. Wako emphasizes that most of the refugees cannot go back to their countries, because the situations that instigated their exile have not improved.

"The TPLF government is still in power, and I'm still an Oromo. It would simply mean going back to where all this begun," Wako says.

His sentiments are echoed by Radia Hassan, who has been living in Kenya since 1999.

"The thought of returning to my country paralyzes me with fear," she says, as she pauses to blow smoke between her teeth.

"In Ethiopia, I was threatened, humiliated and abused," she says. "Under [the United Nations High Commission for Refugees], I was recognized as a refugee and registered right here in Kenya."

Hassan left her five children in Ethiopia. She settled in Kenya in the hope that she could rebuild her life and have her children join her.

Even though life in Kenya has been difficult owing to what she terms "hard economic times," Hassan has been grateful to be free to live her life.

"It's hell always watching your back, for fear that your enemies might make good their threat on your life."

Radia also says that it has been quite nerve wrecking living at Jamhuri Park. The constant sounds of gun shots in the near by Kibera slum has been a nightmare.

Although those staying at the camp have been assured of security, most of the nights they can hardly sleep for fear of being ambushed. The women seem to be the most affected by the conflict. Even at the camp, reported cases of rape are a constant reminder of their vulnerability.

"It is unfortunate that even with the situation as it is, sexual assault within the camp has persisted," says Doreen Bwisa, who is an administrator at the camp's medical clinic.

Most of these refugees have been in the country for many years. Some of the children running around were born in Kenya and have no memories of their parents' troubled past.

"I fled Sudan eight years ago," says Yong Sumi. "In Kenya, I have managed to rebuild my life but as things stand now, I feel like my future is hanging in the balance."

For these people now displaced in a country where they once found solace, their future is becoming more and more cloudy.

They say that they feel as if history is repeating itself. Their desperation is apparent and most of them feel neglected because, amidst the chaos, the particular needs of people in the refugee community seem not to be addressed.

Sumi says that since the government announced its plan to close the camp, he has worried every day about where he will go next.

"On Sunday the 27th , when most of the displaced Kenyans began leaving the camp in droves, we the foreigners huddled together in utter hopelessness," Sumi says

Standing next to him, Wako interjects, "Some of the displaced Kenyans have gone back to their houses, others are going to their rural homes, but where can we go?"

They feel that being a small group among the estimated 300,000 internally displaced people in Kenya has made it difficult for their plight to be addressed.

According to Margaret Wanyiri, the camp coordinator under the National Alliance of Churches, these are Sudanese, Rwandese and Ethiopian people currently staying at Jamhuri Park.

Wanyiri says the plight of the refugees is being addressed, and practical measures are being undertaken to relocate them to Kakuma refugee camp.

"We are actually hoping to have the exercise of relocating the refugees by Wednesday, 30th of January," Wanyiri says.

Kakuma camp, established about 12 years ago, is one of the world's largest and oldest refugee camps. Situated in the northern part of Kenya, the camp is home to an estimated 86,000 refugees from nine different countries.

Kakuma has seen frequent food shortages and incidences of sexual assault. That reputation does little to reassure the refugees at Jamhuri Park as they look at an uncertain future.

According to statistics by Church World Service, at the end of 2006 there were 2,932,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Africa.

Most refugees in Africa flee to neighboring countries. In the 2006 Church World Service statistics, Sudan produced the highest number of asylum seekers. Kenya hosted the second-highest number of refugees, Tanzania hosted the highest number.

In their report, the Church World Service said the statistics reaffirms the presence of conflict in many African societies, mostly due to ethnic intolerance.

"[The statistics] are symptomatic of the tragedy of the ethnic conflicts, social disintegration and political anarchy prevailing in some countries in Africa," the report says.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugee, people will only stop needing to flee their home countries when African political leaders embrace politics of inclusion. This would consequently create a solid base for responsible and accountable governance, which would in turn create room for a just and fair society.

Reporting on conflict: a conversation with John Keating

John Keating is a veteran journalist and journalism trainer from Canada. He has worked with IMPACS, and the Media and Democracy Group, training reporters in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Guyana, Brunei and Kyrgyzstan.

He spent the past three days leading a conflict sensitive journalism course for 25 reporters in Nairobi. His work was supported by International Media Support.

What are you finding that reporters are struggling with most, covering this conflict?

The thing that keeps coming up again and again is how, even if they write their stories in a balanced way, many of the editors will change them because there is a lot of corruption in the media here. People admit that pretty freely, even a few of the senior people are brave enough to say it. A lot of the media is owned directly or indirectly by politicians. They put pressure on, or pay off editors and owners to skew things to their point of view.

How much of that frustration on the part of journalists is due to a concern for their own safety?

That does come up. They say they go out for something, a demonstration or something, and the people say, "oh, you are from the Kikuyu paper." That can make them feel unsafe or frustrated because they don't see themselves as [affiliated to one particular side]. There is also a lot of division in the newsroom now. People are telling me, "People who used to be my friends, they are from a different tribe, and we don't even talk any more..."

There's one guy up there who is one of the displaced persons who had to leave his town because he didn't feel it was safe any more. He was saying, "How do I write about this stuff when I am part of the story?"

How do you define conflict sensitive journalism?

It's just a different way of looking at how you report conflicts such as the one here in Kenya. It means doing good basic journalism, not sensationalizing things, being accurate and fair and balanced but also not simply reporting what the two warring sides are saying. Report it from different points of view. If the economy is in trouble because of the conflict, you talk to business leaders. You go do stories about the family whose house was burned out by the riot, rather than only report on the riot. There's also another story there, a human story.

It's basically doing the solid journalism that we should be doing anyway. It also tends to teach people a rudimentary conflict theory: what causes conflict, how it is resolved, how does the media play a role in resolving it.

Why, in particular, is it important to have fair and balanced domestic reporting in a situation like this?

Well, how are you going to solve any problem if you don't have any proper communication about it. Most of the violence in any conflict is about power and money, who's got it and who doesn't. But it is easily seen as an ethnic or religious divide. It creates a situation where you start thinking that, "The other side is the bad guys. The other side is the one I don't trust. I don't know very much about them but I know they are bad." You don't clear up those kinds of mis-perceptions until you have communication and you don't have communication if you don't have a decent media. Communication is the key to resolving any conflict.

What can domestic reporters do that perhaps foreign press can't do?

Obviously they live here, they know the culture, they understand the situation better than outsiders. The majority of the media that people here consume is local media. A lot of those small villages, their only source of information, or at least the only one they listen to, is the FM station. So if you have a FM station that is whipping people up and encouraging people to spout hate propaganda against other groups, you are never going to resolve anything.

The fighting has died down now. Things are relatively calm as far as I can tell but the problem hasn't gone away. The problem doesn't go away unless you talk about it and the way you talk about it is through the media.

The media can frame the conflict in a certain way, if they are smart enough and good enough journalists to think about it, they don't have to just frame the conflict as one part against the other. They can frame the conflict as one group is disadvantage and another is not. They can explore the common ground that both sides share, which is where you are going to find the solution.

What is your sense of how the issues are being covered by local press?

From the little bit I have seen, there has been a tendency to have this message of peace. They have suddenly become peace advocates rather than conflict sensitive journalists. It's almost like, "let's sweep it under the carpet and let's hold hands." In my view, that's not the answer either.

I will just give you an example. I picked up one of the papers this morning and looked at the front page. It was a story about how Sweden and Britain are trying to put pressure on them to settle the situation. But the lead was "A noose is about to be put around the necks of the people standing in the way of a peace settlement."

On the face of it, it sounds like a colorful lead. When you look at it more closely, it is still taking this position that there are bad guys and good guys and the bad guys are standing in the way and they won't be able to stand in the way much longer. They don't tell you who the good guys and the bad guys are, but if you read that newspaper and you live here, you know exactly who they are talking about.

That's exactly the kind of thing that I am trying to tell them: even something like that, that on the surface appears subtle or harmless or just overwritten, is in fact damaging to any attempt to get a settlement. It still divides.

What are you advising reporters in terms of doing stories about the way forward, not just covering events?

That's another thing I have been saying over and over again. Maybe the leaders don't have the solution but there are other people out there who do. There are other people and other ideas. There are academics and diplomats. You could even write a story about how another country solved a similar problem in the past. You don't have to wait for the press release from the government and print it saying, "The only way forward is for the opposition to pull up the pins and leave."

It's just good basic journalism, really.

If you were to paint a picture of the ideal composition of a newspaper in the middle of a conflict, what would you like the content of the newspaper to be?

First of all, I'd like it to have the news. That is one thing I kept reinforcing: don't hide it. The idea here is not to hide anything or sugarcoat it. We're journalists and what we are supposed to be doing is the news. And then I would like to see several points of view, not just the government and opposition. Several points of view from all levels, from the government level down to the person who has to stay with their relatives because their house was burned down.

I'd like to see articles about how similar crises were handled in other countries at other times; stories about the basic things that are wrong that have contributed to the situation, such as the institutionalized poverty here. There's no end of social issues that contribute in small and big ways to [the conflict]. I think somebody should be starting to point out the corruption and the problems.

In this idea of sensitivity, is there ever a point where you pull back from being explicit?

This came up in the class. What I hope I got across is that, of course you should say the names of tribes if it is relevant to the story. If it's not part of the story, why put it in?

That's maybe harder to do in practice but to give a more practical example, you might say "Six people died in a riot," and not have the lead sentence be "Six Kikuyus were massacred by a crowd of outraged Luos" It'll come up a lot of times that it is part of the story. The bottom line is, this is journalism. If it news, put it in. If it is irrelevant to the story, why is it there in the first place?

What positive role do you think first-person journalism can have in this kind of situation?

That also came up today. The guy I mentioned, who had to flee because he felt unsafe, when he finished telling me [about fleeing], I said "That's a great story. Did you write it?" And it turns out he did. As long as you can do it without turning it into revenge, as long as it is something that is dispassionate and tells the story. The less sensational you can make it, the less emotional you make it, the bigger impact it is going to have. If it's news, it's news, do it.

What are the key points that you cover in terms of basic journalism skills?

It's just a review of the basics: accuracy, balance, fairness and responsible journalism. Avoid inflammatory language. Call people what they call themselves. And just be aware that you as a journalist, you are part of this. Everyone is getting their information from you and if you don't give them the right information or you give it in a way that favors one side over the other, the trouble is just going to keep going, because nobody is going to know what is going on.

[The conflict theory focuses on] the sources of conflict. The four main ones are ethnic differences, political differences, lack of resources and lack of power. In fact, if you look at almost any conflict it looks like one of the first two and it's almost always one of the second two.

Have you found resistance to any of the ideas you are presenting?

No. It's surprising how talkative they are and how much they care about these issues. I think journalism here seems to be more sophisticated than most places I have been.

I think people really want to do something. I was at this roundtable on Tuesday and the very first guy is a big shot editor at [one of the papers], he gave a very passionate off-the-cuff speech about how the media had failed and about how he had failed. And how much shame it has brought to journalism. It was very moving, really. I was very surprised because he is a fairly senior editor, apparently. Everybody in the room sort of agreed with him.

There are still corrupt owners and there are still corrupt politicians who control much of the media and there are still corrupt editors. That is the biggest stumbling block: corruption. It's what is really going to make it difficult to change anything. But there is a will there among the day-to-day journalists and some of the senior people as well.

These are great people, really smart and engaged. They really want to change things for the better, if only their bosses will let them.

In flight Friday

The orange sweater is a political statement. I only realised that when a Kenyan woman at the airport cafe made a joke about my being an ODM supporter. Rookie move to wear orange. Clearly, I need a break.

Driving out of Nairobi this morning, traffic was jammed where it is usually jammed, free flowing down Uhuru highway on the way to the airport. There were crowds of General Service Unit soldiers barricading Uhuru Park, as they have for weeks now.

This is the final day of scheduled protests and, word on the street is, they will be the most heated.

Although the protests on Wednesday in Kisumu and Eldoret were relatively peaceful until police tried to disperse the demonstrators, they became more violent on Thursday. One TV reporter shot tape of police shooting a man, then beating him on the ground. A young boy was killed in Kisumu when police fired on protesters. There were more deaths and injuries in Eldoret and Kibera.

There are also reports of the army lobbing teargas into hospitals in Kisumu and concern that troops from the Ugandan army may be operating in Western and Nyanza provinces.

There have been relatively few injuries in Mombasa protests over the past two days, but the BBC is reporting that they expect the situation in that coastal town to be hot today.

Spokespeople for the police are actively defending their actions, saying that the protestors are criminals, that they are threatening police.

It seems that ODM supporters have picked up steam over the course of the week. The European Union, the Commonwealth and the United States are all in various stages of threatening to freeze or freezing aid to Kenya. The European Union is threatening that it will only unfreeze aid once there is a presidential re-run, or a credible ballot re-count.

More international election observer groups are now coming out with stronger statements about the apparent rigging of the elections.

Meanwhile, both Odinga and Kibaki seem to have their heels firmly dug into the red Kenyan soil.

There is no word as to when, or if, Kofi Annan might come to Kenya to help find some resolution. I have no idea what, if any, difference his presence might make.

Although the food situation is improving around the country, people in Kibera damaged the rail line that bisects the settlement. Depending on how soon government staff are able to repair the damage, transport of goods to Uganda and other central African countries may slow again.

But driving out of Nairobi this morning, traffic was jammed where it is usually jammed, free flowing down Uhuru highway on the way to the airport. People are trying to get to work.

Over the past two days, I've asked dozens of people what they are expecting to happen here next week. Nobody has an easy answer.