I Wish. . .

What does Internally Displaced People or IDP actually mean? I wondered as we drove through the rutted roads below Rift Valley Academy. It took 3 four wheel drive vehicles to get our group to the IDP camp that is in the valley. Three years ago people from Eldoret and other areas of Kenya were violently removed from their homes. Many houses and churches were burned and people were killed. It was brutal. The memories that these people carry are horrific.  It was January 2008 post election tribal conflict and it was ugly. As a result the Kenyan government set up IDP camps for the Internally Displaced People. They contained tents that were meant to be used for 3 months. However, the camp that is only a short drive from us has been occupied for the past 3 years. The Kenyan government gave the families living there a little bit of money and they pooled it together to buy the land that they are living on. However, because they purchased the land the government no longer identifies them as displaced, they have cut their strings, they are on their own.

The land in the valley is dry and dusty. It is windy and the dirt is everywhere and on everyone. In the Eldoret Camp 235 families reside, consisting of over 1300 people. There is no water, no crops that are living, and no jobs. Today Ava remarked that it is like the desert. It reminded me of the Israelites. One woman I met shared how they have nothing, no food for her and her children. No job, or crop, no way of making any money. She followed by saying "we have a big faith, we wait for God to provide and we wait. And then someone comes and brings something. God provides what we need, we trust God." How humbling to listen to this woman that has big faith! Oh I could learn so much from her and her unshakable faith in the God that has not abandoned her and her children even under such extreme circumstances.

Our group spent the morning visiting with the adults, listening to their stories, playing with their kids and knowing we would be able to go home and wash it all off in our nice clean showers. We would eat a good lunch and sit on our furniture and drink water out of the tap. I felt heart sick when we got home. How can I live so close to these people and not be full of sorrow for them and their children. How can I see them and hold their hands and not weep for them.  I wish children could eat and play and go to school. I wish a strong young man could get a decent job and provide for his family. I wish I knew the answer. I wish I had a solution. I wish that the world would take care of its people.