Saturday Report

It is a beautiful Saturday morning here in Nairobi. We expect a relatively quiet weekend. Even though things are quiet for us, we realize that this is not the case in other areas. For the most part is seems our life can proceed as normal with mere avoidance of trouble spots. There are still many in this country who have fled their homes. The government is steadily pushing the refugee camps to close and force the people to return home, but it appears that most will not choose to return to their homes due to fear of continued violence. The church closest to our school has roughly 200 refugees that they estimate will be there 3 to 6 months. There is another camp in the Limuru area that reportedly had 15 babies born there last week alone. The question for these people now is where to go and what to do.

The talks continue with the opposition and the government. Yesterday’s paper had an article which was the most encouraging piece of news we have seen so far. They reported that 40 Members of Parliament from both parties had agreed to speak together for peace. The District Commissioner has agreed to lift the ban on public gatherings so that these leaders can publicly call for peace among their constituents. Today’s paper is also reporting that religious leaders from the National Council of Churches in Kenya are calling for pulpits to be used to preach peace. Sadly, this has not been occurring everywhere already. There have been many stories of inflaming messages coming from the pulpit – from all sides of the issues. We pray that both political and religious leaders will indeed be called to preach and teach peace and aid the healing that needs to occur.

Today’s paper is also reporting that the differences in the two sides are still quite obvious. Even their word choice in public statements causes quite a stir. All along, the two sides have differed on the starting point for discussion. Basically, the government has stated that the legitimacy of the President’s election is not up for discussion, and the opposition says that the recognizing his election is not an option. The mediation team has their work cut out for them. However, they appear very skilled in negotiation, as currently, they are not discussing the hard issues. They are only discussing the facts of the election, keeping all parties at the table.

Yesterday, the town of Nakuru, about three hours from Nairobi, suffered terribly. There were at least six people who died in the violence there, and the town is now subject to night time curfews. Nakuru is the fourth largest city in Kenya. Some of you may have visited Nakuru’s game park with (among many other types of wildlife) the beautiful flamingoes in the lake and obnoxious monkeys in the parking lot.

We have now made it a whole week with the kid’s school in session. The administration of the school feels that we can proceed on a normal schedule. So, Wednesday we will travel to Murang’a for a business seminar and discipleship class. The farmers there are growing passion fruit. We are looking forward to getting back to teaching our classes. Horace has been working on the phone and in Thika ordering supplies and getting things organized for the project managers, but it is not quite the same as visiting in person.

As for family life, Horace, Jr.’s experience at Middle School Model United Nations was definitely a learning experience in politics and life in general. Thursday, he was very disappointed (along with his advisor and many fellow students) that his resolution did not pass and that he was not given the opportunity to debate the issues that were presented against it. However, Friday his resolution was given the “best resolution” award in his committee. Not only that, but in the advisor’s meeting, it was singled out as a good example of a well-done resolution. So, it was a good end to a frustrating week. He did enjoy the experience, and I think he may even pursue the high school version. Still no basket ball games, but we look forward to some in the coming week.
Mary Shea made the swim team, so it looks like that will dominate things for a few months for her. She did a great job and is looking forward to it. She also will get to participate in basketball intramurals, so no tough decisions were required yet.

That is your weekend news update from the Tipton household. We look forward to sharing more with you next week as we continue the journey toward what one of my friends calls the “new normal”.

Please pray that these encouraging signs continue toward lasting peace.

Blessings,
Anne