Chaos in Kenya

Well, I haven’t said much about what has been going on with the election, and for good reason, mainly to keep people back home from unnecessarily worrying.
National elections are held here every 5 years. They are usually very peaceful. However politics are a very big, passionate subject here. People do not only get excited along party lines, but tribal lines as well. Tribal affiliations are very strong. To make things more confusing, there are 43 different tribes (I think that is right), that are in Kenya alone.
The election date was not announced until some time in October and it was held on Dec. 27th, which was a holiday. Up in the time surrounding the election there was rioting and violence amongst tribes trying to displace people and keep them from voting. None of it was aimed at Westerners. This, though, is the reason we did not go the Christmas conference we had written about earlier because there had been violence in on the towns near where the retreat was. Fortunately everything was okay there at the time of the retreat itself.
The election itself was peaceful, but as the votes came in the violence did as well as it was very close and the outcome was controversial. It lead to an eruption of violence through the country. I won’t say any more about the election itself- you can read about this on any of the news websites.
The violence has been terrible. It has been mainly in the larger cities, but there have been shooting, looting and burning in Bomet and Silibwet- the 2 towns near us. Things are very safe at Tenwek and security has been ramped up. Members of other tribes that work here intially went into hiding to protect themselves and their families. Some of our interns and nurses are away and cannot travel in because of violence and blockades people are setting up along the roads. Some of these are beginning to be opend up now. Some visiting staff have been told to delay their entry. Ones that did fly in are hanging out in Nairobi until it is deemed safe to ride or fly in here. One family had to delay their departure several days, but where finally able to fly out.
All of these events kept peoples New Year celebrations somber as curfews were in place in the big cities. There were also media bans on news in country for now as well. Gasoline is running out and no one wants to bring it in. The local dukas are running out of suppies as well. We had a get-together on the compound on new years eve, but the mood was different. Now some of the gas trucks are starting to get in and some businesses are beginning to open up.
It also affects the patients as well. The outpatient department has been eerily quiet as no one wants to come in. The inpatients cannot go out to get CT scans or if they are discharged they do not want to leave the hospital or cannot until family is able to arrive. We have had several patients walk in. One mom came in with her child after walking 50km and when the family arrived, the child collapsed and died. Last night I did not have any babies admitted to the NICU. I asked the OB team about the quiet night and they said there were many deliveries the night before. Unfortunatley, all the babies were and because ladies had obstructed labor and were not able to get in.
Fortunately, as things begin to quiet down, roads open up, and things attempt to begin to return to normal, we continue to Praise God for the safety we have had and pray that peace will be restored to this land.
It was reassuring to have a patient today say that he could not sleep. He said that he was not a Christian, but did want to be one. We shared with him that Christ could give him the peace that he needs. This was true reminder for all of us.