The following blog post was written by Mary Russell, of Boston, Mass., while participating in a UUSC JustJourney to Kenya.

The efforts of UUSC's Kenyan partners to achieve economic justice and support self-sufficiency are very impressive, indeed. Our group of JustJourneyers has traveled to Nairobi, Machakos, and Nakuru to meet the leaders and members of the Kenyan National Association of Street Vendors and Informal Trainers (KENASVIT). These meetings were vibrant and deeply meaningful exchanges of information and genuine spirit.

A highlight for me was meeting the elder women traders outside the University of Nairobi bus in the chief's compound, in Machakos. We had just come in from a dusty, bone-rattling bus ride from Nairobi, and the traders had forfeited the income from one day's trading to meet with us. The enthusiasm of the Kenyan handshake added to the moment: a slap of the right hands together into a "western" shake, then a move to a "solidarity" shake, and back to a "western" shake.

The incredible energy generated by the KENASVIT members as they reported on their last year of work was not limited to the leadership. The members themselves, some of whom had traveled overnight to meet with us, reflected a deep understanding that only together could they improve their common welfare. The phrase "We are one" was spoken again and again.

This is particularly impressive as many street venders and informal traders lost everything during the post-election violence of December 2007-January 2008, when interethnic tensions were exploited for personal and political gain under the cover of the demonstrations against the stolen election. Several members told of losing loved ones, and many reported losing all their stock, as well as their households, to looting and violence.

UUSC and KENASVIT, by creating and funding a revolving loan fund, have provided a structure whereby entrepeneurial low-income Kenyans can work together to rebuild their businesses. These funds were made available in the context of KENASVIT's UUSC-sponsored Peace and Reconciliation trainings, held in all seven cities in which KENASVIT operates.

These were the first such efforts in all of Kenya, and many traders spoke of learning that they were not each other's enemies, that their communities had been used to carry out the ploys of the political class. KENASVIT's leadership development efforts were clearly effective, as evidenced by the energy generated among members around the upcoming KENASVIT elections.

Even as we heard stories of so many difficult life events, the joyful attitude and community spirit of UUSC's partners enfolded us in an atmosphere of hope — always cemented by a cheer for Obama, with a little dancing.

So, as we continue on to meet the next two UUSC partners, we look forward to signing their guest books, hearing reports of their hard work, sharing their pride in good work done in partnership with each other, and accepting on behalf of UUSC the genuine and overwhelming gratitude for that partnership.

The following blog post was written by Mary Russell, of Boston, Mass., while participating in a UUSC JustJourney to Kenya.

On Sunday, International Women's Day, we met the Rock Women Group, a long-term UUSC partner. The organization started out as a prayer group for teachers who wanted to support each other in their difficult work in the Nairobi slums; but they soon began helping their students and their mothers by way of their strengthening bond, organizing, and mutual support.

Initially, to pay for their projects, the Rock Women Group purchased chairs that they would rent out for weddings and funerals. When UUSC heard about these "chair women," they connected with them and began a partnership.

With UUSC's support, the Rock Women Group has deepened and widened its assistance to children and women in their community. Now they are helping women to go into business: hairdressing, selling used clothes and baby clothes, and frying fish and selling it. This is about the only type of work people can do in the slums, where at least 40 percent of Nairobians live.

Since the post-election crisis, the Rock Women Group has been working more and more with their boy students, and now also with young men. The boys and young men receive employment training from several trade teachers and a social worker, organized by the Rock Women Group.

We visited the tiny stall of a young shoe seller whom the Rock Women Group had helped. The Rock Women, all called "Mother" by the young men, translated each personal introduction from Swahili. They later told us how many had been devastated by the post-election violence.

In some cases, members of the Rock Women Group had to go out into the countryside or to western Kenya to bring back displaced people and help them set-up again, so that their children could resume school or the adults could resume their HIV/AIDS treatment.

I was writing down the names of people as they introduced themselves, making notes on their information. I wondered why so many were named Jambo. Later, when I learned that Jambo means blessing, it seemed a tidal wave of gratitude and good wishes from our Kenyan brothers and sisters washed over me. It was deeply moving, and that feeling was cemented by the lunch we shared at the home of one of the Rock Women Group members.

Food and conversation and sharing and music made a very special International Women's Day.

The following blog was written by Rev. Liz McMaster, of Albuquerque, NM, while participating in a JustJourney in Kenya exploring economic justice.

I've been what I consider to be a seasoned traveler - having lived in a foreign country and travelled both as a tourist and as an experiential learner - and I knew when I signed up for UUSC's JustJourney to Kenya that it would be another of those wonderful experiences that I would both enjoy and learn from.

But I had no idea how deeply Kenya would affect me, spiritually and emotionally.

I have been carried away by the beauty of the land and the warm hospitality of its people. I have been brought to tears by the pathos of poverty, survival, and endurance.

UUSC, through some miracle, has found a way to build its programs with strong foundations that carry its programs through the bad times, when people must retrench and begin again, as well as the good times, when progress seems a real possibility.

The violence of last year, following Kenya's presidential election, caused UUSC's programs to take a step back and regroup. Now the global economic unraveling has continued that negative picture. Still, the people exhibit remarkable strength, and the UUSC programs we are seeing thrive because their roots are deep.

I wouldn't trade a JustJourney experience (this is my second) for any classy, five-star trip to anyplace in the world.

The following blog was written by Martha Easter-Wells, of Davenport, Iowa, while participating in a JustJourney in Kenya exploring economic justice.

This is the fourth day of our JustJourney in Kenya, and we are feeling at home here at the Methodist Guest House.

We began with a tour of Nairobi to see the huge contrast between the wealthy areas, with good roads, and the huge areas of slums. It was difficult to see the conditions in which people are trying to survive and scratch out a living, but it was important for us to see, so that we can better understand the work of UUSC's partner the Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (KENASVIT), which is organizing street vendors to improve working conditions.

We were given a day to enjoy cultural sights, and then spent a wonderful day today with the Rock Women's Group.

It is one thing to read about the work that UUSC does. It's another to come to Kenya and meet UUSC's partners and hear from them about how important their partnership with UUSC is to them. It really brought the reality of the work home to us when we had the opportunity to meet people whose lives have been transformed by the help they were given by the Rock Women's Group. I feel privileged to be here.

The following blog post was written by Mary Russell, of Boston, Mass., while participating in a JustJourney in Kenya exploring economic justice.

It became more than a very long set of flights when an edge of sand met the Mediterranean, 37,000 feet below. It was Africa, that was the Sahara Desert, and we would be landing in Kenya in only a few hours. It's quite a treat travelling almost halfway around the world and finding someone holding a sign with your name on it when you get out of customs.

Once we scooped up another participant, off we drove to the Methodist Guest House, passing several roadblocks where police had laid down treacherous-looking logs with spikes, to rip the tires of anyone not choosing to slow down. The taxi driver said the police sometimes do that when looking for criminals; but while we saw some cars pulled over, we saw no one looking in the cars as they passed.

The Guest House is a sturdy, friendly, and efficient compound, with rooms like your average economical European bed-and-breakfast. It is gated, guarded, and surrounded by a high fence, as are all the other larger estates we saw en route.

The next day we met as a group for a discussion of current-day Kenya and, after lunch, a tour of Nairobi's neighborhoods.

Our group was accompanied by Sharon, the daughter of Winnie Mitullah. Mitullah helped coordinate UUSC's post-election delegation to Kenya and whose research prompted the founding of KENASVIT, one of UUSC's Kenyan partners.

Sharon put the landscape in the context of Kenya's economic and political history. We drove by huge slums of corrugated tin roofs that went on for long distances and the smoldering remains of a marketplace for informal traders that had been burned down by the government just the week before. The legacy of British colonialism is everywhere, but nowhere as much as in the division of land uses and the access to land by different groups.

Sharon told us how the bus terminus had been rebuilt much further from the city center, so people had to walk much further to their jobs, and how small buses, which are now forbidden from entering the city center, sometimes just speed up and blast right by the police that are trying to keep them out.

She took us by the business section that specialized in counterfeit "everything," the legitimate business section, and finally the palatial estates of the Kenyan elite and the U.S. Ambassador.

She explained it all so well that we all could understand the types of relationships between different groups of people, as well as between people and the various political power structures. We could all find similarities with our own personal and political experiences. Having lived through the last eight years in the United States made some things just a little easier to imagine.

But the most instructive event of the day was when we drove by the huge, new U.S. Embassy. Several of us were taking pictures of it -- because we were taking pictures of everything. Just as we were turning the corner, though, the guards signaled for us to pull over, pointing to the "No photography" sign. They made us all delete our pictures, made our guide check all of our cameras, and then had us pull into a parking lot.

Sharon and one of our UUSC leaders spent half of an hour giving information, having their pictures taken, and talking to the two policemen holding assault rifles who were standing next to a pick-up truck, while the security captain called in the event to his supervisors and waited for clearance.

The heightened political tensions all around Kenya, the gulf in living standards, the threat of violence felt by the U.S. Embassy all resonated in that parking lot. While everyone was polite, rifle nozzles stayed firmly pointed at the ground, all photos were deleted, and supervisors cleared us, the knowledge that things didn't always go that way was sobering and highly instructive.

We're here to learn and to stand with our UUSC partners and the Kenyan people, and it's been a very full day of doing just that.

UUSC's theory of change understands that human rights are not won without struggle.

We believe that justice is about people living together in respect and dignity, sharing resources fairly and equitably, and affirming hope, human potential and creativity.

Toward that end, our human rights and social justice work is driven by two key engines:

• the work and leadership of our courageous partners around the world; and
• the support and engagement of our members and supporters — including, in large number, Unitarian Universalists.

Both of these came together in a historic moment this November when UUA President William Sinkford took a trip to Africa to meet with African UUs and social justice leaders and partners across the continent.

During their tour, Rev. Sinkford’s group of met with several UUSC partners who are strengthening economic and environmental justice and rights in humanitarian crisis in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa.

Sale of "mitumba," or second-hand clothes, is a major part of the informal economy. KENASVIT is lobbying for set spaces for sellers of mitumba clothes, which are easily damaged by the sun and become hard to sell. The group is seeking stalls, roofing, and storage, not just for those who sell mitumba, but for many of the other sellers in the area. One of KENASVIT's recent achievements was to acquire a community space for vendors of perishable wares, making it easier for people to keep their goods longer.

One of those partners, the Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (KENASVIT), shared with President Sinkford an important aspect of their work in the aftermath of Kenya’s post-election crisis (following the December 2007 contested election).

In response to the violence and resulting economic and humanitarian crisis, KENASVIT launched a revolving loan fund for street vendor members that delivers essential financial support to devastated livelihoods while also providing peace and reconciliation and conflict resolution training. KENASVIT has done exceptional work modeling inter-ethnic cooperation, and responding concretely to the needs of street vendors and traders so that their vital livelihoods — and organizing and policy work — can continue.

Without the support of Unitarian Universalists for this fund and this partner, this work would not be taking place.

Rev. Sinkford’s presence also put a tangible “name and face” on the UU denomination for our partners. The visit by Rev. Sinkford and his delegation and the interest they expressed in their work bring to life significant UU principles, which comprise both a foundation and a mandate for putting faith into action.

As we celebrate the holiday of “Thanksgiving” in the United States this week, I am grateful to be inspired by the resilience, leadership, and principles of both our partners and Unitarian Universalists — as evidenced by this joining of hands this November.

UUA President William G. Sinkford

Reverend William G. Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, embarked this week on a pilgrimage to visit six African countries. His 19-day sojourn features stops in South Africa and Kenya, where he will be meeting with UUSC partners. He will also be visiting Uganda, Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria.

The goals of Sinkord's journey include learning from the experience and wisdom of leaders in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation work (including Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu) and learning from the leaders of social justice and human rights movements, such as UUSC partners the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP) and the Rock Women Group and KENASVIT. Other goals include renewing ties with Unitarian Universalists in Africa and bearing witness to one of the centers of Atlantic Slave Trade, Île de Gorée (in Senegal).

Sinkford is scheduled to meet with CAWP and their members on November 12 - 13. His meeting with the Rock Women Group is set for November 16 and his meeting with KENASVIT for the following day. On or around those dates, staff of UUSC's Environmental Justice and Economic Justice Programs will be posting blogs commenting on Sinkford's visits. Please be sure to visit UUSC's website!

The UUA has created a website featuring a wide menu of resources on Sinkford's trip, including background on the places and people he's visiting, a blog to which Sinkford is posting frequent reports, and an invitation for constituents to submit questions they'd like Sinkford to ask of Archbishop Tutu and other leaders.

After four weeks of political negotiations that were looking more and more like a stalemate, on February 28, 2008, Kofi Annan finally convinced Kenyan political rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga to reach a power-sharing deal. Under the agreeement, Kibaki remains president and Odinga becomes prime minister. Further details remain to be decided.

This is not the first time Kibaki and Odinga are attempting a coalition government. They established a partnership in 2002, but it failed. Yet, with the eyes of the international community on Kenya and a global desire not to let Kenya slide into anarchy, there is hope that this agreement will give the country a measure of stability. It will be up to Kenyans, themselves, to continue calls for true, transparent democratic governance. The role of civil society in supporting such a social movement for peace, justice, and democracy cannot be underestimated.

At the same time, over 200,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) continue to rely on international aid for their daily needs -- including shelter, food, water, protection, and health care. UUSC staff is currently in Kenya talking with IDPs to determine the best way to help meet their needs. We will be updating you on our progress.
_____________________

Background
Flawed December 27, 2007, presidential elections in Kenya led to an explosion of political tensions and longstanding grievances. Over 1,000 people were killed, and hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes. Most of the people affected by the violence were already among society's most vulnerable. In January 2008, UUSC sent an emergency delegation to assess the political and humanitarian crisis.

 

The following post was written by UUSC President Charlie Clements. Clements writes from Kenya, where he is leading an emergency delegation to assess the political and humanitarian crisis that has engulfed the country in the wake of the flawed presidential elections of December 2007.

We are booked on the last flight out of Eldoret on January 25 and the airport is half an hour away. Usually I feel fine getting to the airport half an hour before a flight, but with dusk approaching, fires being lit at roadblocks, and so much at stake, I’m glad to arrive at the airport an hour before our scheduled departure.

As we say our goodbyes, I have to acknowledge to myself the privilege that allows me to leave all of this uncertainty, fear, and tragedy. The commitment we have made to everyone we spoke with, or who assisted us, is to use this information in a way that will increase understanding and aid as well as contribute to a lasting solution.

Soon enough we will write a briefing for the House and Senate subcommittees on Africa; we hope to meet with their staff early next week. There may be hearings soon, and I hope the members of this delegation are asked to testify about what we’ve witnessed and experienced.

I try to think of a sentence or two to sum up our trip, as we fly away from Eldoret.

Kenya feels like it is on the edge of a precipice. Anguish and anger are pushing people into a free fall toward communal violence, which neither the leaders nor the security forces may be able to easily stop once it begins. As Kisumu, and now perhaps Nakuru (if the reports we got this afternoon are true), slip toward economic meltdown, the volatility of the situation will only increase. I fear that both Kibaki and Raila may be too insulated by hardliners to sense that they are engaged in a dangerous game of brinkmanship.

Visit our Kenya Crisis home page.

The following post was written by UUSC President Charlie Clements. Clements writes from Kenya, where he is leading an emergency delegation to assess the political and humanitarian crisis that has engulfed the country in the wake of the flawed presidential elections of December 2007.

Earlier in the day, someone told me that Kikuyu gangs called Mungiki are being armed by Kibaki’s government and moving around at night dressed in police uniform. It sounded like a rumor. The source told me the Mungiki leave the IDP camps at night in their police guises and take revenge on non-Kikuyu for what has happened to them.

I was told that the burnings and killings that are taking place now seem to be revenge for the events of the past weeks, keeping the violence alive, though the attacks are sporadic compared to the initial violence.

It’s hard to know where truth and rumor end and begin.

I know men in the IDP camp fear what’s outside the camp. And I know Non-Kikuyus outside the camp are afraid that Kikuyus inside the camp are arming themselves and will seek revenge for what was done to them. It seems like a recipe for an escalation of violence.

There are no checkpoints to monitor who is entering the camp, at least in the daytime. Only six armed men in camouflage guard the camp. That’s the security force for 25,000 people, or, at least, that’s the only security I saw…perhaps there are more guards, but there can’t be many more.

Visit our Kenya Crisis home page.