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Show WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY THE SIGNPOST WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6,2010 IDP Viewpoint WUCANALSOTAKE YOUR WHr5TL£, letter from Kenya with love: l\ *f77?is column was written by internally displaced person living a ca)np in the Great Rift Valley. 77 writing lias been unedited, I vividly recall that day. was a Sunday evening in 20t three days after the president elections when president Kiba was announced the winner. I was in our house preparii for supper like any other day suddenly heard shouts and cri from down stairs. I was shocke i I was not used to hearing su noises. I was curious, curious to know what was happening and so it drove me to the scene. Outside our house, I saw a group of men and women armed with weapons. Pangos bows and arrows. Cur neighbours house was on fire. I started trembling with feari because that group seemed to have bad intensions and they were now coming towards our home. I now knew that I had a part to play. And so I went to the house, awoke my eleven years old brother who was sick with phemonia, and carried my two years old sister who was still sleeping to my parents. They were weeding in the Shamba. I went with my siblings to inform them what was happening. They could not believe what I was telling them. They wanted to see for themselves. I Suddenly from a short distance we saw our house set on fire. I I could not believe it, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but it was actually real. I felt like crying and wished that the i earth would open and swallow me alive. I felt that God had abandoned me. I did not see reason in J leaving again because this had happened to us again when I wasfiveyears old. !- * Everything was gone. No food, no shelter, no clothing, no anyhing. My parents were confused. We decided to go to a nea by bush and hide because it was getting dark. At night it was very cold there. We were hungry and also !- i scared of dangerous animals and insects. The next day we decided to go to a nearby police station. When we arrived, we found many other people there because all their things were gon 2 and they were now there for safety. They were only from one tribe, my tribe. Kikuyu. My brother's condition was getting worse by the minute. The next day, he died in the morning as we waited in the police station. My father had a stroke and my mother became over stressed. ' ' ~" Ijtiey were taken to hospital and admitted. I was left with my young sister under no one's care. With no food and shelter. I had nothing, I was waiting for God to perform a miracle. After a short while, an old woman came to where I was seated with my sister. She greeted me and started asking me some questions I told her what had happened in that one day. She sympathized with me and told me that she would be helping me until my parent were well. J From that day, the woman provided us with food and stayed I witn us until when the government took us to a safe zone called show grounds. We continued living with the woman in a tent given to us by the UNHCR. line old grandma was so kind to us. She stayed with us until my parents were given permission to leave the hospital. When j they found us they were happy. Tears of joy rolled down their •J cheeks; they thanked God and they old woman who had came i for our rescue. In the evening the woman told us that she had to leave .~j because she had complited the work given to her by God. She used to tell me that when my parents will come, she will go back to her place, but she never told me where. !- j The woman left and we never knew who the woman was, where she came from or where she even went. We belief that |~ j she was an angel sent by God to protect my sister and I. We stayed on the show grounds until the government gave us a small amount of money. My parents joined a group of two hundred and thirty five people and bought land as part of a J group near a town called maai-mahiu.. They named the group vumilio self help group. We live there still today. In maai-mahiu there are so many problems, like lack of food. The land here is unproductive, no rain, no water and clothing. There is wind through out the day and night. Students cannot read well because of the noise wind hitting against the tents. I complited my primary education school last year in 2009.1 did not had enough time to read. Sometimes I am chased out of school because I did not own uniform, pay the 4 school fees, do not have the books. am now looking forward to attending secondary school and after secondary school I would like to go to university. I hop 3 that everything will come to un end. In my future I want tob 2 a judge like Moreno ocampo of the International criminal court. And deal with criminals who displaced us. !~9 - AnnlilyWanjikuKuria, 15 Comment on this column at wsusignpost.com. A bit of common sense Shootings, bribes and slums Hundreds of thousands of tourists pour into Kenya from America, Europe and India each year. Safaris are wildly popular and Nairobi is a major airline hub for Africa. Lake Victoria and the beaches of Mombasa pull in visitors year-round where expensive resorts line white sands. But Kenya also largely borders Somalia. Countries on every side house some of the greatest global conflicts, spilling over into its borders with refugee camps and illegal arms trades. Violence amongst its own people creates instability. Severe economic disparities keep hundreds of thousands impoverished and illiterate, and government corruption is a constant issue affecting the Kenyan people. Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, is as much a mix of personalities as the country itself. There are the slums and the Hilton, the poor and rich. Two worlds are happening at the same time in the same place. And it's obvious the two cannot coexist. Poverty cannot live peacefully sideby-side with the selectively wealthy. Broken glass lines tops , of walls as makeshift barbed wire to keep intruders out. Almost every house is part of a complex with a gate and a gatekeeper standing by at all hours. Soldiers stroll around the streets with rifles. This is Nairobi. My first night in Kenya seemed to mark something about what living in the city meant. Nighttime, whether you are a tourist or not, was dangerous. James was the director of a Kenyan non-profit organization and the brother of the woman I was staying with. At 3 a.m., just hours from leaving the airport, word circled to the house that James was shot. The story goes that James left downtown Nairobi late at night and dropped a friend off on the way home. At some point a car tailed his driver to his home. As James' car pulled up to his gate, the men jumped from their van pointing rifles at the driver and demanding cell phones. James had an iPhone, which he wanted to keep. As he moved to hide the phone behind his backseat the burglars panicked and fired, killing James almost instantly. My first night in Kenya. Police are viewed as either inefficient or corrupt. On a bus I happened to be on, a police officer Say HELLO to us on facebook. Just Search "The Signpost" facebook Sig PHOTO BY GINA BARKER | THE SIGNPOST A look across the tracks into the entrance of Africa's largest slum, Kibeira. pulled us over, stepping on and peeking around at the passengers. Stepping off with the driver, a bribe was clearly paid to the officer, who was probably looking for a free lunch. Another day, I visited the outskirts of Kibeira {Africa's largest slums) where children sat in dirty gutters and women set up small fruit stands trying to earn enough to eat that day. In just days, I felt like I had seen some dark underbelly Americans weren't supposed to know about. Shootings, bribes and African slums. Is there some how-to guide for incoming tourists to navigate the country so that anything not related to seeing a wild lion is avoided? Don't drink the water. Avoid unmarked taxis. Only travel with safari groups the hotels recommend. Eat where Zagat tells us. r | 1 f l When tourists travel to Kenya, how much do they avoid Kenya? Special pockets are set aside around the city as designated areas: "This is where the rich people go." Rich next to poor doesn't work. Children playing with chunks of glass in a gutter doesn't work next to a brand new Hummer pulling into a shopping mall. Tourists that travel to these far-off, exotic places should take a moment to understand where they really are. Americans can do good just by sharing stories with their friends and family. When we travel to these developing nations we should visit a school, go to a poor hospital, visit a small nonprofit organization. Bring home a story. Comment on this column at wsusignpost.com. WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY 1 HE SiGNPOSl Editor-in-chief Frances Kelsey 626-71211 Managing Editor Gina Barker 626-7614 News Editor Cimaron Neugebauer 626-7655| Sports Editor Matthew Maynes 626-7983 Photo Editor Bryan Butterfield 626-635$ Features Editor ShayLynne Clark 626-7621 Jonah Napoli W H § | | ^ ^ | A&E Editor Allison Hess 626 8526 Adviser helley Hart 626-65l| Ad Manager Office Manager Georgia Edwards 626-7974 B ^ 626-Zi -The Signpost is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during fall and spring semesters. Subscription is S18 a semester. First newspaper copy free, each additional copy $0.50. -The Signpost is a student publication, written, edited, and drafted by Weber State University students. Student fees fund the printing of this publication. 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