Gerry Charlotte Phelps

Some of the Bravest People in Kenya

 

                   (Image from www.myspace.com/wegotothem)

Above is Ben Bahati, Kenyan pastor raised up by Shad and Sheila Williams of www.wegotothem.com. .  Ben and his family had some very narrow excapes from slaughter during the height of the recent riots in Kenya. 

During a lull in the riots, Ben and his fellow pastors ignored the danger and went to the worst large slums in Kenya.  Most of the rioters were from these slums.  Ben and his group went into these slums with evangelistic campaigns.  They asked their huge audiences to come to Christ, and to trade their machetes and guns for the Bibles they offered.  "Carry a Bible, not a weapon," they pled.  And the audience began to go back to their homes, get their machetes, clubs and rifles, and exchange them for the Bibles.

In a few days of evangelistic campaigns in almost every large slum, some 70,000 converted to Christianity! 

Now Ben and his fellow pastors are planning with Shad to go to neighboring countries to start such ministries there also, in Congo, Nigeria and Uganda.

What a great way to respond to Kenya's national tragedy!  What courage and dedication to God - to go in only with Bibles, not weapons, approaching the rioters and killers on their home turf with Christ's love and pardon.  Their personal bravery is a lesson to us all. 

Please keep them in your prayers.

These pastors are not beginners.  They were raised up and trained by Shad and Sheila Williams' "We Go To Them" ministry over many years.  They have founded churches and worked with Shad on dozens of evangelistic campaigns.  They have helped bring hundreds of thousands to Christ in Kenya.  Now this seasoned team is longing to carry their work to troubled neighboring countries.  What they do has helped more than billions spent on foreign aid.  Help them!

Would you like to help them spread their peaceful message of Christ's love in troubled lands?  To support this great work, or just learn more, go to www.wegotothem.com.

Just In: Kenya Getting Worse

                  (Image from Reuters, Darko Bandic)     

Email just now from Shad Williams, about information that came today from some of his pastors in Kenya, by email and by phone.  The killings are increasing.  He says:

Just a quick word to ask you all to pray much for out guys in Kenya. I have received two reports just today (one by phone and one by email) telling us that there are demonstrations going on today, Thursday and Friday and the violence has escalated again - killings, burnings, roadblocks, and mutilations. All our team members are holed up in thier homes. Stores are closed. Roads are impassible. It is a violent brutal dangerous situation. Pray that none of our guys and thier families will be harmed. It is hard to imagine such a situation when we sit so safely in our homes here in America, but it is going on right now as I type this

email to you.

_

Thank you for your prayers and God bless you.

Yours in Jesus,

Shad

MSNBC also says the demonatrations are getting worse, here.

Kenyan police battled hundreds of opposition protesters on Wednesday, killing two, as the opposition defied a ban on rallies against President Mwai Kibaki’s disputed re-election, witnesses said.

From the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu to the coastal city of Mombasa, in the capital Nairobi and the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, police clashed with gangs of youths, some of whom erected roadblocks and burnt tires.

More than 600 people have died and 250,000 have been left homeless in the turmoil since Kibaki was sworn in after a December 27 vote that the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Raila Odinga, says was rigged.

Outside observers say that both sides rigged the election, and that since it was such a close election, it would be impossible to go back and find out what really happened, or to have the election over again.  They are urging both sides to compromise and to have a joint government

President Kibaki is willing, but Odinga, who lost the election, is not.  Odinga's followers continue their rampage.

Kenya's Odinga Made Pact With Muslims?

A looter carries clothes he stole past a burning shack in the Kibera slum of Nairobi. (Image from cnn.com)

More has appeared on the internet about the alleged compact with Muslims that Odinga made.  Odinga is the Kenyan who lost in the recent presidential elections.  It is also Odinga's followers who are doing most of the killing and destruction in Kenya now, mostly against the Kikuyu tribe of the winning President of Kenya.

(Oddly, Odinga is also claiming to be Barack Obama's first cousin, that Obama's father was his maternal uncle.  An interesting tidbit; but it is hard to see what that has to do with anything in the U.S.) 

Here is what was posted yesterday at the Belmont Club:

The BBC says Kenyan politician Raila Odinga has claimed that he is the cousin of Barack Obama.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has said he is a cousin of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Mr Odinga told the BBC's The World Today that Senator Obama's father was his maternal uncle. Mr Obama's father - a Kenyan also called Barack - met and married his American mother when they were students at the university of Hawaii.

You can't choose your relatives but then your relatives can make things complicated. Raila Odinga is accused of signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Muslim Leader's Front, which allegedly promises among other things to "popularize Islam, the only true relgion", establish madrassas and implement sharia law besides in exchange for political support.

Melanie Phillips has more in the Spectator.

Raila Odinga, it said, who was then the current presidential frontrunner, had promised to implement strict Islamic Sharia law if he received the Muslim vote and was elected president. Odinga had signed a secret memorandum of understanding with Sheikh Abdullahi Abdi, chairman of the National Leaders Forum, in which Odinga had allegedly stated his intention, if elected, to

‘within six months, rewrite the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Sharia as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared regions’.

None of this is Barack Obama's doing, but as the Carters and the Clintons discovered, relatives can be a joy and a headache.

For more information, and copies of the document Odinga signed with the Muslim organization, go to http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/01/obama-and-the-m.html

Kenya - Today's Update

A looter carries clothes he stole past a burning shack in the Kibera slum of Nairobi. (Image from cnn.com)

This came today by email from Shad Williams, head of the ministry assisting Ben Bahati and several other Kenyan pastors:

KENYA CRISIS UPDATE - MONDAY AFTERNOON JAN 7:

Yesterday (Sunday) morning about 8:00 I called Ben in Kenya to gert an update.  I knew he and Mary and the girls were trying to get out of Eldoret and get to Narobi for safety - especially for Mary since she is Kikuyu tribe, the most threatened group in all this.  Thousands have fled the country and hundreds have been murdered in the streets - especially in Eldoret where our ministry is based.

When I called Ben, they had made it to the airport by God's grace and were tryihng to get on a plane.  Ben said it was total chaos.  There were 50 seats on the plane and they had sold 100 Boarding passes.  I hung up and joined with Sheila in prayer that God would give them favor in the eyes of the airline people. 

Two hours later I called back, and they were in Nairobi!  Ben said it was a miracle.  Right after we hung up before, they formed the people into 2 lines and began calling out names for people to board the plane.  Ben's name was the first one called and then Mary and then the girls.  Praise God!  They are now in Nairobu and we have made arrangements for Mary and the girls to fly to the U.S. on Friday night this week.  Ben will remain behind and take care of the ministry - at least for the present time.

We praise God they made onto the plane in Eldoret..The two men (Joseph and Dickson - Ben's church members) that took them to the Eldoret airport said that as they were returning to town, they encountered a road block set up by men of the Nandis tribe.  They were stopping every car, and if they found a Kikuyu person, they killed them right there. 

Mary is Kikuyu, which is why she had to leave.  God has truly protected them and we praise Him for His goodness.  So far none of our team has died or been injured, but the situation is very dangerous.  Please continue to pray.  Thank you and God bless you all.

Yours in Jesus, Shad

(Ben is spending a lot of the ministry's money very fast to buy food for those sheltered in his church in Eldoret, and also in other shelters and orphaneges.  Many are depending on himi, not only for food but for their very lives. So I just sent some additional money to Shad, as their funds have to be getting low. 

Shad never asks anyone for money - never has in 25+ years of ministry, as he feels that is what God wants him to do.  So those of who help support his ministry just give as best we can.

If you want to help too, go to www.wegotothem.com and click on "contact.")

Kenya Update

    (Image from newsimg.bbc.co.uk)

This came today from Kenyan pastor Ben Bahati:

Hallo again,

We had a good day.  The banks opened and I was able to send lots of money across the country to the pastors and their wives.  I will be sending more on Monday to those who have not opened accounts in banks.  We also bought lots of food for feeding stations and orphanages.

Today 300,000 families are reported displaced, most of them from Eldoret.  300 lives of people are so far reported lost.  Some people have been reported fleeing for safety to Uganda, but Ugandans are closing their borders too.

Today after sending out money to our pastors, I went to see the Sherrif of our police and he was complaining that the policemen that are guarding us are hungry, they have not changed their clothes since the 26th of Dec 07and have never slept.  I went and bought bread for 300 police men.  The Sherrif was very greatful.  He told me to pray for the President and the Opposition leader that their hearts will soften.  Today the president accepted to form a coilition Goverment of national Unity if that was okay with opposition.  Immediately the Opposition Leader, Mr. Raila's response was that nothing will continue until the president resigns.  (These two hardlines statements from both sides means war to continue and more people to die and suffer) 

The sherrif told me that there is a tribe known as the Marakwet.  They have sent a warning that they are preparing themselves to come and attack Eldoret and do a greater harm than what has taken place already.  Since some of their tribe people were killed they are coming for a revenge.  They want to make sure that no Kikuyu is spared in the area, neither their properties.  All our Kikuyu church members are displaced.  Some have come to our Eldoret Church and we are feeding them from there.  We hope they will not be attacked and our church won't be burnt.  They need food, clothing and medicine too.  (I know you remember my wife Mary is a Kikuyu tribe, and I am a Luyha.)

We praise God for Dr. David and NIna Baker who have wired $5000 for air tickets for Mary and our three daughters.  He has also offered them the guest house we stayed in last time we were in Conway to stay in.

From mast night we started TV and radio ads, calling for peace and reconciliation among the government leaders and the tribes.  Pray that it will have impact.

So if I get airplane seats for my family they will be in the States soon.

God bless you, and hoping to hear from you soon.

Ben

(If you want to help this brave pastor and his fellow pastors, as they stay in a very dangerous situation so that they can help protect and feed their congregations as well as local orphanages and shelters, contact www.wegotothem.com, the U.S. ministry that has been working with them for many years.  Click on "contact" at their website.)

A Bitter New Chapter for Kenya

                 (Image from videoreporter.nl)

A country that has been one of the success stories of Africa is sliding almost inevitably into civil war.  Times Online, January 1, 2008, by Richard Bowden, here. 

Kenya has been a catastrophe waiting to happen. 

Every election since multiparty politics was reintroduced in 1991 has involved rigging. So far the margin of victory has always been so great that Western diplomats - keen to maintain “stability” - could claim that the cheating would not have made a difference to the result. “Voting broadly reflected the will of the people” was their duplicitous phrase that allowed the ruling elite to play their quinquennial charade.

Now the margin of victory is too thin. The cheating did make a difference and Raila Odinga, the leader of the main opposition party that has won the largest number of seats in parliament and six out of eight provinces, is not going to accept defeat.

Not just another African country.

Suffering only one - failed - coup attempt in 45 years of independence, its stability makes Nairobi, the capital, the base for transnational corporations, the United Nations and scores of NGOs for East and Central Africa. It is also a beautiful country with well-run game parks for tourists, mountains, lakes and gorgeous Indian Ocean beaches. Unlike many African countries, Kenya's strong professional class has never fled and have driven economic growth at about 5 per cent in the past four years. Kenyans are lucky. The country has no single natural resource, such as oil, to enrich the elite and impoverish everyone else. Kenyans have to work for their money and recently they have done well.

But Kenyans were not happy.  Most felt a lack of "equality and opportunity."

That was an indirect way of saying that the Kikuyu, the ethnic group of President Mwai Kibaki and Kenya's largest, was getting everything to the exclusion of everyone else.

President Kibaka commissioned a public inquiry into the Goldenberg scam, through which some $600 million was stolen from the Treasury in the 1990s. But when the stolen money was found in the bank accounts of sone of the previous president, Moi, the investigation stopped abruptly. The investigator, Mr. Githongo, fled for his life..

...and, even in a British haven, was given an armed bodyguard. With good reason. The Kenyan elite have a history of killing people who ask questions about corruption.

Kenyan politics are the most vicious and tribalised on the continent.  Corruption is a matter of having one's turn.

Politicians often address their own people in coded language. “It is our turn to eat!” is a phrase they often use. It means that it is the turn of our ethnic group to rule — and loot as much as we can.

In 2002 Mr Odinga left Moi's Government and delivered his Luo ethnic group to Mr Kibaki's newly formed Rainbow Alliance. The agreement — in writing — was that Mr Kibaki would change the constitution, create a powerful post of prime minister and appoint Mr Odinga. Once in power Mr Kibaki changed his mind. He presented a new constitution that retained a powerful presidency. Mr Odinga, given the minor transport ministry, left the government in disgust. A brilliant orator and campaigner, he whipped up opposition to Mr Kibaki's new constitution and defeated it in a referendum.

The voting figures showed just how ethnically divided the country had become. The Kikuyu voted for it. Most of the rest against.

Odinga has been in opposition politics most of his life. He is not a man to throw in the towel. The gang around Mr Kibaki have too much to lose if Mr Odinga comes to power. The scene is set for all-out war between the Kikuyu and the rest, a war that kicked off on Sunday afternoon as Luo and Kikuyu attacked each other in towns in Nairobi and elsewhere.

Are Kenya's institutions strong enough to withstand this near civil war? The police will do the President's bidding but there are doubts about the Army, one of the most professional in Africa. Many of its senior officers are reported to be unhappy about soldiers shooting down demonstrators on behalf of a politician who may not be around for long.

America has accepted the result; European election observers said the process was not convincing. With South Africa's leadership in turmoil and Nigeria also suffering from a failed election earlier this year, it is hard to see who in Africa could bring both sides together.

Without concerted international diplomatic intervention, Kenyans may be left to fight it out.

African Aid - "For God's Sake, Please Just Stop!"

A recent Interview by Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper is here, with Kenyan economics expert Shikwati.  When the interviewer mentioned aid to Africa, Shikwati said "For God's sake - please, just stop!"   

                         Congoilese Line Up for UN Food Delivery

                                         (Image from spiegel.de)

The economist explained that aid to Africa does more harm than good, saying that Western development policy is disastrous for Africa, leading to corrupt rulers and an overstatement of the AIDS problem.

SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.

Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape.

SPIEGEL: Do you have an explanation for this paradox?

Shikwati: Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the (bureaucrats) would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

Shitwaki explains that food aid is deadly to the African economy.  Grain is shipped from highly-subsidized farmers in the EU and the U.S.  It swamps the markets.  African farmers go out of business. 

Shikwati: ... A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unsrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle.

He goes on to explain that hunger should not be a problem in most countries south of the Sahara. Der Spiegel protests that AIDS has made things different now.

Shikwati: If one were to believe all the horrorifying reports, then all Kenyans should actually be dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out that the figures were vastly exaggerated. It's not three million Kenyans that are infected. All of the sudden, it's only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, but people rarely talk about that.

SPIEGEL: And why's that?

Shikwati: AIDS is big business, maybe Africa's biggest business. There's nothing else that can generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political disease here, and we should be very skeptical.

Shitwaki goes on to comment that

"Millions of dollars earmarked for the fight against AIDS are still stashed away in Kenyan bank accounts and have not been spent. Our politicians were overwhelmed with money, and they try to siphon off as much as possible. The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."

Jean Bedel Bokassa, late tyrant of the Central African Republic

                  (Image from dittatori.it)

On donations of old clothes, Skiwati notes the same problem we had in running our homeless shelters in the US - people literally flooded us with their old clothes, vastly more than we could use.  But in Africa, such mountains of used clothing also put African clothing manufacturers out of business and their workers out of work.

SPIEGEL: In the West, there are many compassionate citizens wanting to help Africa. Each year, they donate money and pack their old clothes into collection bags ...

Shikwati: ... and they flood our markets with that stuff. We can buy these donated clothes cheaply at our so-called Mitumba markets. There are Germans who spend a few dollars to get used Bayern Munich or Werder Bremen jerseys, in other words, clothes that that some German kids sent to Africa for a good cause. After buying these jerseys, they auction them off at Ebay and send them back to Germany -- for three times the price. That's insanity ...

SPIEGEL: ... and hopefully an exception.

Shikwati: Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria's textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide.

At the end of the interview, with the Der Spiegel interviewer almost in despair over the prospect of not sending aid to Africa, he asks:

SPIEGEL: What are the Germans supposed to do?

Shikwati: If they really want to fight poverty, they should completely halt development aid and give Africa the opportunity to ensure its own survival.

But you should read the entire article for yourself.