Friday, February 1, 2008

Rachel Kungu - Guardian of Peace

I was directed to africanews.com where I found a great story about a Kenyan lady who has shown remarkable bravery, gallant effort and commitment to bringing an end to the violence where elected officials have failed. Her name is Rachel Wambui Kungu; our inaugural guardian of peace. Please read on as reported by Andrius Kulikauskas on January 30th.

Rachel Wambui Kungu +254 721 626 389 is back in Nairobi, Kenya after a day that transformed the name Mungikis from a curse to a blessing. Her team met with key leaders of the Mungikis in Naivasha. They have given their names and phone numbers to participate in the Pyramid of Peace and to engage the violent Mungikis who have moved onward to Nairobi. They agreed to remove the road blocks for the next seven days. They will organize a large meeting in two days or so to meet with leaders from the Catholic church and with the local head of the police.

Afterwards, they wish to meet with the Kalenjins for dialogue. They are ready for a permanent peace upon three reasonable conditions:
1) that Kalenjins and others stop fighting and free the roads as well,
2) that the opposition leaders tell their people to stop fighting,
3) that the youth be involved in the decisions affecting them.

Rachel and her team of Kikuyu peacemakers from Nairobi arrived in Naivasha at 11:30 am by public transportation. The morning was tense, but all went well in Naivasha. Their local contacts told the women not to wear their jeans, but rather to buy some scarfs and kangas (dresses), which they did. This is so that they would not be confused with men from a distance, and not be perceived as a threat. Soon they were talking with the local youth, and afterwards with the real Mungikis, a clique known for their violentness.
They had a very productive conversation as I described above. They spoke with more than thirty people, many of whom were key Mungiki leaders, and received excellent cooperation. They agreed that they would each speak further with five or ten people and invite them all for the great public meeting they will organize in the next two days along with Rachel and her team. They do not want to deal yet with the police in the area because they accuse them of much harm to their people, including their women, but at the meeting they will invite the local head of the police. They have confirmed their intent by providing their names and numbers to post publicly in our Pyramid of Peace.

Should the seven day calm hold,[WE HOPE IT WILL] they are very keen to work for peace. They want education on how the youth of different tribes can live together. They will engage those who have been displaced and give them hope that they may come back and live in harmony. They ask for counseling for their trauma. They wish for economic development so they might start their own businesses, for unemployed they are vulnerable to recruitment as thugs.

Donations are very helpful now because Rachel's team and others in our Pyramid of Peace can buy airtime which the Naivasha Mungikis agree is not to call their friends, but rather to engage the violent Mungikis who have moved on to Nairobi. Certainly, they can be that much more effective if they have their own cell phones ($100 each) rather than using their mother's. Likewise, Rachel needs a laptop (new $800 or used $500) so that she can write reports. A newspaper advertisement declaring the agreement would have national impact for a few hundred dollars. Our giving hearts will bind us together in ways that can't be undone.
Visitors, have your say and join in honoring Rachel.
I think this lady [and others like her] is a godsend and I hope that the Mungiki 'ceasefire' will hold up. All the best.

Rachel, we all honor you for your efforts in guarding the peace.

Thank you

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Piece!

I.am.H said...

I just spoke with Ms. Kungu [Rachel] and must report to all that it was such a great honour to talk to a young person on the ground, who with her friends, took the initiative to engage the Mungiki. She and her group managed to broker some kind of deal based on the demands outlined in the initial piece.
Naivasha is where some of the counterviolence was occurring and one of the main complaints was that the government had failed to protect the helpless inhabitants of the Rift Valley from attack.
Also, the youth have long felt that they've been left out in the cold and would like to be involved in matters that affect them.
It's a sentiment that many young Kenyans hold - in short, the old guard needs to retire. We badly need a united Kenya and our current leadership will not [or isn't willing] to lead us into the promised land.

It seems the parties involved in the negotiations are having a productive dialogue and I hope the peace holds. Some of the road blocks have been removed and the violence much less than it was.

I will post more information as it comes through.

Good luck to Rachel and all the other guardians of peace.