Talbert, Alison - Kenya
Prayer Update February 2008
Dear Friends,
Hello from small town Kilfi. If you walk down the main street everything seems normal, schoolchildren are going to school, the minibus touts are looking for passengers to Mombasa, people meet and greet each other on the pavement; but look closer at their faces and the smiles aren’t as big as usual. People look careworn. The talk is of the latest killings, opposition MPs assassinated, people displaced from their homes. My colleagues speak anxiously of relatives in other parts of the country who are in hiding because they have the wrong surname. Others have had to abandon their farms.
It seems unreal that so many terrible things are happening just a few hours’ journey away. Here on the coast the main effect has been on tourism meaning that many hotel workers have been laid off. The malnutrition bay is full. Food prices have gone up.
There are rumours that there will be a coup tomorrow hence the unusual timeliness of this email! I’ve bought candles and batteries for my torch in case there are power cuts, food staples in case I have to stay indoors and been told I should store water but never having lived in a state of emergency ( Tanzania is one of the most peaceful of African countries) its hard to imagine that it might happen. The explanation from my Kenyan colleagues is that it would allow the ruling party to bow out without losing face.
Well apart from the general doom and gloom, professionally it's been a good month for me. I’ve trained the lab staff how to use the endotoxin assay machine and briefed the fieldworkers (research assistants). Tomorrow I’ll introduce the study to the other doctors and then next week (if there’s no coup) we could start the study. There’s also a possibility of a new malnutrition study to look at new ways of preventing it developing in children admitted to hospital with infections. There even seems to be funding available to boost my church support .
So a very mixed picture but in the uncertainty there’s one person we can always rely on , Jesus Christ.
Praise points:
- A calmer atmosphere in Kilifi and peace between neighbours
- Good training sessions with laboratory and ward staff
- Promise of financial support for the new study and me
- Renewal of my work permit
Prayer points:
- For an end to the killing
- Justice and peace for Kenya
- For generous help for those who have lost homes, farms and jobs
- For healing and forgiveness for all those involved in inter-tribal disputes
- Personal safety
With love in Christ,
Alison
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