Sadness in the streets of Molo

hh. Today Ruth Schäfer, Stephan Holderegger and their Dutch friend Hennie travelled to Molo (100 k north-west of Nakuru), over incredible bad, bumpy dirt roads. Molo was mostly inhabited by Kalanjin and Luo, with a minority of Kikuyu, who lived all peacefully together. The place made headlines when 19-year old runner Bernhard Koech from the Kalenjin was killed outside of Molo about six weeks ago. A former water station head, who has lost his job and doesn’t know where his family now is, showed Stephan and Hennie the place where the athlete was killed. The revenge of Kalanjin must have been terrible. Hennie was shocked to see how people who lived for years in peace now burned a whole village of about 20,000 down to ashes. Burned churches, burned schools... Stephan: “It looked like after a bomb attack. Everything is black, we found burned school-uniforms, burned school-books. Molo has become a ghost city. When you look into the children’s eyes there is no reaction, they are full of sadness."

The situation in Nakuru remains tense

Today a lot of police and military is present. The situation in Nakuru re- mains very tense. And in the Lake Nakuru National Park until down the hill to the lake a fire erup- ted. We have no further details what the reason is. Our daily pictures show the fire region and some local boys that usually help us guard our card and as recompense they get 1 liter of milk and a large loaf of bread!

Meeting with the Red Cross in Nakuru

sh. Today we me the head of the Red Cross in Nakuru and had a meeting for 1 1/2 hours discussing the situation around the Rhein Valley Hospital. They were surprised hearing all the figures of the hospital's aid programme and how much Ruth Schäfer already did for the people at this mountain region. They were full of gratitude for all the help and requested that we would speak with the refugees to convince them to be transfered to another camp in Naivasha. The people certainly will not be forced, but it would improve their situation. The Red Cross promised to support us, but should have some patience be- cause everybody seems to be over- burdened. The pho- to above shows an empty street in Nakuru where there is still a curfew from 7 pm to 7 am; the picture below is from today's meeting with the Red Cross offi- cials. All photos by Stephan Holderegger.

Fearful refugees, empty streets and no tourists

sh. The news in the media does barely reflect the situation here. We just discussed the situation today with Mr. Joseph Muya, a good friend of of the Rhein-Valley Hospital, here in Nakuru. In the last few days he donated corn, rice and cabbage for distribution to the refugees. Mr. Muya said, we want peace and we want the return of the tourists. Normally 300 hotel guests frequent the Lake Nakuru Lodge, today it's empty. We saw only one tourist bus in the whole park area, it's unbelievable. The people who find shelter in the football stadium, are traumatized. They want to escape because they fear the immediate future. Many don't know what tomorrow will bring. The few existing trucks are filled to the brim and the people are fighting to get their little belongings on board.

Uncertain future for many Kenyans

st. Today we had an emergency meeting discussing the situation with our bookkeeper Niaga. We established new lists with all the new refugees and planned the food rations to be given on Friday. A major road in Nakuru, where normally thousands of people and cars dominate, a dangerous silence is reigning and we all don't know what the future will bring. We saw refugees in various vehicles carrying their small portion of possessions. For all the same questions: where to go...

2700 refugees get food at 50° Celcius Heat

sh. The last night was scary. Peace is still a far cry. Today more than 2700 refugees got food from the Rhein-Valley Hospital in Nakuru. We measured a temperature of 50° C in the sun! It was an exhausting day. We could witness how hard Ruth Schäfer, the director of the hospital must have worked for the past 6 weeks and how perfect the organisation is. The pictures below show injured children - there is still a lot to do.

Nakuru: 15,000 refugees wait for better future

rsh. Today we visited the refugee camp in Nakuru with 15,000 people. Ruth brought her harmonica and gave a 2-hour concert for the children who were happy to see and hear something new. Many children and grown ups are traumatized because of the things that happend during the last few days. We learned more about their destinies. Who knows how long they have to stay here. The locals don't see a solution in the near future, because it's not only a political question but a lasting peace has to grow through an understanding between the diffe- rent tribes.