A Tribute to Dr. Habte [March 17, 2008]

A dear friend, and serving LIA International Board Member, recently passed away in a road accident in Ethiopia. Dr. Berhanu Habte, has closely associated with LIA since its founding days, providing encouragement, support and wise counsel. Besides his contribution to the work of LIA, Dr Berhanu served in several national and international kingdom forums. He will be dearly missed by many.

Calm without Peace: A Kenya Update [March 14, 2008]

It has been over two months since the presidential elections in Kenya set off a nationwide movement of violence. Thankfully, on February 28th the opposing political parties came to a power-sharing agreement that has brought much-needed calm and relief to the unstable situation. The pastors who work with LIA in Kenya are reporting that there is now an air of relief and optimism in Kenya. There is hope that this new agreement will not only bring calm, but peace to a land that has deep tribal rifts and conflicts. LIA Kenya has been working to help make this happen.

Our staff spent time visiting the internally displaced people in camps in Nairobi and given the refugees food, clothing and basic toiletries through the relief agencies. LIA also provided money for transport of internally displaced people to safer areas.

In Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, LIA started a program for reconciliation among the pastors from different communities. The program consists of counseling of pastors, individually and in groups as well as seminars. In Feb 2007 a feeding program for children attending schools run by our partner churches was started and will run for six months. This began in Feb. 2007 and will continue for 6 months.

In Kisumu, an area hit hardest by the violence, LIA responded by visiting churches, coming alongside the communities, participating in mourning with families and developing relationships. We especially felt led to concentrate our response efforts in the Nyalenda slums, which was worst hit.

While we are continueing to work and move forward there are still urgent needs that are lacking funding. Right now, the children in Kibera are only fed one day a week. When funds are available the number of days that children are fed per week would be increased. More churches would also be included in the partnership to assist more children.

The main adverse effect of the crisis resulted from destruction of property and business premises. This resulted in increase in the number of unemployed people. Many also lost or were deprived of means of income generation. Many people migrated from the slum disrupting social life and economic activities. Transport systems ground to a halt resulting in disruption of supply of food and other essential goods.

Thank you for your support during this time of struggle and unrest, and for helping LIA work to bring forth a new era of reconciliation among tribal leaders. The issues that brought about this struggle are deeply rooted and are the result of generations-old strife between tribes. It will take a great deal of work, and more importantly grace to bridge these divides. We thank God for the calm and continue to pray for future peace in these areas. Thank you for joining us in this work.