Posted: 1/11/08
Displaced Kenyans in Uganda
receive help from Baptist World Aid
WASHINGTON (BWA)—Kenyans in Uganda who fled the rioting in their country have received assistance from Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance.
The aid from the international Baptist organization was granted after an appeal from Hillary Wafula, a Baptist pastor in the border town of Busia, Uganda, where 1,700 Kenyan refugees are housed in an elementary school.
Another 2,500 displaced Kenyans are in the Ugandan town of Malaba, which also borders Kenya, and an estimated 3,000 are in several villages bordering the two east African countries. Five thousand displaced people are on the Kenyan side of the town of Busia, “who can cross any time” into Uganda, Wafula said.
In his letter to Alex Wanyama, general secretary for the Baptist Union of Uganda, Wafula said, “One pastor who is hosting a number of Kenyans is overwhelmed by the number and the debts he is making to make them survive.”
He also reported, “A good number of Kenyans are residing with friends, relatives and well-wishers in border villages in Uganda, which is an unbearably heavy burden on the Ugandans.”
The needs of the displaced Kenyans include food, medicine, shelter, and sanitation. “The Baptist churches in Busia and Malaba are appealing to our mother organization, Baptist Union of Uganda, and partners, to intervene and help the overwhelming burden we are experiencing in our homes and at churches,” Wafula requested.
Riots broke out in Kenya, a previously stable democracy with the largest economy in East Africa, following a disputed general election Dec. 27. The violence, sparked by the election results that declared incumbent president Mwai Kibaki as the winner, but which were rejected by the main opposition challenger, Raila Odinga, has left more than 500 people dead and approximately 255,000 displaced.
Tensions reportedly remain high in Kenya.
BWAid sent $5,000 to Uganda to assist the displaced Kenyans. This follows $10,000 that was sent a few days earlier to the All Africa Baptist Fellowship for relief efforts in Kenya.
Donations to the Kenyan relief effort may be made to Baptist World Aid’s Emergency Response Fund at www.bwanet.org/bwaid.
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