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A number of donors, understandably, have been
enquiring about the impact of the very unsettled situation
in Kenya on Got Matar Secondary School.
On 30th January, I again telephoned Grace
Andiki, the project coordinator. I spoke at length to her
and two male members of the bursary committee who had
arrived at the school to attend a meeting. Before getting
through to Grace, I had sent the e-mail, reproduced below,
to her, the Principal of the Secondary School and the
Treasurer of the Bursary Committee.
The community and teachers are trying
their best to keep normal school activities going, and Grace
was actually teaching in Got Matar Primary School, of which
she is Principal, when I called. There appears to have been
no trouble in the area around Got Matar, but there is
clearly a great deal of nervousness. The schools have
received “threats” from “big men” – presumably hard-line
political activists – which they are doing their best to
ignore. I urged them to do all in their power, as leaders
within their community, to ensure the safety of all living
there, wherever they may come from and whatever the
provocation. “What you say is correct” was their response,
and I feel confident of their commitment to do their best to
maintain calm.
The members of the Bursary Committee also
expressed their thanks to donors for making possible the
construction of the secondary school “which looks really
lovely”.
Tensions are clearly running very high
across Kenya, and we can only hope that they will begin to
subside as a result of Kofi Annan’s current mediation
efforts.
Copy of E-mail dated 30th January:
Dear Grace, Elizabeth and George,
It is enormously worrying – and
distressing – to see the mounting violence that is
taking hold across so much of Kenya – not just in the
urban centres but now also in rural communities. It is
pitting neighbours who have lived peacefully together
for years against each other, causing immeasurable
distress and hardship, and undermining the very
foundations of your fine nation.
We are concerned about your own safety
and that of all the teachers and children in the
Secondary School and the 10 primary schools in the Got
Matar Community, and about the safety of members of your
families living elsewhere.
We very much hope that the Community
Development Group and the Schools will play a calming
influence and do all they can to prevent violence
spreading to the area – safeguarding the security of all
people living there, whatever their origin – and
ensuring a bright future for the children for whom you
are collectively responsible. The new school is a beacon
of hope for the people living in the community. Please
do not let this hope in any way be undermined by
allowing tensions to arise within the community. Please
ensure that it is a safe haven for all, in which no one
– however strongly provoked – takes the law into his or
her own hand.
With our very best wishes,
Andrew &
Roberta
MacMillan
30th January 2008
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