Over 61,500 people have been displaced by the clashes
The drive to Mt. Elgon is a scenic one with a view of lush green vegetation and hilly landscape. The residents of Mt Elgon, in the Western part of Kenya, are going about their business, some working in their fields while others are carrying heavy loads to the marketplace. As they walk by the roadside, they wave at the Red Cross team pleasantly as we pass by. Even though the road is bumpy and dusty there is a certain serenity in the area and we cannot believe that this is the area that has been dogged by bloody chaos that has left 140 people dead and over 60,000 people displaced. "At least one person dies everyday," says the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) North Rift Regional Coordinator, Mr. Patrick Nyongesa.
Soon, we are approaching Cheptais Division where there are 4,692 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) waiting for relief assistance from the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS). As we turn around the bend, about 100 metres from Cheptais town, we are suddenly stopped by armed policemen conducting a routine security check. While we are waiting for them to conduct a search, two passenger service vehicles are stop at the roadblock and the passengers are asked to alight for the same procedure. This has become the norm in the area. Security in the area has been beefed up since the onset of the clashes and periodic security checks are now a normal occurrence among the residents of this area. We are then immediately released to proceed with our journey to the distribution centre.
Cheptais is full of IDPs waiting since morning for relief assistance. Some have forlorn looks in their eyes and we can judge that they have been through a lot of pain both physical and psychological. Some are still nursing cuts and burns while others, especially the elderly and children, appear sickly. KRCS staff and volunteers spring into action and start distributing food and non-food items. The queue is endless since the number of people displaced keeps growing daily.
KRCS personnel had earlier conducted assessments in the affected areas and registered the IDPs affected by the clashes. However, the number of people in Cheptais area has increased and they could not be able to provide aid for all of them on the same day. After distribution, the names of the new displaced persons are written with a view to return the following day. KRCS trucks slowly drive off.
The KRCS Bungoma Branch personnel are up at 7:00 am after yesterday's distribution and are preparing for relief distribution in various parts of Mt. Elgon. Today, they plan to cover as much ground as possible and therefore they are busy taking stock and loading food items into the truck. At 9:00 am they are back on the road heading towards Chwele area.
At Chwele, there are over 1,152 IDPs mainly made up of women and children. People are still streaming in from their temporary dwellings. Many of them are staying with their relatives while others are living in rented dwellings or putting up with strangers at their homes where they are expected to pay monthly rent. Rent has now doubled up and the IDPs are forced to pay between Ksh 400 and Ksh 600 for the houses they rent singly and about Ksh 200 when putting up with a family. This is too high for people that have no source of income.
Students have been forced out of school and those who are lucky enough to attend are forced to share classrooms with numerous other children who are now enrolled in 'safe' but crammed up schools. A school in Lwandanyi area for example, which initially had about 800 pupils, has received a massive increase and the student population is now 1,200.
Many IDPs are nursing wounds from their experience. One example is Richard Simiyu, a 40-year-old man with an injured hand. He attempts to hide his hand in the cover of his oversized jacket, but it is evident from the stiffness that it is not fine. He narrates his story that a group of about 40 attackers raided their home in Maseki at the border of Mt. Elgon and Bungoma armed with guns and simis. "The attackers came to our house at 9:30 pm when our family was asleep," he says, "they attacked us and injured my hand." Simiyu's wife was also assaulted and both of them had to spend eight days in hospital receiving treatment.
On the same day, five other homesteads were attacked. The attackers returned the following day and burned all their belongings. Simiyu and his family are now living with relatives and unsure about his future.
"KRCS has been distributing food and non-food items in Mt. Elgon since the land clashes set off in December 2006," says Mr. Nyongesa. Each family has been receiving rations of maize flour, beans, cooking oil, canned fish, unimix, rice and high energy biscuits. The non-food items already distributed included tarpaulins, kitchen sets, blankets and bars of soap. The relief assistance continues.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
