Thoughts on the Upcoming Kenyan Election...

Well, a month from tomorrow is the long awaited and anticipated Kenyan election.  4 weeks.  We have tried to follow all the US embassy recommendations for safety; stocking up on non-perishable supplies, phone cards (all our phone minutes are pre-paid using scratch-off cards), kerosene for our stove (that’s what all stoves here use) extra diesel for our vehicle (enough to get us to Nairobi if necessary), malaria meds, anti-biotics, amoeba medicine, extra dog food, etc.  Our freezer is completely full  with non-perishable things like flour and sugar and pasta and beans – even popcorn; these things don’t need to be in the freezer on a normal basis, but when stocking up, if these things are in the pantry more than a couple weeks they get maggots in them.  We don’t have a generator, so we really can’t buy extra meat – we have too many electrical outages, and if there are clashes after the election, who knows how long electrical outages might last.  But even if we don’t have clashes here in our town, the two main towns between us and Nairobi are known for violence over election outcomes.  Last time, you could not drive through those towns, and supplies to Kitale were basically cut off.   

So, we sit here, going on with our business as usual while we can.  Right now, things are quiet; hopefully they stay that way and all these extra goods and the extra expense will just get used up in a natural way.

My feelings and thoughts about the election are quite knotted up and difficult to untangle inside me.  I’ve talked to many people who are concerned; not because they know people who will likely be violent if things don’t go their way, but because a).  mob violence mentality, and b). there are groups of thugs that can be hired by a disgruntled party to go out and create havoc.  This is much (though not all) of what happened last time.  Why, oh, why are two of the men indicted by the International Criminal Court for atrocities after the last election allowed to continue to run for President????  They weren’t supposed to , but some Kenyan judge let them off – I wonder what he got in return?

Am I afraid?  Not yet.  I can’t live in fear for a whole month leading up to the election, but it is in the back of my mind – probably adding to the anxiety feelings I struggle with from time-to-time.

Here’s what I mostly think about.  “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” The Bible, book of James, chapter  4, verses 1-3.  We want things, and we want them so badly they become more important than anything else – more important than a fellow human being.  The politician wants power and control; he wants it so badly he will start a war to get it.  The hired thugs want money and power as well.  They want people to fear them; they are willing to slaughter people in order to get it.  Voters want the guy from their tribe to win because they think it will increase their power and prosperity; they will betray their long time neighbors, friends, even fellow church members to ensure this.   The problem isn’t their desire for their candidate to win; the problem is that this desire becomes all important to them so that they are willing to commit evil in order to achieve it, or commit evil if they don’t get what they want.   They demonize other tribes (or ethnic backgrounds), and slander opposition.  They even go so far as to stopping buses on the road and asking everyone from a certain tribe to get off the bus so they can slaughter them.  

I often wonder, how can human beings do this to each other?  I find myself unable to wrap my brain around it.  But then I must stop and ask myself this question: Am I really all that different at the core, or am I different only in degrees?  Which of my friends have I ever gossiped about when they did something I didn’t like?  Isn’t this a form of attack – without even the guts to do it to their face?  Doesn’t the same Bible that says the above quote also say, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:21-23 (This is Jesus speaking)  Why? Because in doing so, we commit murder in our hearts.  Jesus goes on to say that the man (or woman) who looks at a woman (or man) who is not his/her spouse is guilty of committing adultery – in their heart. 

People often wonder what Christians mean when we say that we are all sinners before God.  It’s not because we all do equally bad things to our fellow man, but because we all have equally bad sin in our hearts – before a Holy God.  What is this afterall? I may not murder and slaughter and steal, but do I throw a temper tantrum and gossip and give people the cold shoulder? It’s all the same heart;  It’s wanting my will to be done rather than God’s – the essence of idolatry. 

The Kenyan elections are a time for many things.   1.  Prayer.  My prayer for Kenya is that each man, woman, and child remembers that every other man, woman, and child is a fellow human being, created in the image of God and worthy of honor and respect  - and life.  Relationship is more important that power;  more important than being RIGHT; more important than money; more important than politics (you hear that my fellow American?).  2.  Introspection.  Rather than only seeing the sin of others and tending to put them in a lower human class than ourselves, we should see our commonness.  Where do we have the same heart but only show it in more socially acceptable ways?  King David of Israel said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24  3.  Peacemaking.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”  We need to help people find peace with one another, but they will never truly do that until they have peace with God – and peace with God only comes through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1).

So please, pray for Kenya – for Kenyans; pray for their safety, pray for their peace, pray for their souls.  And I wouldn’t mind prayers for the missionaries here as well, as well as all the ex-patriots from all over the world who call this “home.”