Mother of Eight Beaten & Killed

January 27, 2014 (Monday) We continue to walk through the villages visiting the homes of the school children and others along the way.  The children come from three villages; Taito, Makoi and Emoru. 
 

 

The sun has increased in strength and it beats down upon us with a vengeance but we continue to travel into deeper into the hills of Emoru. Selena, one of the mothers, from the area leads the way!
 

We leave the roadway and follow a path through the coffee bushes. The bushes are dry and covered with a film of dust but still very full of coffee beans.  It is all hilly country and some areas are very dense with ground cover and trees. 

As we are walking along I notice the vines dangling down from the trees and growing into the bushes below. In this area you would need a machete to cut a path as the forest was so thick. I was thinking…this looks like snake territory.  Shortly after that the lady walking with us said this area has a lot of black mambas and grass cobras. Both of these snakes are extremely poisonous and deadly.  I was already careful of where I was placing my feet but now I was ever so careful!

The needs we see before our eyes increase and the poverty is greater here than the other two villages we have visited.  Families have an average of eight or nine children and most of them are not going to school or have never gone to school. 
   

Michael Ian age 8 is one of these children. He is cared for by his uncle and seldom hears from his parents.  They are looking for work and left the area a few months back. Ian is 8 years old and one of nine children.  He can’t read or write his name.  He doesn’t know the alphabet and he doesn’t know how to count.  We have visited so many homes here in Emoru and the story is the same. 
  

Emoru is probably the worst of the three villages and a bit overwhelming. The more I looked around me the more I realized the need was so great.  There are children beyond number not going to school and the parents can’t see their way to get them there.  The parents have never gone to school either and it just isn’t a priority or even a worry to them.

It breaks my heart to see the great need here in Emoru.  Maybe I can’t help them all but I can do something. Michael Ian will be in school tomorrow morning.  He is willing to walk the distance!  Ian is full of worms and his body has started to show a rash that itches. He will be treated and his eyes will sparkle as his body returns to a healthy state.

In between our visits I had stopped to take some pictures of the scenery around me.  The pastor that walks with me says, “You are very special in this village.”  I asked him why.  He laughed and said “look all around you, people have come to see you.”  I then focused on what was happening around me. I looked straight ahead and I saw a group of people in the distance just gathered together and looking our way. I looked behind me and in the trees there was another group of people forming. To the left a group of people were standing outside of their houses just staring our way and to the right there was another group.  I had people observing me from all around. The word was out that a visitor had arrived!

We could hear loud voices ahead of us and as we got closer we could see lots of people gathered outside a mud hut. The mother of 8 children had just died two hours before we arrived.  Her youngest child is only 7 months old. The grandmother of the children was on her knees outside and with deep mourning she was crying out to the God of the heavens and the God of the earth.  She was crying to a God that hears and understands just what you need before you open your mouth.  Her cry reached the throne room and the prayer of her torn heart was “God, remember me! God, remember me!” This would be the third child she would bury in a short time and the eight children would now need her care. She asked us inside the mud hut. 

The room was small and had one collapsed bed with a torn and dirty piece of foam. There wasn’t any evidence of sheets, blankets or even a pillow.  As she cradled the baby in her arms she told us the story of this tragic and senseless death.  

Peter 15, Emmanuel 8, Jamn 12, Sarah 11, Mary 9, Faith 7, Pauline 5, Brighton 7 months

Esther was a hardworking mom. She had a business of selling firewood.  Daily she would go out and collect pieces of wood that could be sold to help feed her children. She had come home with one bundle and told her children she had another one to collect. When she returned the firewood was gone.  Her children told her that her neighbor came and took all of their clothes and threw them on the firewood and set it on fire. She went to the neighbor to see why he would do such a thing and he picked up an iron pipe and beat her to death.  Her leg was broken in two places, her arm was broken, and her ribs were broken among lots of cuts and bruises all over the body. One of the younger children knew his mother needed help and called the older brother to come home.  He came home but immediately went running for his grandmother.  They found someone to give them a ride to the hospital and she died there.  The police came but the neighbor had locked his door and disappeared perhaps never to be seen in this area again.

People gathered at the door way as we talked and prayed.  Her needs will be many and because this is a criminal case there will be extra expenses.  Esther’s younger brother is now in charge of the family as he is the oldest male sibling.  He sits on the edge of the bed frame with his head down; at times he gazes out into the open yard with tears dropping one by one.  He has the cares of the family now upon his shoulders. He sees the funeral expenses ahead. He understands the age of his mother.  He knows that his sister has died at the hands of evil and he doesn’t know what to do.  It is more than anyone at his age should have to deal but he remains strong in the midst of the home that mourns. He does not run away.

The emotions in the village are pretty high and volatile. We gathered those outside together and spoke to them about the important things in life and they should strive to keep a good heart. I gave them the example that if I came to their house and stood outside and talked they would hear me but if they didn’t open the door I would never be able to come inside and visit with them.  Jesus was waiting for them to open the door and invite him inside their heart.  Five adults asked Jesus into their heart before we left.

January 29, 2014 (Wednesday) The eight children that lost their mother have been very much on our minds and today we will walk into the back hills of Emoru to see them.  We take food in to them to help with the extra mouths that the grandmother is now responsible to feed.  It is the grandmother’s desire to keep the baby as she feels she will heal faster if she has him. The other children have been released to us but will stay with her until after the funeral. 

The people of the village will usually gather together and chip in to help with funeral expenses but here with tensions at the explosive level we aren’t sure what will happen.  Esther’s family is demanding that the family of the murderer help with expenses and provide as place for burial as they do not own any land.  Right now the family is refusing to help but after we leave the village they will meet once again and try to negotiate something that will work for everyone.

While we are visiting in Emoru the school children have lined up at a barber shop for their haircuts! We have several children with ringworm in their scalp and we will be applying medicated cream to those that need it.

January 30, 2014 (Thursday) It’s been one week now since Kenya went on “High Alert” and it still remains on high alert because of terrorist threats. Security measures have increased and going to the airport in Nairobi will take an extra hour now as everyone has to leave their car and be searched before traveling into the parking areas around the airport. 

I continue to look for a place where all of the children can go together. It is not an easy task to place 7 children in one home.  Most children’s homes are not interested in taking in the older children as they have found that they usually come set in their ways and interfere with the training of the younger ones.

  

February 1, 2014 (Saturday) Esther’s family still doesn’t have any answers. The man that beat and killed her with an iron pipe still has not been seen. The police are making a visit to the village tomorrow as threats have been made to the victim’s family.  The two families continue to war and the levels of unrest have risen to new level. The victim’s family is fearful of more bloodshed and tragedy.  

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.