No Peace No Ugali

Ugali is the past made from maize flour that most Kenya’s survive on. I saw the slogan ‘No Peace No Ugali’ spray painted across a hut in Kibera. I wish I could have taken a photo but I don’t usually take my camera into the slums. During the post election violence in January and February Kibera, one of the largest slums in the world and the site of much of the atrocities, was covered with slogans that read ‘No Raila, No Peace.’ Raila was the presidential contender and is now the prime minister. The killings, rapes, and destruction of property that occurred under this, and other slogans, has crippled the Kenyan economy and made it much more difficult for Kenyans’ to survive. So the new slogan, “No Peace, No Ugali,’ somehow seems much more correct. Without peace, Kenya will not be able to feed itself.

I get a lot of questions about the post-election violence from people in the west. I wasn’t here then but let me share some things my friends have told me…

-“They were rioting and burning tires just outside the gate. We had our passports ready and fuel in the car incase we had to run.”

- “I couldn’t get milk for my baby for five days. I was too scared to leave the house.”

- “We snuck Luos (one of the tribes) out of the neighborhood in the middle of the night. There were pamphlets warning them to leave now or be killed tomorrow.”

- “They (rioters) stopped our car and were going to burn it, and then one of them recognized me and let us go. My wife and baby were in the car crying.

-“He (an old acquaintance) is in hiding. He killed a Kikuyu (one of the tribes) woman during the violence.”

- It’s good Kofi Anan made them agree. Things would have gotten worse. The Kiyukus were ready to march to Kibera.’

- “This child saw his mother burnt alive. That one saw his grandmother raped. Where can they go home to?”

And, most commonly and most importantly…”We have seen who these politicians are. They have used us. They will not use us again. This will not happen in 2012.”

Remember No Peace, No Ugali – pray for peace.