‘God give us a Kofi Annan for our broken homes and many Kofi Annans for our broken society’, conveyed one of the around 30 ladies who attended a Creators of Peace meeting on 7 June, 2010 in Eldoret. The meeting, led by Rosemary Kariuki, a Kenyan from Eldoret now living in Australia, was a follow up on the three Creators of Peace workshops that took place in Nakuru in May, 2010. Some of the participants from Eldoret who were keeping their word – to be creators of peace and to engage their society in the process of creating peace – were present to share their experience and commitment after participating in the Nakuru workshop.
Eldoret was one of the worst hit areas during the post election violence back in 2007/2008. Elodoret has been a volatile place for the past decade, when it comes to matters of tribalism and ethnicity, and continues to be so. The people from the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin tribes have frequently been at war with each other, leaving thousands, who were lucky to escape death and/or maiming, hopeless and homeless. The town is being rebuilt. From what was being shared it was obvious that quite a number of people are tired of the wars and are craving for peace.
The women in Eldoret are realizing they have to take part in rebuilding Eldoret by creating peace. ‘Peace is what we want’ echoed several women in the meeting. And what and how can the women create peace? ‘It’s women who go to cook for men at war. We can refuse to cook and they won’t go to fight’, said one lady. ‘Women, we are the mothers of the nation and we have to change the mentality of our children who have become victims of the tribal hatred’, shared another one who admitted that her 6 year old daughter had told her that she will never get married to a Kalenjin because they kill people. ‘We also have to stop the superiority and inferiority complex. It’s bad for Kalenjins or the Kikuyu’s to feel superior over the other. We are all the same’, shared another.
One of the painful and yet most amazing moments was when one of the Kikuyu women shared how her son was killed, ‘Some Kalenjins killed my son. They gave him five minutes to say his final prayers before cutting him into pieces and burning his body. I am happy those who did it gave him some time to pray. Forgiveness is very painful but I have forgiven them.’ You could tell that she shared this very painful story free of anger or hatred. And you could hear, loud and clear, her unspoken words of ‘I do not want this to happen to anyone else. We can forgive and live in peace.’ When she finished sharing her story, a Kalenjin lady said she wanted to share something. ‘Mum,’ she called the lady who had just shared, ‘I am very sorry. Your son must be the one who was killed near my village. Some Kalenjin women who witnessed the killing were there for three days crying because of his death for they believed that blood would come back to haunt them . I am so sorry. And the man who killed him has now become mad and insane.’ She expressed this with a great sense of apology.
Many experiences of hope were shared, experiences that many Kenyans don’t often get to hear. Experiences that can help change the tribally contaminated minds of most Kenyans. Experiences that need to be on the front page and headline of every newspaper and on the television news! Stories of how very many Kalenjins saved some Kikuyus from the wrath and destruction of some Kalenjin lunatics in Eldoret. ‘My husband and two other Kikuyu men were travelling in a bus that was being driven by a Kalenjin when things got dreadful. They came to a road block that had been put up by some Kalenjins and they wanted all Kikuyus out of the bus to be “dealt with”. The driver denied having any Kikuyus in his bus and they were let go. But the driver termed that as a miracle and told my husband and team that he doubted whether miracles would continue happening till they got to a safe destination. The driver told them that the last thing he would like is to drive the three of them to their deaths. He offered to take them back where he had picked them….’ This was shared by a Kikuyulady who had lost everything that she had and who is now working towards peace in Eldoret.
If these experiences can be embraced, they will definitely help to end the massive negative tribal generalizations which are threatening Kenya's future – the Kikuyus saying that Kalenjins are killers and the Kalenjins saying that Kikuyus are thieves... These are not true statements and they must be dropped for Kenya to move on peacefully.
The women really appreciated the workshop and they committed themselves to going around Eldoret, having dialogues of peace and creating peace starting from their homes. One woman said that since the post election clashes, she had not seen a women’s peace meeting. ‘This is the first one and I think it is now that the real job of creating peace has started’ she said.‘From here, let’s go and make friends with our enemies, go eat together, go start home visit groups, go and start merry go rounds, start common markets and create peace’, shared another one.