Kenya Girls Gather for Weekend

April 10, 2017

The girls arrived in Nairobi on Friday the 7th at around 8pm. They used a bus from their village, but they had to wait for police escort. All the 7 girls arrived. We had dinner with them on Friday night, but we did not talk much because they were so tired. We let them sleep.

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast and chatted with them. We realized that it was not practical to send them back home that Saturday, because we had barely talked, and they would have needed to leave by 6am. We asked them to stay for the weekend.

It was so nice to see the girls again. We have not seen most of them since they left the Holiday House in December. They look different. The drought hit them hard; they have all lost weight. They narrated harrowing tales of hiding in the forest with their whole families whenever there was trouble, abandoning their homes and animals, sometimes for weeks on end. Until recently, they have been living in fear, always ready to run at the mention of bandit attacks, because they know how lethal the bandits can be; most of them are armed and even the army has a hard time fighting them off.

It was thus quite a relief for them to get away for the weekend and to spend some time away from the chaos that Pokot has become, though they were concerned about their siblings. We kept listening to the news fearing fresh attacks. We took the girls for a drive and then visited our newest mall where they enjoyed using the escalators. Afterwards, we had lunch then came back home.

On Sunday, we went to church then came back to the house and cooked lunch. We let the girls go back to sleep in the afternoon. When they woke up, we had 4 o’clock tea, then cooked supper. After dinner, we had a long talk with them again, encouraging them not to give up. They are feeling hopeless and helpless, but we all agreed they cannot give up hope.

The girls left this morning for Nakuru and then continued on to Pokot. By the time they arrived in Nakuru, however, there was tension again in their village. The parents recommended that they spend the night in Nakuru and go home early in the morning with the police escort. We sent them mobile money to pay for their accommodations. We just talked to them. They have had dinner and are in their rooms ready for bed. We pray tomorrow will be a better day.