IDP Camps
Internally Displaced People’ s Camps. These are a result of the post-election violence.
Peace has returned to Kenya; the hostilities are over and life has returned to
normal. Or so we have been told by the media. In the main this is true not
for the thousands of “internally displaced persons.” In the wake of the
post election violence there were over 300,000 people who fled their homes to safety at local police stations, schools and churches. They came from all walks of life but had in common that they were members of tribes for whom this was not their historic tribal area.
As a political compromise was reached many have been able to return to their homes but there are still thousands for whom a plastic tent remains home. These are the people with no where to go.
Today we visited a IDP camp in Eldoret and spoke with some of the leaders
about the situation in their camp. They shared stories of children whose
parents were killed during the violence, wives whose husbands chased them away because they were of a different tribe and they no longer wanted them. There are elderly ladies whose families are no longer alive and those whose
landlords are no longer willing to provide them a place to live. The government is offering people Ks 10,000 ($150) but this is not enough to start a new life for those who have nothing. The camps is slowly being shut down but people are not going for, as they say, “where will they go?”
