Cry for My Beloved Country

GLOBAL POSITIONS FAITH WAMBURA NGUNJIRI

Cry for My Beloved Country

could degenerate into ethnic conflict of such magnitude, that in a place where people of different ethnic backgrounds had lived and worked together and intermarried for more than 50 years some were now hacking each other to death simply because of tribal differences.

Although there had been post-election Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn violence in 1992 and 1997, it had never child that is the inheritor of our fear. before spread to almost national magniLet him not love the earth too deeply. tude.

Let him not laugh too gladly As Tim Stafford noted in his blog, when the water runs through his fingers…

Let him not be too moved when the birds “practically everyone in Kenya will tell of his land are singing, nor give too much you that the church failed to rise above tribalism in the run-up to the election.” of his heart to a mountain or a valley.

Indeed, some of the pastors and leaders For fear will rob him of all if he had been complicit, either by taking sides gives too much. or by refusing to preach against the hate Alan Paton in Cry, speech spreading through e-mails and the Beloved Country (1948) text messages.

In June 2009, I returned to Kenya to Paton’s poignant story resonates with me as I reflect on the ethnic conflict that speak to people involved in the reconcilibroke out in my native Kenya after the ation efforts. Caroline Mapesa of ALARM 2007 presidential elections — the reper- told me about pastors who confessed to cussions of which are still being felt. As having participated in the violence. “I Edward Callan suggested in the intro- did it,” said one. “I got so angry when duction to the 1987 edition of the book, the results were out, I took a machete Paton wrote in the grip of two power- and went out…then I remembered I was ful emotions: a cry against injustice and a pastor.” In a community where the a yearning for justice. I look back on the spiritual leaders were actively involved in the violence, the church must first 2007 events with similar emotions.

Kenya identifies itself as being 85 seek healing for itself before it can be percent Christian; however, in the last few an instrument of healing.

In response to the church’s loss of years I have had reason to wonder how deep this Christian faith runs. How can a credibility on the one hand and the urgent country that is home to so many Christians need to be the instrument of healing on be rocked by ethnic conflicts to the point the other, congregations mobilized to that churches are burned to the ground, bring physical relief as well as spiritual along with the people within them? The healing to the theaters of violence. One headlines said it all: 35 burnt alive in church such massive effort was carried out by fire, more than 1,300 dead, half a million churches and Christian NGOs under the displaced. Where was the “Christ” in banner “Msafara: Wheels of Hope,” a journey from the coast to western Kenya, “Christian” then?

Since the post-election chaos broke with prayer meetings along the way to out in December 2007, I have been back bring healing to pastors who could then to Kenya three times on extended visits. take that healing back to their communThe first one was in March 2008, at which ities. Similarly, Christian NGOs such as time the chaos had not yet fully subsided ALARM and World Relief have been and fear was palpable, as was widespread actively involved in helping local pastors disbelief that a mostly peaceful country reconcile their communities.

PRISM 2010

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Florence Simbiri-Jaoko, the chairperson of Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights, said that people needed to gather, speak about their hurt and distrust, and come to terms with the fact that their destinies are linked.“There is need for somebody to bridge that gap, to provide room for people to come together, to speak their pains,” she said.

“I think it’s up to faith-based organizations and churches to offer this kind of space.” She is convinced that while we might think of Kenya as a Christian country, the rural youth are largely unchurched and economically disenfranchised, making them easy prey for those bent on using them for political ends.Whereas the government needs to urgently deal with the real issues of historical marginalization that were the root cause of the violence, only Christian institutions can effectively bring about spiritual healing for both victims and victimizers.

The church and Christian NGOs have a long, hard journey ahead to bring compassion and restoration to both rural and urban communities. They must nurture a thirst and also a capacity for justice within individuals, beginning with pastors but also extending to discipling politicians, restoring the capacity for dialogue that is so necessary for building peaceful communities. Rural pastors will need help in reaching the youth with relevant evangelism and discipleship.

Where Paton feared that people who love too deeply will suffer too much, our Savior invites us to enter boldly into the suffering of others so that we may love that much more. Q Faith Wambura Ngunjiri teaches in the PhD program of organizational leadership and also in the Africa programs of the School of Leadership and Development at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa. Her first book, Women’s Spiritual Leadership in Africa:Tempered Radicals and Critical Servant Leaders, has just been released by SUNY Press.