Justice and Human Rights Kenya Project #31755

Responding to Deadly Conflicts in Western Kenya

by Transforming Community for Social Change

Project Report | Dec 17, 2018
MOTORBIKE OPERATORS' CONFLICT WITH POLICE

By Ezra Kigondu | Lead Facilitator

Motorcycles at the dialogue session.

The bodaboda (motorcycle taxis) industry has grown immensely since its inception in 2003. The industry has seen many youth engaged in the business. From the start of the business, the government did not have clear regulations to guide the industry. As a result the riders were associated with all sorts of unruly behavior and accidents. Thirty percent of all accidents recorded are associated with the industry leading to the introduction of a special ward in government hospitals for the motorbike related accidents. [Note from Dave Z: One evening when I was at Lumakanda hospital with one of the sick children, a passanger who was in a motorcycle accident in Kipkarren River was brought in with one leg severed at the knee. The driver was then brought in bleeding profusely.]

To tame this menace of bodaboda chaos, the government introduced stringent laws commonly known as “Michuki laws” named after the minister who developed the laws. The bodaboda drivers were required to have:

Protective gears (helmet)
Driving license
Insurance
Reflecting jackets
Carry only one passenger

These rules have now started being enforced again by the police. This caught the bodaboda drivers unprepared and, since they were many in number, they started engaging in battles with the police.

On Mt. Elgon the riders ganged up and roughed up the policemen in a very tough battle. One of the officers broke his leg and a number of causalities taken to Bungoma hospital.

Transforming community for social change intervened by conducting a dialogue between the operators and the police. A total of one hundred and thirty people attended the meeting at the peace centre.

Resolutions accepted at the meeting included

Give the operators adequate time to acquire the documents
Policemen to be friendly in handling the bodaboda drivers as a traffic offence is not criminal offence
Use the boda boda drivers to enhance security
Engage other boda boda drivers across Bungoma county on such forums
Bodaboda drivers to be organized into Saccos (cooperative societies) to avoid being mistaken for criminals

This is an example of TCSC’s peacemaking work in action.

Note: On December 24 at the Mt. Elgon Peace Center, Transforming Community for Social Change plans a Christmas Party for 600 or more children. We will report on this activity after Christmas.

The man with a cane was hurt during the skirmishes

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Nov 26, 2018
Giving Tuesday

By Getry Agizah | Executive Director

Role play at workshop in Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Brief Report on Accomplishments in 2017/2018 and Planned Activities for 2019

Donate

Giving Tuesday is tomorrow and Transforming Community for Social Change hopes that you can make a donation on that day. GlobalGiving will give a 12% to 15% bonus for donations made on Giving Tuesday that are made during that day Eastern Standard Time in the US. Recurring donations will be matched up to $200 after the fourth payment.

For Transforming Community for Social Change (TCSC), click on goto.gg/31755

To support Peacemaking with Samburu Warriors, click on goto.gg/35909

To support Christmas Celebration for 600 Kids, click on goto.gg/36828

To donate to TCSC by M-pesa go to Pay Bill: 891300, Account: GG31755

Activities for 2017/2018:

This year Transforming Community for Social Change (TCSC) and its local partners have been working in Kenya to promote a culture of peace and restoration of justice through advocacy, economic empowerment, and community development. After the last elections in 2017, Kenya teetered on the brink of civil war; enraged citizens were manipulated by their political leaders to exact revenge for a stolen election.

TCSC was instrumental working with our over 1000 grassroots citizen reporters, our program facilitators, and resource persons to coordinate Civic Education and open Peace Forums for inter-ethnic groups in Western Kenya and Mt Elgon. This offered an integrated and focused election violence prevention project that built on the foundations we had laid in the communities that were considered flash points. With our track record and strong links to mobilized grassroot groups, those involved in peace initiatives and TSCS-trained Resource People were ideally located to promote a collective understanding of and investment in a free and fair election process that crossed ethnic, religious, and party lines.

Before the 2017 election TCSC conducted refresher trainings with our local Resource People so that they could be community trainers in the electoral process, citizen reporting, and election observation. TCSC also developed watch-dog groups to monitor political developments, report on hate speech, and hold political aspirants and community leaders accountable. In order to build the foundation of community relationships and basic knowledge needed for these watch-dog groups, TCSC managed to hold inter-ethnic, inter-faith and inter-party community forums, civic education workshops, and voter sensitization sessions and as well as monitorthe election process itself.

Since December 2013 when tribal violence between the Dinka and Nuer in South Sudan broke out, tens of thousands of South Sudanese have swelled the numbers in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. Moreover they have brought the South Sudanese conflict into the camp and the Dinka and Nuer have had deadly clashes in the refugee camp itself. Transforming Community for Social Change with support from donations given through GlobalGiving conducted Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities workshops in Kakuma Refugee Camp. The purposes were

To help them address and deal with their trauma from violence and domestic abuse from the struggling nature of their lives in the camp,
To build confidentiality and resilience because people living in the camp are still afraid of their neighbours because of stereotypes.
To build resilience through the process of healing from trauma.

TCSC lead facilitators also introduce AVP and HROC in Kitale, Kenya, mentored apprentice HROC facilitators in Rumbek, South Sudan, and Gulu, Kampala and northwest Uganda, and trained HROC facilitators in Musanze, Rwanda.

Activities for 2019:

In our new year 2019 TCSC intends

To train communities in peace programmes such as Alternative to Violence, Mediation, Trauma Healing, and Active Non-Violence on Mt Elgon, the Kakuma Refugee Camp and elsewhere as needed.
To help women and youth in Kakuma Refugee camp start economic empowerment projects to promote self reliance.
To have advocacy programmes towards justice and civic education in Western Kenya.
To sensitize the communities on gender equality to promote equity in development.
To rise and mobilize funds to support the Mt Elgon Peace Centre including the building of a residential building at the Centre.
To continue to help train people in both Kenya and other countries in AVP, HROC, mediation, active non-violence, and other peacemaking programs.
To hold on December 24 a Christmas Celebration for 600 Kids on Mt Elgon.
To re-engage with the traditional warriors in Samburu to promote peaceful coexistence.

We have a goal of raising $5,000 on Giving Tuesday to continue our peacemaking activities during 2019. We have attached a flier for you to foward to those whom you think might be interested in the work of Transforming Community for Social Change's peacemaking work.

We appreciate you help.

Getry Agizah, Peter Serete, Ezra, Kigondu, and David Zarembka

Attachments:

TCSC__Flier_for_end_of_year_Nov._2018.docx (DOCX)

2 Attachments

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Oct 16, 2018
Healing is Living

By Ezra Kigondu | Lead HROC Facilitator

HEALING IS LIVING

Both victims and perpetrators of violence experience trauma. Kitale Community Advancement Programme (KAP) has been doing work with victims of AIDS and violence. They have trained counselors who have been helping victims of this deadly pandemic and the violence in parts of Mt. Elgon and the slums of Kitale municipality. .KAP consulted TCSC to further their knowledge on matters of trauma and trauma healing . They did a basic training in which some of KAP’s staff and its volunteers participated.

The second training which was a six day training of Healing Companion which was done from the 8^th October 2018. The objectives of the training were

To help the staff and volunteers to become healing companions to help others within their community who have experienced violence
To teach people to help others to express their emotions
To teach and practice deep listening skills
To offer support to people on their journey of healing
To identify the process of recovery from trauma

The training started with a follow up of the basic training. The first activity was using a healing scale which indicated that most of them had made a tremendous step since the basic training. A healing companion can’t heal others when he or she is still wounded.

Lessons learnt

There are a lot of similarities between counseling and healing companions such as focus on deep
Healing companions have their own issues too hence the need to work on them
A lot of vices happen in the slum areas which go unnoticed
Land has been a major cause of violence in eastern Mt. Elgon
There is passion among the participants to be healing companions
Trauma is dynamic depending upon the environment, hence there are different ways of recovery
There is a lot of resilience in the community

Recommendations

Participants need a three day training of trainers to improve facilitation
Apprenticeship for the facilitataors to be able to handle a HROC workshop
Follow up days are needed to trace recovery
Quarterly meetings of healing companions to share progress, challenges and experiences
Need to be trained on other peace building programs to be able to handle emerging conflicts

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