Prayer Update 4 January 2008
Happy New Year!
This is just a brief message to let you know that we have had to briefly postpone our departure to Nairobi because of the current unstable situation there. We hope to travel as soon as possible.
We are in touch with staff and students at Carlile College and they assure us that they are doing everything possible to keep the place running. Not every staff member is able to come to college as there are still skirmishes in some parts of Nairobi making travel difficult.
Our training centre for urban mission located in the Kibera slum has been invaded twice and Kikuyu members of staff have had to flee to the main college on Jogoo road. Colin Smith our Director of the Centre writes:
"The Centre was broken into again with Leah's goods all being removed on the basis that she is Kikuyu. All Kikuyus have been driven out of Kibera and we anticipate that it is unlikely that we will be able to do any teaching at the Centre this term. We will cancel teaching for St Paul's"
Most students from upcountry will not be in a position to travel to college for at least a week as there are fuel shortages and hardly any public transport. We have provisionally agreed with our emergency response and management team on the ground to open college next week (7th Jan) for staff and for students to be advised to arrive over the weekend for classes to begin on 14th January. We hope next week will be back to normal in Nairobi but even if that is the case it will take a while for students to get back to college particularly from Western Kenya and neighbouring countries. We will continue to review the plan as events unfold.
Please pray for the following:
The emergency response and management team helping organize things on the ground: that we will work well together.
Smooth SMS communication with staff and students spread across the region
Staff and student safety especially the Kikuyu
Peace and stability to return to Kenya and especially Nairobi
International envoys involved in trying to broker an agreement between the two presidential candidates
Justice and reconciliation.
The right decision regarding when to travel
We thank you for your support
Sincerely
Tim