When she was in Kenya last year, Monica Melgar '08 used to take the bus from Nairobi to Kisumu. She's back in the U.S. now, but as unrest in the 35-million person, former British colony grows, Kenya is still on her mind. She learned that a bus on the route she took was recently stopped and burned, and its female passengers raped.
"Thinking about how many times I took a bus from Nairobi to Kisumu really brings it home," she said.
Kenya has experienced violent conflict since the results of its Dec. 27 elections were posted. Charges of a fraudulent election have surfaced ever since President Mwai Kibaki's sudden victory over the leading candidate, Raila Odinga, spurring tribal violence and chaos.
As that violence continues, Kenyan students at Brown and those connected to the East African nation are concerned for family and friends. Rahul Nene '09, who lived in Kenya for 14 years, said he believed the first few weeks of violence were the worst and hopes that the situation will begin to calm down because of international attention to the situation.
Nene still has extended family living in Nairobi. He said they are all safe because the more metropolitan areas in Kenya seem to be less affected by the tribal violence that has become common in the slums and countryside.
"The whole thing with the tribal conflict is very surprising for me. ... I always knew there was this kind of undercurrent but I never knew that it would inflate this badly," Nene said. "It's just really disappointing because when I lived there everything was pretty stable."
Nene said that he worries about the repercussions from the crisis on Kenya's economy and said he believes the elections were rigged.
"I think that another set of elections would be the best option," he said.
Nene said that his parents' plans to move back to Kenya have now been put on hold, but he hopes to be able to visit his extended family there this summer.
Bernard Onyango GS, a sociology student from western Kenya, also said he hopes the "very volatile" situation will stabilize so that he will be able to return home this summer.
Onyango, who worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kenya Medical Research Institute prior to coming to Brown, said he believes the crisis has more to do with socioeconomic issues than racial and ethnic tensions.
Onyango's family, living in Kisumu, is safe, but he said the lives of people in urban areas are greatly affected by the conflict, although much of the violence is happening in poor and rural communities.
"There have been problems. Lives have been disrupted," he said. "People have been trying to go back to work but almost on a daily basis skirmishes have erupted, and they've been forced to go back home. ... It's really sad."
Onyango said he feels that both parties are at fault for prolonging the crisis. "We feel they are taking too long to come to an agreement. ... They take all this time, and the situation really gets worse," he said.
The crisis is also affecting those Brown students who have studied and worked in Kenya in the past.
Melgar traveled to Kenya last spring through the School for International Training Study Abroad program and said that the organization will likely cancel this year's trip because of the crisis.
Melgar said her group from last year has been sending e-mails to update one another on the status of their host families and contacts in Kenya.
"The situation is very real," Melgar said. "These are people that we've known."
Melgar also said she is disappointed by the lack of coverage from American news sources and believes the situation is worsening.
At Brown, Alena Davidoff-Gore '10 has started a student group to work in conjunction with a community-based organization in Kisumu that is now being affected by the tribal violence.
Davidoff-Gore worked in Kisumu over the summer on an Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award and became involved with KIACOB, the Kaloleni Integrated Anti-AIDS Community Based Organization. The grass-roots organization provides children in the slum of Kaloleni health information and recreational soccer programs.
Last fall, Davidoff-Gore started Brown for KIACOB, which has been collecting soccer equipment to send to the organization. She said she hopes Brown for KIACOB will soon start programs to raise awareness about Kenya in Providence elementary schools as well.
Davidoff-Gore said KIACOB has been particularly affected by the violence in Kisumu. Its headquarters were recently looted and most of their soccer equipment and computers were stolen.
Davidoff-Gore had planned to return to Kisumu this summer in hopes of assisting in the development of the organization but canceled her trip after the elections.
"It's really quite sad, because Kenya has been a pretty stable country, and its really sad when people resort to violence when there could be peaceful change," she said.
