Encounters in Kenya

(If you're feeling lazy, just read the last 2 paragraphs - they're the ones with all my feelings and reflections!!)

I'm a bit behind on blogging, mainly cause our time in Kenya was so busy! I seem to always end up writing blogs whilst travelling - this time I'm on a plane so it's a bit less bumpy than the bus rides! I'm still typing on my phone though, so can't promise any better typing...!

We arrived in Nairobi late on Sunday evening, and went straight to our guest house (which turned out to be a meat and caffeine free guest house - so veggie food & no coffee, tea or coke whilst we were there! But other than that, very comfortable and well located so we could walk to the KCLF office).

On Monday we were introduced to the KCLF team at their office, and then headed off to observe some of the advocates that work with KCLF in court. My group went to the Milimani courts, which is a high court, hearing both criminal and civil cases. It was really interesting to see the procedure (or rather, lack of it) and how different it is to the UK - advocates talking at the side all through the other cases, leaning on the side whilst addressing the judge (almost certainly he'd have been told to stand up straight in an English court!), files not being brought, witnesses not coming and so forth. The judge we observed seemed very reluctant to make any decision of any form, and as far as I could tell all 25 of the cases that were heard that morning were adjourned - although the lack of microphones combined with an extremely softly spoken judge meant you know about as much about what was going on as I do! (Apparently there are microphones in the courts but they never bother to use them - from talking to some other lawyers there, this seems to be an pride thing - 'I'm the important one here, you should make the effort to listen to me, rather than me making the effort to be heard', or 'I'm a lawyer, of course I don't need a microphone'! This is not dissimilar to some of the attitudes that I think are present in the UK legal profession.)

After we finished in the courts we headed back to the office to discuss what we'd seen and be briefed on the prison visits for the following two days. Fiona was really unwell, with a high fever and our partners decided she should get checked at the hospital, so I went with her to the hospital that afternoon. We were there until about 11pm, and thankfully it was nothing more serious than a bad bacterial infection so she was discharged with some antibiotics and a threat that I'd either sit on her or lock her in her room if she didn't take it easy the next few days! Whilst there, we were talking about Romans 8:28, that God can use all things for our good and for his glory, and I think one of the good things that came out of the hospital trip (though I would never say I'm glad it happened!) was a much stronger bond with two of the KCLF patterns who'd come with us - Joyce and Wambui. We had some really good conversation, got to know each other better and laughed together which continued through the rest of our stay. They were so kind and caring, making sure we knew what was going on and that Fiona was being looked after well. God really answered prayers that we'd be seen quickly - on arrival we were asked by security in the car park if we were here for an emergency, to which we replied yes and were taken through a side door. The hospital porter inside asked us the same question and then took us straight to the examination, completely bypassing the registration and waiting area that should have come first. This meant that Fiona was able to have all the blood tests and get intravenous paracetamol within half an hour of us arriving! Getting the results back from things took a while longer, but we were so thankful for this initial stage being quick! Fiona's pretty much back to normal now :)

I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night, so I stayed with Fiona the following day to keep her company and to get some rest, whilst the rest of the team went to a men's prison. The following day was the visit to the women's prison, which I've already written quite extensively about. This was a day when timings were about as African as you get - we were supposed to leave the prison at 12, but we didn't actually leave till about 5pm, without having had any food since 7am that morning! (Worse things could have happened, but I've learnt this trip, with numerous very late lunches, that when I'm really hungry I am highly impatient and quite grumpy!) We didn't mind too much though, because I think this was the experience that impacted us the most, and working on some of the remandees' cases felt like one of the most worthwhile things we'd done on the trip. On Wednesday evening we had dinner at a local restaurant with some of the office staff, which was nice.

Thursday morning was spent in the office talking through the cases we'd worked on at the prison, and just getting to know each other better. In the afternoon we headed out to two schools to do some child rights training. The first was a private high school, and the second was a children's centre that takes in street kids, orphans and drug-addicted kids. Although they had relatively few resources, they seemed to be doing a really good work and this kids were lovely. A little girl called Kimberly attached herself to me within about 5 minutes of us arriving (apparently I have a funny face so she wanted to be my friend...I really hope she was referring to the faces I was pulling at her, and not my actual face, but that may be the case!!), and she gave me her own take on the guided tour as we were shown round. She was trying to teach me some more Swahili, and it came up that I cannot, however hard I try, say the Swahili word for 'cow' (n'gombe or something like that). I had forgotten how much this had entertained people in Tanzania, but it sent Kimberly into hysterics every time I tried ( this also came up at the dinner table when I was staying with Franklyn, again causing much amusement, and resurfacing every time I was introduced to someone after that point!)

[Side note - the kid next to me on the plane has just got a special lunch-box dinner and I'm having serious food envy. I hope my food looks as good as hers! She's got crisps and cheesecake and dairy milk and ribena and everything!]

On Friday some of the team went to a meeting at the legal aid commission and then we had another student conference in the afternoon at Nairobi University School of Law. It was smaller than the conference in Uganda, but their English was better so they were able to engage with our questions better. It was a lot of fun, and a nice way to end the week. That evening, we split into pairs and were taken home for dinner by various advocates who work with KCLF. Cherelle and I went to Vincent's home, where we met his wife (and ashamedly neither of us can remember her name) and their 6 month old son, Tatwe. They were so welcoming to us, they'd prepared amazing food for us and we had great conversation and a lot of laughter. It was an amazing evening and we left feeling so blessed.

On Saturday we went on a safari walk in Nairobi National Park, went to an elephant orphanage and then a giraffe sanctuary where I got to feed and stroke a giraffe - so cool, if a little dribble-y!! Sunday was our last day together as a team - we went to church in the morning at Mamlaka Hill Church which was really great and had a leisurely lunch after. We spent some time reflecting together on the trip as a team which was really cool to think back over how much God has done during our time in Africa - mainly in our hearts, although we really pray that we've been am encouragement to the partners too.

Kenya I think has been the most challenging country for me. We've seen both sides of the injustice - those getting to walk free when even they acknowledge they did it because of a technicality or a failure of procedure, to those held in remand for things they haven't done, for far longer than should be, with no hope of compensation for deprivation of liberty and a bail cost out of all proportion to the alleged offence. We've seen the procedural inefficiency causing so many problems, seen the really wide reaching impact of corruption (whilst I was with Franklyn, it came out in the news that the chair of the anti-corruption commission in Kenya is being investigated for alleged corruption to the scale of about 40 million shillings... I think this sums up the problem of corruption in Kenya, and explains the resignation most Kenyans feel towards the problem.) We've seen the heart and passion of people working to change the system, and been able to understand a little of how demoralising and wearing it can be, trying to pursue and secure justice when it seems like the whole system is against you. And all of this comes in the context of the news that two weeks before, whilst we were in Rwanda, an IJM lawyer (another Christian law organisation, very similar to KCLF but working in slightly different areas - the way the organisations work together from what I can see is really cool!) along with his taxi driver and his client were abducted on their way out of court having won their case, horrifically tortured, killed and dumped in a river. In the original programme we had planned to visit IJM, but with the funerals, investigations and grief of it all, it was decided that the best thing for them was to send our prayers and support but not to visit. The impact of it had also hit home at KCLF and I think some of the staff attended the funerals. It highlights the scale of the fight that is being fought for justice, the serious challenges they face, and just made the realities of the work of KCLF all the more real. I feel so challenged by this - would I really fight for justice in such difficult conditions? Would I be as passionate as they are? Would I be as compassionate as they are? I'm really in awe of their dedication and motivation, and I hope that in some small way that the team have helped them keep going, encouraged them to keep standing firm and not to give up.

Please pray that they will have the strength to keep going, to keep their eyes on the hope that we have in Christ, and also for the family and friends and colleagues of the three who died.