Daniel and Maureen Kung’u are a married couple in the church in Eldoret in Kenya, 356 kms from the capital city, Nairobi. On the 8th of January they fled Eldoret to seek the safe haven of Nairobi.

In upheaval that has followed the announcement of results from the presidential election on 30 December 2007, sections of Eldoret have been up in flames. Particular ethnic communities have been at war against each other. Houses and businesses have been burned, families have been forced into exile and people have been injured and killed. One morning in an Eldoret neighborhood, residents woke up to the sight of heads on sticks, the decapitated torsos having been dumped elsewhere.

Leaflets would be spread in advance warning people to vacate their houses before they got burnt. Word reached Daniel and Maureen that they could soon be targets. They needed no convincing that the danger was real and present. Other disciples from ethnic communities similar to theirs had already suffered. One had his new house and his two cars burned, others had their neighborhoods attacked and property stolen. Still another witnessed the bloody heads propped on sticks. In some places, dogs would feed on decomposing bodies.

While Daniel and Maureen left Eldoret before they could become subject to physical harm, the ordeal had been frightening. It has left Maureen shaken. “I still feel scared, even though I am now in a safe place in Nairobi,” she shares. “I am sensitive to sounds and noises around me. I feel angry and confused.”

“My wife and I have been praying a lot,” Daniel chips in, “though it’s hard to concentrate. I think of Jesus and the cross and I am called to forgive. Jesus forgave even with nails in his wrists. I have decided that no-one can convince me to hate anyone or any community.”

Disciples in Eldoret, several of whom are displaced and huddling in temporary venues, Daniel says, “need food, blankets and counseling.” They also need our support and prayers. And even as the trauma eventually fades when things gradually settle down, they will need help rebuilding their homes and their lives.