With the unrest reported in so many news outlets, George Irungu's update is especially important.  Please read this update and continue to pray for the people and leaders in Kenya especially our brothers and sisters in the Lord. 

Dear all,

Thank you all for your prayers and concern. We deeply appreciate your genuine love.

The political situation has not improved at all. On the contrary, bitterness, hatred and revenge have continued to spread more and more in different parts of our country. The death toll has increased in hundreds while the displaced people across the country have reached 80,000 according to the latest figures by Red Cross.

As some of us could be aware, the problem originated from the general elections that took place on 27th of December. The tallying of presidential votes was marked with a lot of irregularities that made the opposition party refuse to concede defeat. The European Union representatives who were commissioned to monitor the election process concluded that the credibility of the tallying process was in doubt hence the possibility of rigging.

On the other hand, the government has strongly defended the electoral commission of Kenya (ECK) by asserting that the ECK’s performance was above board and that the opposition party needs to accept defeat or present their grievances to court as the only legislated avenue for arbitration. This has been a bitter pill for the opposition to swallow, having the belief they are being robbed of their chance to govern Kenya and make it better. In the interest of peace, there have been efforts from within and without Kenya to have the two main leaders meet together and come up with an equitable solution to the dispute but so far these efforts have been in vain. As a matter of fact, this situation has gone this deep mainly because the two groups have almost the same number of supporters throughout the country.

In the mean time, hundreds of people mainly from Rift Valley, Nyanza, Western, Coast and Nairobi provinces are loosing their lives and thousands more have been displaced in this mayhem. It was reported yesterday that a group of forty  women and children who had taken refuge in a church somewhere in Rift Valley were burnt to death by a rival ethnic group. As a security measure, the police have been deployed throughout the country though their capacity to adequately protect citizens and contain the political turmoil is still glaringly wanting. The main roads that are the only access routes to these affected regions have been temporarily blocked causing shortages of essential food stuffs and drastic curtailment of utility services.

Scores of disciples have been affected in many different ways. Many of them who had traveled to some of these affected areas cannot make their way back to Nairobi; many have deserted their houses to seek for safer neighborhoods while others are suffering the loss of their beloved ones. One of the brothers called me today to inform me that four of his relatives have been killed in this catastrophe while some have had their houses burnt to ashes. We thank God that up to now we have not heard any report of a disciple losing his/her life to this unfortunate situation.         

As the venomous attitudes along ethnic lines continue to create increasing unrest, our church services, fellowship and evangelism have subsequently been affected. We are inevitably unable to have church services normally since many people cannot move from point A to point B - either due to security reasons or lack of public transport. As a result, we have resolved to have services in small groups within close neighborhoods. What I know for sure is that disciples have been spending more time on their knees praying for God’s intervention. As our good lord promised, we believe that through prayer and petition, He will come through for us.

We once again seek for your continued support through prayer.

I’ll continue updating you on the progress here.

George Irungu