Kenya exiles’ fate during post-election chaos

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KENYA: EXILED FATE’S ON THE POST ELECTIONS CHAOS
It is 6 am, I’m driving to the UNHCR offices in Westlands Nairobi. The weather is very called despite the fact that it is January. The reason why I am out at this right moment is because I want to witness what I have been told. Amid reception of rumors saying that exiled people in Kenya are among victims, I have never taken it seriously till I came face to face with Mama Tantine.
Mama Tantine is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, when hell broke loose in the eastern part of the DRC; she sought refuge in Rwanda where she spent more than 6 years. Having not yet felt secure in Rwanda, she decided to move to Kenya, the place that used to be called “The most stable Country in Africa” by then.
Mama Tantine is mother to seven, the eldest son is hospitalized for quiet a while in a Nairobi public hospital, the second born is a lady(Tantine) that has just given birth, the rest are under 15 years, her husband a former Congolese military officer has already left to our ancestral lands.
She used to live in an area called Kangemi – GICHAGI (a kikuyu name that means village). Since she can’t or simply, she is not allowed to work in Kenya, Mama Tantine lives with her family in a house that the UNHCR pays sometimes if Great lake solidarities group do not do so. Gichagi is the only place the woman can afford to live.
But yesterday something happened, local vigilantes groups turned militia asked everybody who is not theirs to leave the area in 12 hours. Regardless of your nationality of course! Those with relatives outside the area did not hesitate to leave the place so did mama Tantine and her family. But the only relative that Mama Tantine has is the UNHCR and this relative does not have houses to accommodate her. The woman in her forties and her grandchild who is just two months old spent the chilly night of Nairobi at the UNHCR’s gate.
When I met Mama Tantine, tears came out of my eyes but I was not crying. I still tell to myself that it was just the effect of the wind in the morning. On return from running my daily errands, I managed to steal some fifteen minutes from my schedule to see her. She was busy cooking super for her family and she got a neighbor of Somali origins who seems not to like the presence of a voice recorder.
I have just realized that the little things that we take for granted are blessings as I read in today’s paper. Please visit these people at the UNHCR’s gate.