wfn.org | Caught in the Middle

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26-February-1999 
99087 
 
    Caught in the Middle 
 
    by Timothy Emerick-Cayton 
    PC(USA) Mission Co-worker in Kenya 
 
NAIROBI, Kenya-Many Kenyans feel caught in the middle.  First, they were 
the innocent victims of the bombing of the American Embassy, now, they are 
caught between Turkey's democratic rule and the Kurdish terrorists fighting 
for independence. 
 
    "What do either of these have to do with Kenya?" people here are 
asking, and yet families are still grieving the loss of loved ones from the 
terrorist bombs and every Kenyan embassy throughout the world is closed for 
reasons of security until the terrorists threat has passed. 
 
    Caught in the middle is nothing new to the people of East Africa. 
Battles of World War I and II were played out in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, 
Somalia and Sudan.  The war between wealth and poverty is fought every day 
with poverty taking most victories.  Democracy's struggle against 
dictatorship and oppression rages, as seen in the firing of Kenya's 
corruption-fighting finance minister recently in what was called a 
"leadership shuffle." 
 
    Caught in the middle between hope and despair, the people of East 
Africa continue -- in face of incredible odds -- to maintain their faith in 
a God of love.  Many have let go of any hope for their present life and 
simply look toward the day when God will return and reign again. 
 
    Others keep searching, almost desperately, for something for today with 
the expectation not only that they will find it but that tomorrow will 
bring an upward turn in their condition.  Others, perhaps those most 
convinced of immediate divine presence, work hard each day for the few 
coins they hope will grow into the foundation of a better life for their 
children and children's children. 
 
    What is amazing is that this thing called faith -- Christian, Muslim, 
Jewish, Traditional, whatever expression it is given -- these folks moving 
forward, ever forward, in spite of all that around them might be saying 
"you're losing ground."  Through the eyes of this American missionary it 
looks at times sad, impossible and discouraging.  Through the eyes of the 
faithful African, however, it is all in God's hands and, as they freely 
say, "God is great." 
 
    Maybe Kenyans are "caught in the middle," but it hasn't gotten in their 
way of praising God's everlasting presence and that is not only worth 
celebrating but worth incorporating into our own sense of the divine and 
into the prayers we might say as we go to sleep tonight.   

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