Kenya missionaries return to work despite continuing unrest

From EpiscopalLife Online:

Kenya's Episcopal missionaries Nan and Gerry Hardison are steadfastly committed to continuing their ministry as teachers and health care specialists in Maseno, despite tribal and criminal gang violence that has roiled the east African nation since the December 27 contested presidential election.

The Hardisons returned to Maseno in west Kenya January 25 and are back to work, Gerry as the medical director of Maseno Mission Hospital and Nan as a teacher at St. Philip's Theological College.

They had been evacuated to Nairobi January 11 following the post-election conflict that threatened their security and is responsible for the deaths of more than 900 people. Also evacuated were a Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) volunteer, Liz White, who continued home to the U.S., and nine student nurses.

Violent protests between supporters of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga erupted across the country after Kibaki was declared the winner in the closely contested election.

Parishioners from All Souls' Church, Point Loma, in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, the Hardisons said that people in Maseno "are thankful and grateful to have us here -- we are a sign of hope. They are afraid for the future, and we are a signal that they are not abandoned by brothers and sisters in Christ from other parts of the world.". . .

Meanwhile, Ndungu and Rose Ikenye, Episcopal missionaries based in Thika, are reported to be safe, and Canon Percia Hutcherson, a former Episcopal missionary to the Diocese of Eldoret, Kenya, returned to the United States on January 9.

Hutcherson, 86, is a physical therapist who works with crippled children and adults at a clinic she established at the bishop's compound in Eldoret.

Reached at her Los Angeles home, Hutcherson said that the facilities there have not been directly affected by the violence. "In the past, churches were respected," she commented. The deliberate torching on January 2 of a nearby Assemblies of God church where some 35 women, children and elderly persons had sought shelter was a terrible shock to Kenyans, she said. . .

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