This article originally appeared in our Spring 2008 newsletter. To see the article in its original form, click here.
The widespread civil strife that broke out in the aftermath of Kenya’s December 27, 2007 presidential election was unexpected and violent. Protests sparked by disputed election results and allegations of vote-counting impropriety gave way to outbreaks of violence along political and then tribal lines.
Exact numbers have been hard to calculate, but the Kenyan Red Cross estimates that more than 1,000 people were killed, and UN officials estimate that 500,000 people were displaced throughout the country. Political reconciliation began in the form of a new coalition government agreed to on February 28, the details of which are still being negotiated.
To listen to Dr. Hezron Mc’Obewa, director of the Kenya-based OGRA Foundation and a Direct Relief regional medical adviser, is to discover hope for the people of Kenya. Despite being engulfed in the eye of the violence and having his personal office burned to the ground, Dr. Mc’Obewa pressed on to aid people from all tribal groups caught in this crossfire.
Educated in England, Dr. Mc’Obewa helped start OGRA Foundation as a community based organization to provide health care and promote socio-economic and cultural development. Because of OGRA’s strong community reputation, Dr. Mc’Obewa was appointed as the head of medical outreach for the Kisumu area’s ad-hoc humanitarian aid committee, coordinating between aid agencies, governments, and international bodies.
Despite communication issues that arose from the instability created by the violence, Dr. Mc’Obewa was able to contact Direct Relief the day violence broke out. Direct Relief immediately wired $10,000 to purchase needed medicines and fuel, set in motion airfreight shipments of additional supplies, and pledged to provide over 136,000 courses of antiretroviral medicine for patients with HIV whose treatment was disrupted by the fighting.
As the scope of the violence grew, so did Direct Relief’s assistance. On top of the airfreighted provisions, Direct Relief contributed $100,000 in emergency funds to help transport fleeing displaced families, to provide essential medicines and drugs, for monetary support of surgeons, doctors and nurses, as well as for fuel costs and other contingencies.
Throughout the two months of intense conflict, Dr. Mc’Obewa maintained regular contact, often via text messaging, the only available means. In a chilling entry from mid-January, he described a team of OGRA staff going door-to-door, looking for injured people who were unable or afraid to come outside and seek treatment. “It is through this that we are encountering some people with, literally, rotting limbs – how some haven’t died, only God knows,” he wrote.
OGRA and Dr. Mc’Obewa’s assistance went beyond medical. On the morning of December 31, about 300 youth armed with machetes, protesting the presidential results, attacked Grace and Habel Odongo at the guest houses they run in Kisumu. Before fleeing, they sent a distress signal to OGRA, who arrived in time to take them 14 miles away to safety and later to an evening flight out of Kisumu.
OGRA has handed over the day-to-day running of health camps and clinics to the Kenyan Ministry of Health, but Dr. Mc’Obewa and his staff are still looking for ways to improve community cohesion and provide assistance to the displaced. Direct Relief will be there to help them.