We Are Praying For The Rain Not To Come was produced by Internews TV trainer Dolphine Emali to tell the story of some of the 14,000 displaced people living in the showground camp at Nakuru, Kenya.

(May 8, 2008) “Life-changing” is how Fatma Sanbur, a station manager at Pamoja FM, describes Mission Possible, a new training program Internews has launched in Kenya aimed at addressing dangerous tensions between ethnic communities.

The training is taking place at six radio stations that were quite literally caught in the crossfire during the post-election violence in Kenya early this year in which fifteen hundred people were killed and over half a million displaced.

One of the radio stations, Eldoret’s Sayare FM, was so affected by the violence that it had to abandon its Kikuyu language broadcasting after being attacked for “supporting the people our listeners chased from the area.” Another station, Pamoja FM, that broadcasts in Kibera, Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest slum, had to negotiate with rioters not to burn their station down.

While many commentators were condemning the media for inciting violence, Internews was the first to recognize that when Kenya was burning, there were also journalists at the forefront of the fight to end the violence, and in doing so, they put themselves in great danger.

Mission Possible trains journalists and presenters to constructively tell the stories of those affected by the violence in their struggle to restart their lives. The stories, far removed from the statistics-driven focus of traditional Kenyan news, are raising awareness in radio station staff and their listeners of the profound effects of the post-election violence on individuals, families and communities.

As a result of the training, staff at Eldoret’s Sayare FM felt confident for the first time to leave the compound and go out into the streets to collect the stories of the communities they serve; it was also the first time they felt safe to enter and conduct interviews in a camp for people displaced by the violence.

In addition to Mission Possible, Internews has been running a series of roundtables exploring issues raised by the election chaos. Journalists from over half of the radio and TV stations in Kenya have taken part in the roundtables. The last of these, Who Turns Them On?, brought together over thirty-five of Kenya’s high profile radio talk show hosts to discuss how they could become more effective presenters for peace.

Who Turns Them On? featured the powerful audio slideshow We Are Praying For The Rain Not To Come produced by Internews TV trainer Dolphine Emali, who collected the voices and photos of some of the 14,000 displaced people living in the showground camp at Nakuru.

The slideshow includes the story of Peter Kariuki, who was evicted from his home because he was married to a woman from a different community or tribe. He hid down a borehole for two days while his so-called friends sought to kill him. After Peter was separated from his family in late December because of the threats to his life, his wife gave birth to their baby boy, whom Peter named Emanuel Peace by mobile telephone. In response to the slideshow, nine radio stations have asked Peter to become a live guest on their shows, making broadcasting history in Kenya.

To our knowledge, this was the first time that a displaced person had been featured in live call-in programs in Kenya, speaking directly with callers from the community that had so violently displaced him.

Many listeners who called in were moved to tears by Peter’s testimony. Kass FM even received two emails from listeners in America who heard the program on the Internet.

It was described by Mitch Odera, former Editor of The Standard and founding chair of the media council of Kenya, as “not only a first, but one of the most important moments in Kenya’s broadcasting history.”

“When Peter’s story was heard in diverse communities, it reminded Kenyans that those in camps were not nameless statistics. Their experiences and fears were evidence that boardroom deals had not translated to solutions for those whose homes are in areas beset by ongoing land disputes,” says Kenya Country Director, Ida Jooste.

Currently the Kenyan government is hoping to resettle the remaining 150,000 people still living in camps. Internews’ continues to support radio stations as those displaced make the challenging journey back to the communities they were so violently evicted from.

Funding for Internews’ humanitarian program in Kenya is provided by the Internews President’s Fund and Pact/USAID (United States Agency for International Development).

Internews Network has been training and mentoring journalists in Kenya since 2002.

MORE INFORMATION:

View the audio slideshow We Are Praying For The Rain Not To Come (requires Flash Player) produced by Internews TV trainer Dolphine Emali, about displaced people living in the camp at Nakuru.

Fresh Political Tensions Raise Concerns in Kenya's IDP Camps, Christian Science Monitor, April 11, 2008

Uprooted Kenyans Long to Return Home, Christian Science Monitor, April 10, 2008

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