Kenya (MNN) — Kenya's peace talks broke off over the
weekend without a deal, and there has been
threat of more violence.
Negotiations hang on the new prime minister's post to be
offered to opposition leader Raila Odinga in a
power-sharing agreement with President Mwai Kibaki. Talks are slated to resume today, even though
international pressure has been mounting to come to a quick deal.
Meanwhile, Kenya's opposition
party has threatened a mass civil disobedience campaign if its demands aren't
met. Earlier demonstrations often
disintegrated into looting and tribal attacks and were harshly met by police.
CURE International says the instability has hurt their
ministry and stifled their hospital work.
Often the families of disabled children have
difficulty providing care for their child. With safety becoming a major concern, no one can work, and the economy
is in ruins. There's little enough money
for food to eat, let alone medical treatment for the children.
Though the AIC-CURE
Hospital remains open, CURE has been forced to cancel mobile clinics throughout
Western Kenya. During the first three weeks of January, a total of 108 patients
were scheduled for surgery; only 60 were able to make it to the hospital.
That has created a devastating domino effect on the
financial stability for their hospital in Kijabe. With declining patients and increasing costs
for fuel, food and medicines, CURE International's Dale Brantner says, "We
are in need of $30,000 dollars (per month) that has been lost through the patient flow
through that hospital, as well as the rising costs of fuel. A hospital that has been thriving has been
compromised by this, so we have financial needs." (click here if you can help )
But Brantner says the spiritual impact has also been
severe. A report from their spiritual
ministry team in Kijabe brought disheartening news following an evangelistic
meeting. "Of the 247 people that
came to Christ, when they went back just two weeks ago, they only found 117 of
them. 130 of those people were no longer in that area. The sad news of this is
that a lot of these people were probably ones that were killed in the
violence."
CURE International is praying
for the safety and health of all those involved–the staff, their patients and
the families. Pray, too for peace.
