Various Groups call for new era of unity, lay out Vision 2012 for a United Kenyan community in N.E

Leaders of various Kenyan church based and civil organizations who met last week at the Saint Stephens church in Lowell to discuss ways to unite the Kenyan community in New England.Front row, left to right are: Paul Muite of the the Kenya Christian Fellowship Association (KCFA), pastor John Wachira and pastor Dr. Joseph Kimatu of the Kenyan American Pastors’ Fellowship (KAPF), and Charles Ngeene, an official of the New England Kenyan Association (NEKA). Back row left to right are; Amos Wang'ombe of the Health for Nations organization, pastor Peter Kiama and pastor Samuel Kimohu, both of the Kenyan American Pastors’ Fellowship (KAPF). pic by H. Maina, Ajabu Media

News Report by Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa, posted August 30, 2011, 6.30pm

LOWELL, Mass,. _Hopes for a more cohesive and less antagonistic Kenyan community in New England rose dramatically last week when officials representing several groups pledged to set their differences aside and work together in the best interests of the community.

The historic meeting took place on Tuesday, August 24, 2011 at the Saint Stephen’s Anglican Church in Lowell, with the groups pledging to start the show of unity by supporting the planned funds drive against the hunger in Kenya planned to take place on Saturday, October 20, 2011 in Worcester, Massachusetts.

 At the same time, the Kenyans leaders pledged to work on a new Vision 2012 that will guide them towards creating a cohesive community in New England by the end of the year 2012.

 The meeting had been put together by the Kenyan American Pastors’ Fellowship (KAPF) led by the new chairman, Rev. Dr. Jospeh Kimatu in which all known interest groups and media organizations in the Kenyan community were openly invited.

Among the organizations that attended the meeting were, the Kenyan American Pastors’ Association (KAPF), the New England Kenyans Association (NEKA), an organization recently created to represent all members of the Kenyan community in New England in  civic and social matters, the Kenya Christian Fellowship In America (KCFA) Lowell/Nashua Chapter, and the Health for all Nations, an organization that works in partnership with the University of Massachusetts, Boston to bring health awareness to rural villages in Kenya.

  The pastors' association was represented by 3 officials; Chairman, Dr. Kimatu, Vice Chairman, Pastor John Wachira of the Christ is the answer church and the secretary, Pastor Peter Kiama of Saint John’s Anglican Church in Worcester and the treasurer, Pastor Samuel Kimohu of Saint Stephens’s church.

  Charles Ngeene and Peter Mwaniki represented the Kenyan civil society organization (NEKA) while Amos Wangombe represented the health awareness organization and Paul Muite represented the Kenya Christian Fellowship In America (KCFA) .

 According to Dr. Kimatu who chaired the meeting, various other organizations sent their apologies saying that they had conflicting schedules but would like to attend future meetings as they too supported the effort to create a united community.

 A follow-up meeting was set up for Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at the same venue starting at 10:00 am at the same venue in Lowell..
 
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 During his opening remarks, Dr. Kimatu said that the Kenyan community in New England is badly divided along different groups and churches and as the pastors association, they felt it was important to try and address the issue rather than ignore it.

   He said that as a result, the pastors association, that brings together about 40 pastors serving in different Kenyan community churches and ministries wanted to understand the recent move by members of the Kenyan community who came together to form the New England Kenyan Association as a platform for Kenyans to bring their ideas together for the betterment of the community.

Rev. Dr. Joseph Kimatu, president of the Kenyan American Pastors’ Fellowship (KAPF)

  “We wanted to catch the general vision of all present. We wanted to shape the future of how we are going to relate with each other and possibly define roles that each of the groups can carry out.” Dr. Kimatu told the panel of 8 who met at the St. Stephens’s church board room.

Dr. Kimatu said that the mission of the meeting was to unite Kenyans with a vision of having a united Kenyan community by the end of the year 2012.
 In the meantime, Dr. Kimatu added, it was important for different organizations representing Kenyans to continue holding talks so that they can get to know each other and possibly divide roles amongst themselves to avoid conflicts and further divisions due to duplication of efforts.
 
 He appreciated the recent effort by NEKA that saw several hundred Kenyans and their families congregate at a park in Lowell to celebrate Madaraka day, a Kenyan National Holiday that has never been celebrated by Kenyans in the New England region. He also commended the good work that the Health for all Nations has done in the past. This group has been sending nurses to Kenya to give health care to those who have little chance of getting it back in our motherland.

He asked pastors in the region to support our existing groups in their activities. The groups should in turn support the church in her activities to steer the community spiritually for the effective propagation of the gospel.

He drew a lesson form the recent Tornado that hit the Springfield area saying that since then, many spiritual leaders from all sections have met with other leaders representing different groupings, sometimes holding joint prayers even in mosques in an effort to serve the community that was hit the tornado.

 “Springfield is changing now. We can do meetings together, not to convert each other but to build each other”, added the man of God.

Speaking on behalf of NEKA, Charles Ngeene, the events coordinator of the new organization thanked the pastors for the work they have been doing for so many years of receiving new immigrants in the community and helping them settle and start a new life in a foreign land. He also thanked the pastors for responding to calls of distress to raise funds when people in the community loose their family members or when stuck with other issues especially immigration problems.

 However, Ngeene added that despite the good things that the pastors have done for the community,  there has been other areas of need that have arisen within the growing community that the pastors in the Kenyan community churches  may not be  in a position to  handle. As the Kenyan population grows, needs have increased and so many more hands are needed to do the work.

NEKA officials, Peter Mwaniki, left, and Charles Ngeene during the discussions

He said that even though there are many Kenyans who attend the community churches, there is a huge number that either attend other multinational churches and mosques or do not attend church at all.

   “As leaders, we have a responsibility to bring all Kenyans on board, churchgoers, drunks, Hindus, Muslims, poor, rich etc”, said the NEKA official.

He added that the church has indeed been misused by Kenyans because many run to the church only when they find themselves stuck in difficult situations that require fund raising.

“Churches help very many people raise funds but are left with no money to purchase buildings or carry out other projects,” said Ngeene. “Pastors are overburdened. They are always there when people need them but people have done very little for the pastors in return”, he added.

 He called for unity between the pastors and the civil society in a way that will also encourage other able Kenyans out there to come out and take part in building the Kenyan community.

  “We have very educated Kenyans here yet we are always looking for other communities to solve some problems. As Kenyans we only come together to celebrate ourselves only during the marathon then wait until someone dies somewhere,” lamented Ngeene.

 He thanked the pastors for supporting the call for a hunger funds drive. He reported NEKA had called for one in Worcester during the Mashujaa day. He requested the other groups to join together with NEKA to make this day a success. “Instead of us raising funds separately in small groups we can all come together and in the spirit of unity, raise money as one united Kenyan community and help our brothers and sisters in Kenya. This is more efficient, and cost effective”, he added.
 
During the meeting, Rev. Samuel Kimohu decried the air of miscommunication, misunderstanding and mistrust that has taken root in the Kenyan community that is based on recent regrettable events that have taken place.
 
  “We need a miracle! The Kenyan community leaders need a miracle here because there is a lot of miscommunication going on”, said Rev. Kimuhu flatly. “It does not matter who is who. Even within the part of pastors, there is a lot of miscommunication”.

 He added that miscommunication leads to the “pregnancy of misunderstanding” which has resulted in a badly divided community.

 However, Rev. Kimuhu said that there was hope since the disease of miscommunication is treatable if all dissenting groups agree to come together and talk with sincerity.

  “We are praying God that this mistrust can be eradicated’”, said the pastor.
 Let us have a strategy for bringing back trust in the community. If all the different groups are called for a community meeting, they should make a point of coming in good faith,” he added.
 
 Speaking during the same meeting, the vice chairman of the pastors associating, Pastor John Wachira asked all different organizations in the Kenyan community to consider what they were willing to give up in order coming to a compromise among them that would pave the way for unity.

  He said that the problems we are facing as a community in a foreign land did not start here but rather have a genesis back in our motherland.

 He said that divisions along tribal, clan and social grouping that are prevalent in Kenya   have seen Kenyans voting in blocks, have been exported to America and are now playing out in the community.

 He said that in his view, the church needs to partner with the civil society so that both can share roles appropriate for each. This he added, will accord more time to the church to give greater emphasize to spiritual matters.

   “It looks like the church has been shouldering more than its fair share of responsibility and leadership to the community according to the things that have happened recently. This might be construed to mean the church has refused all along to see the usefulness of the role of the civil community. The civil community however might also have forgotten that the church is a stake holder in the community,” said pastor Wachira.

 He added that in the Kenyan community, everyone seems to be passionate about their vision which is making people clash with each other.

  “Let us ask ourselves what do we do as the church to let the civil society do it’s work and ask and the civil society let the clergy do their work without beating each other up”, said  pastor Wachira.
  
“Regardless of our different affiliations, we have one common denominator. We are all Kenyans and we are still going to be Kenyans.”

Others who spoke during the meeting included Peter Mwaniki who is an official with NEKA. Mwaniki called on us all to realize that speed of information flow in America is massive since the Kenyan community has also grown like other communities and now has a real and well functioning media.

 As such, Mwaniki said, all leaders need to be sensitive to the words they say in public and if they ended up with a slip of the tongue, they should take responsibility and apologize rather than going around demonizing  and blaming the media.

 He called on the Kenyan Ambassadors, both at the UN and the Embassy in D.C to visit all Kenyan groups in different cities rather than visiting only a few since they are supposed to be representatives of everyone regardless of their background.

Paul Muite of the KCFA- Lowell/Nashua Chapter, supported the calls for unity among the clergy and the civil society for a more cohesive society that can work towards achieving some goals together.

Panelists listen to the discussion

 He said that is was important to lay down good foundations for logistics for the hunger funds drive so that people can see transparency that needs to be there during such ventures a thing that has been lacking before now.

Supporting the call for unity, Amos Wang’ombe of the Health for Nations, said that Kenyans see the pastors as the gatekeepers especially when that “phone call comes at 2 am” signifying trouble. Therefore unity among pastors and between pastors and the laymen was of paramount importance.

 “People view the church as a place for unity, not a place for division so that we can all learn from it,” said Wangombe.
 
 Indicating that the time is ripe for the community to organize itself in a more functional way to serve different needs, Rev. Peter Kiama, the secretary to the pastors organization, said that Kenyans come from the motherland as individuals out to search for better opportunities and when they land here, they find the church which serves them in a holistic manner, in every areas of their need.

However, as the community grows, various needs come develop which need to be addressed by a community rather than by individuals.

  “The ideas of us thinking like before; making as much money as possible and sending it to Kenya should end. We now should consolidate ourselves as a community and ask ourselves whether we are being served well as a community in a foreign land”, said Rev. Kiama.

 He said that all organizations need to support and respect each other in their specific roles without loosing their individual identities.

 “We as the Pastors association can think as the pastors association, NEKA can still think as NEKA, the health people can think as the health people, but that does not rule out the fact that we can not work together in a healthy and harmonious environment”, said Rev. Kiama.

 He called for the creation of a think tank to delegate responsibilities to various individual groups in our society so as to enhance the cohesiveness of the body of Kenyans in New England. This is the best way to avoid conflict and confusion within the community.

 Pastor Kiama decried the prevalence of individuals and some organizations that refuse to take part in community activities only to show up asking for help when they fell into trouble.

 “When they get into problems, these people look for a friend who knows a certain pastor to link them so that they can get assisted. This needs to stop”.

 He called on all Kenyans to learn from the past mistakes and use the experiences as mirrors for improvements instead of using it to foment bitterness in the community.
 
The meeting ended with a unanimous decision to come together and celebrate the Mashujaa Day as one united Kenyan community where our heroes will be acknowledged and a fund raiser done to mobilize funds, food stuff and other items to alleviate the devastating hunger gripping Kenya and its neighboring country of Somalia as a show of support and concern.

   A meeting to thrash out the modalities of creating a joint secretariat which will oversee the funds drive initially organized by NEKA but now supported by all was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at the same venue at 10 am.

  Leaders of other Kenyan organizations that were not represented in the initial meeting and would like to assist in the unity and funds drive efforts are requested to attend.

As the meeting ended, it was clear that as Kenyans, we have turned a new page in life in the West. We have begun writing a new chapter that will change our landscape for a long time to come. Our prayer is that this generation will leave a legacy for posterity for the scores of our children in America.

 Long live our unity! Long live our love for one another!

May we all join together in making the vision a reality and the mission a success. Our community will be the better for it.

For more info on how to take part and help in the cause for unity, call:

KPFA: Dr. Joseph Kimatu:404-384-1729
NEKA: Charles Ngeene: 617-816-4849
KCFA: Paul Muite: 603-438-9744
Health for Nation: Amos Wang'ombe;781-985-9249

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