A Bit of Progress

[This is Roxanne posting...see note below.] 

“A Bit of Progress”, that’s how Tina put it in her e-mail from the Samburu district of Kenya to me this morning. It was so much easier to click on that title and open it, after reading the string of attacks and atrocities she and the Samburu have courageously been speaking out on that are detailed in the prior two blogs.

“A special Parliament committee has heard my/our pleas! They have requested a meeting and investigative survey of communities affected by the Feb 09 attacks and cattle raids. They are braving the dangers and instability in the area and arrive here, today. They will visit each of the 5 communities impacted to take interviews and testimony, record losses, and make a plan of action for restitution. We have no idea if it will have any impact on future violence, however, and of course this special committee is not operating with the blessings of the presidency. There is strength in numbers and unity. This is one small step in the right direction.



[I just noticed that Tina Ramme is still listed as the blogger-but this is not accurate.  I am Roxanne Reddington-Wilde, an anthropology professor and colleague of hers at Cambridge College. Tina is in Northern Kenya, where she normally spends time researching lions while living amidst the Samburu cattle herders of the region. This summer, she and the Samburu are desperately fighting for their rights (and lives) as a people. I’m trying to do my share from Boston, Massachusetts. Her e-mails make me achingly aware of the peace and security I live in.]