Separately, Tina e-mailed saying people recently “bought” eight goats on-line!

Holiday letters: another way I hadn’t thought of to spread the news and build the herd!

Roxanne

p.s. And how did the two mid-December weekends at Cultural Survival’s Holiday Bazaar go, with Tina, me and several of our great friends selling Samburu bracelets, bags, dolls, carvings and more for the people? To be perfectly honest, I had been dreading the second, three-day event especially because I knew we would be exhausted by the end. And we were wiped, staggering around like zombies by Sunday at 6:00 when it wrapped up. I am delighted to report that we sold over $5000 worth of goods! ABCD, where I work, separately bought about 3 cows (they still are picking up more items) worth too that I hauled in during the weekdays to my office. Are we going to do it next year? You bet!!! Wouldn’t miss it for the world. As one of my ABCD friends commented, after all, isn’t this what Christmas should be all about?

“The aspiration it affirms,” Obama said “including the respect for the institutions and rich cultures of Native peoples, are one we must always seek to fulfill…I want to be clear: what matters far more than words, what matters far more than any resolution or declaration, are actions to match those words.”

President Obama: a US Charity illegally purchased the ancestral lands of the Samburu people. Please take note and honor your commitment to the rights of indigenous people! Outsiders call it Eland Down: the Samburu have always called it Kisargai. Honor the Samburu’s right to live and herd their cattle on Kisargai!

Tell President Obama you expect him to keep his promise to indigenous people and oppose the illegal purchase of ancestral lands by a US NGO!

If you would like to ask President Obama to honor his promise, please write to him here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

But Tina also including a picture from when she was walking in the bush, two days before Thanksgiving. It is not a nice picture. It is a picture of a young child, curled on her side under a bush: dead. The famine in Somalia has spread over into Northern Kenya. The small herd of cows SaveSamburu and the Samburu have been painfully rebuilding are doing well– grazing on the sides of the mountain. No way they provide enough to feed everybody.

The child and the people are why we are doing this: simple as that.

I e-mailed back to Tina: “Yes, we are going to be exhausted by the end of the two weekends. No, I won’t be able to get all the Christmas present-making time in that I want. Indeed, I will be late to or even miss a bunch of holiday parties. And I won’t get as much holiday baking done as I would like. That we both have the luxury to fret about such things is why none of it matters. The young child should have had the luxury of being a young, carefree child learning how to milk cows. Her future is gone: we – and through us the good people of Boston – are giving our time, our energy and our dollars so that other Samburu children will simply have the luxury of life.”

If you are around the Boston area in the next few weekends: come to Cultural Survival’s bazaar. You will give and receive the luxuries of life.

December 10th & 11th

Saturday & Sunday)

Harvard University-CGIS

Yesterday, I spent the day in Worcester, Massachusetts selling handiwork the Samburu made to a crowd of roller derby players, their friends, family and strangers off the street who all came to Central Mass Roller Derby’s 2nd annual craft fair. The first people who came by the table (while I was still setting up: I have lots of beaded, carved and other pieces the Samburu made for KARE to sell) were two young girls, I think about 12 years old. They asked and I told them of the police attacks on the Samburu two years ago this month. I showed them the pictures Tina sent me the day before of the first cows coming home with the funds KARE has raised for Samburu to purchase cattle from the Maasai. And then they thanked me and thanked me for what I was doing, selling for the Samburu, and gave me $5. No, they said when I pointed out the beaded bracelets (6/$5) that the Samburu school children had made. No, they didn’t want anything, just “thank you” and please pass the $5 on to the Samburu. People are good.

Throughout the day, people came, looked, listened, talked, bought and cared about their fellow human beings. They bought a cow’s worth of beautiful Samburu crafts. That’s $250. Earlier in the week, I brought some new Samburu pieces into ABCD, where I work and where I sold crafts over the holidays. My boss’s husband loves the rungu (a warrior’s club) that she had purchased for him and his family all wants rungus too, so I thought I would show her the new ones Tina brought over a few weeks ago. The new beaded and metal necklaces were so beautiful (and light) I carried them in too. This week, ABCD bought another cow. And they want me to bring in more Samburu work next week.

I want to say to you: People are good.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dear Roxanne,

It’s been a very exciting time in Kenya.  As someone who has lived among the Samburu, I witnessed a very rare event last week, one I have never seen before: tears were streaming down the face of a moran warrior when the first cow was presented to a family who had lost their son, had their manyatta burned to the ground, and lost over 200 cattle during the Feb 2009 attacks. The father, in his late is 40’s, still has young children whose lives will be saved with these cattle, which represent hope for survival and a new start. He stated: “When you give a man a cow, you give him 100″.

The affected communities are stunned and grateful beyond words. They not only now have hope for survival and their future, but have the comfort they have not been forgotten, through your efforts and support of this effort.

Thank you, Roxanne, all those who gave, and everyone at ABCD – and the Rotary- from the bottom of my heart for helping make this possible. I can’t describe how much this meant!

Best wishes to you all!

I was real busy with meetings on Tuesday but my friend Libby in the next office over asked if she could lay out the bags of beaded earrings, carved giraffes, wood spoons, beaded bracelets, cloths, dolls and lots more on her table. Soon folks were sticking their head in my office as I pounded away at my computer, saying “how much for…?” Libby started bugging me to put up a flyer by the elevator, advertising the crafts “because I think we can sell a cow.”

Sonja in our office falls in love with the carved giraffes (she has a known love affair with giraffes in general). The bone napkin rings and salt & pepper shakers go. I haul in more bags from home: Kathleen scoops up the carved, wooden creche in a flash, along with bead bracelets made by the Samburu school children and many other items. “I’m doing my Christmas shopping here,” she announces. In shock, I tally up the cheques and cash in my hand and realize that, in 2 1/2 days, ABCD has bought a cow for the Samburu and are well on the way to four more legs at least. Our CEO, John, buys two woven hand bags for his daughters.

Libby and Sonja, tired of me saying “I’ll ask if we can put up flyers in a bit” and then heading to another meeting, produce a fantastic flyer on their own — “ABCD had a cow! Please help it have another” for the Samburu. Belatedly, I ask our boss if we can put them up around the building. Yes, we can and off go Sonja and Libby.

Friday morning, I haul in more dolls, cloths, picture frames (with great, huge African porcupine quills decorating their leather sides — Jill snags these and more) and bone napkin rings. After a meeting, I’m back at my desk trying to type up its minutes and the phone rings. It’s Pat from South Boston, “How much is a cow?” “Uh,” I say, “we’ve got beaded bracelets and dolls and stuff up here that you can buy for $10 or so. The Samburu made them. We’re trying to raise funds for a cow.” “Yes,” Pat says, “How much is a cow?” “Ohhhh,” I finally realize, “You want to do a cow. It’s, um, $250.” “Great,” says Pat, “Whom do I make the check out to? I’ll get it to you this afternoon.” And when I came back from lunch, there on my seat was an envelope with $250 and a note saying “Merry Christmas. Thanks for giving me a chance to help.” Tears came to my eyes. That was Cow B for ABCD.

I can’t say Libby, Sonja or I got a whole lot of other work done Friday afternoon: it was simply too much fun and joy helping people fall in love with the pieces the Samburu made.  By the end of the day, we had sold enough pieces that ABCD staff, single-handedly, bought four cows for the Samburu. We have already named them: A, B, C and D!

Today is Thursday of the next week (it’s been a busy weekend and week so far — only now am I finding the time to blog). My friend who’ll be involved in purchasing the cows was over at my house this past Sunday and I gave her the four cows worth of sale proceedings. She’s as flabbergasted as I. Sales have been slower this week, but Jill was back again, Irvienne has a lovely woman’s beaded collar; Chris has one too and Eric just bought a Moran’s “beads on leather” bracelet for his 16 year old son, whose birthday is today — made by one Moran and now worn by another.Once I got home this evening, I counted up the money from this week: ABCD has expanded its alphabet: we now have cows E and F!

Last Christmas was grim for those in Samburu East.   The police announced plans for raids on Christmas Day itself.  Women had fled into the bush with fear for their bodies and lives. Many Samburu felt no one cared or knew what was happening to them. Lives and cows that the police hadn’t taken were still being decimated by the drought.

This Christmas for Samburu East is different. The drought is over. The police are basically under control (but the police situation for the Laikipia Samburu in Central Kenya is different, as I have written in recent blogs). Now is the time to rebuild the herds and help the Samburu regain control of their own lives and future. I’m so proud of my colleagues at ABCD, who care. I’m so proud of the Rotary Club in Bethel, Vermont, who also have donated a cow. 

Humans can do evil things to their fellow humans. Unfortunately, the police, military and others in Kenya have shown that. But people can also care about humans they have never met. They can see a flyer and ask “how much is a cow?”

Merry Christmas, my Samburu friends,  my ABCD colleagues and you –

Have a Cow!

Why now? Well, we think it is because of Cultural Survival’s January visit to the area and documentation of severe human rights violations. We think it is because of their letter to the Government of Kenya, and KARE’s letters and your letters… Our voices can be heard when we all shout loudly and demand that the GoK respect the rights of its citizens.

Is that it, the end of our campaign to restore justice and livelihoods to the Samburu people? No, none of us think that. This  is a lull, a pull-back of the government. Too many people in power there have too many hopes of oil and profit and more power flowing out of Samburu East and into their hands. But perhaps these moments of calm mark the lull before the tide turns and — our voices raised together — we can ensure safety, stability and self-empowerment can flow back to the Samburu people.

For more information on the impact of letters to the Kenyan Government, see Cultural Survival’s recent statement: “Police Attacks on Samburu Cease After Cultural Survival Visit”

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/kenya/police-attacks-samburu-cease-after-cultural-survival-visit

3/28/10: An update after checking on the news in Samburu East this weekend: The Kenyan police are threatening to move in and “disarm” the area of Baragoi. Facebook is being used to spread the word so people can try to protect themselves. The few Samburu that do have guns, which are the ostensible reason for the police search, have been turning them in voluntarily but that hasn’t seemed to stop the police in the past from severe harassment. I’ll let you know what happens as I find out. Keep your fingers crossed… and letters coming to the GoK.

Below is Cultural Survival’s model letter to the Government of Kenya (GoK). We can all  adapt it to our own names and voices. Please, make a copy of this letter, insert in your own name and specific concerns to personalize it to you and fax or e-mail it immediately to the officials of the Kenyan government. Their names and contact info are immediately below the letter (I couldn’t adapt the spacing well and so chose to list them there). In your own letter, put those names/addresses at the top.

For more details about the atrocities committed recently by the Kenyan police against the Samburu, see the immediate prior blog entry. For even more details, well, read all the way back to the beginning of the attacks one year ago.

Your Excellencies:

We are extremely alarmed at reports of frequent, brutal, and ongoing police assaults on Samburu villages in East Samburu and Isiolo districts, Northern Kenya. These assaults have taken place during a so-called amnesty period, in advance of your deadline for voluntary disarmament of the various ethnic communities in the North.

We support your call for disarmament.  We understand that the Samburu and other tribes in the North agree that there must be universal, impartial, and effective (long-lasting) disarmament in the region, and they are willing to comply.

But orderly disarmament cannot be accomplished by police forces who have committed serious crimes against the people as recently as January 10 and 12 of this year. These crimes and human rights violations include extra-judicial killings, rapes, beatings, theft, arson, and intimidation. They have terrorized and impoverished entire villages, including children. Many Samburu parents have fled villages to sleep with their children in the bush, saying they are more afraid of the police than of wild animals. 

We urge you to immediately withdraw police forces from Samburu East and Isiolo districts, where police attacks have been most frequent and severe. The police operations are increasing insecurity in the region rather than decreasing it.  The police themselves are guilty of crimes and widespread human rights abuses. Lacking the trust of the local people, the police cannot conduct effective disarmament under these circumstances. 

We further urge you to authorize a community-based disarmament process, involving community elders, peace committees, community leaders and human rights organizations. Such a process is the only path to lasting, universal disarmament.

Please take these immediate steps to prevent further state violence against innocent people, and to demonstrate Kenya’s commitment to police reform and human rights.

Sincerely yours,

MODEL LETTER –ADDRESSES, FAXES, EMAIL ADDRESSES

Select from the  officials and addresses below: best of all, send your letter to all of them. Take your selected officials/addresses and put it at the top of your letter.

Rt. Hon. Mwai Kibaki, CHG, MP, president

Republic of Kenya

State House

Harambee Ave.

Nairobi, Kenya 00200

president@statehousekenya.go.ke

FAX +254 20 2210150

and

Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, EGH, MP

Prime Minister, Republic of Kenya

Treasury Building, 14^th Floor

Box 74434-00200

Harambee Ave

Nairobi, Kenya

info@primeminister.go.ke

ps@primeminister.go.ke

fax +254 20 2211205

CC:

Hon. Prof. George Saitoti, MP

Minister 
Ministry of State for Provincial Administration & Internal Security

Harambee House, Box 30510

Harambee Ave., Nairobi 00200

Fax +254 20 341938

Francis T. Kimemia, CBS

Permanent Secretary 
Ministry of State for Provincial Administration & Internal Security

Harambee House, Box 30510

Harambee Ave., Nairobi 00200

Fax +254 20 313600

Matthew Kirai Iteere CBS, EBS, OGW
Commissioner of Police

Vigilance House, Harambee Avenue

Nairobi, Kenya

Fax +254 20 2240955

Hon. S. Amos Wako, EGH, EBS, SC, MP

Attorney General

Republic of Kenya

Fax: 254 20 2211082

Michael E. Ranneberger, Ambassador

United States Embassy

United Nations Avenue Nairobi
P. O. Box 606 Village Market
00621 Nairobi, Kenya

Email to: Jonathan P. Howard, HowardJP@state.gov

February 20th: that’s when the Kenyan Police officially “launch” a massive sweep across the Samburu district to disarm the people.  Documentions  of these autrocities are real.  These events have really been happening during the past month — murder, rape, scalping, theft… and the confiscation of cell phones right along side each attack.

You would not believe how effective this [writing letters and revealing the realities of the attacks] actually becomes with them and it could possibly save hundreds of lives and prevent other repercussions. In fact when we were interviewing one [Samburu] community a lorry [truck] pulled up and 2 police got out, guns raised…once they heard the human rights team was interviewing victims, an entire police unit was replaced -those who had conducted one of the assaults.”

A letter to the President and Prime Minister of Kenya describing what they have seen and heard has been written. They will be releasing it to the Kenyan media. Read it. I’ve put it in the comment to this blog (because this is so fresh it’s not up on the SamburuWatch website yet. I’ll link when it is).

Cultural Survival asks, KARE asks — we all ask you to add your voice. Tell the Government of Kenya you and the rest of the world are aware of the crimes it has committed against its own, Samburu citizens. Make them stop the February 20th police assault on their own people.

Write now! Because your voice matters right now!