Young men from the Kalenjin tribe, urged on by their elders, often steal cows from the Lou. Bloodshed followed. Corrupt local politicians even took advantage of the situation for their own gain.

Peacemaking

One year ago, we reported how an FMI partner, Pastor Felix, had a vision for reconciliation. Bruce Allen says, “Pastor Felix has seen the intertribal crime rate drop 93 percent since he implemented the evangelism and discipleship outreach with the sports competitions and good news clubs. This is such an amazing thing, and even other tribes are taking note of the change that has happened.”

Between the two tribes, over 900 have become followers of Jesus since our last report.

Of course, Pastor Felix isn’t working alone. Allen says, “A few weeks ago, he trained 70 adults from the two tribes to launch even more good news clubs. It was an opportunity for these two rival tribes, the adults, to come together in a single training. And it has really revolutionized the life of the tribe.”

“When the Gospel begins to transform individuals, whole communities can get swept in the change.”

The good news of Jesus isn’t just about individual relationships with God, Allen says. “One of the adults that was involved in Felix’s Training Sessions said, ‘Now I really have a responsibility to stand in the gap for lasting peace in our community, and propagate love to everyone, no matter their tribe, their language, or their skin color.’”

Pray healing will continue between the Luo and the Kalenjin. You can support local church planters here.

Pray also that the Good News clubs would grow greatly, not only in numbers but in the love of Jesus.

Header photo courtesy of FMI. 

In rural Kenya, especially among the Kalenjin tribe, a rite of passage for a young man is to bring a cow back to his family. Typically, they work to save up money and buy one.

Political influence

But corrupt leaders have used this rite of passage to convince young men to steal cows from their neighboring tribes, Bruce Allen with FMI says, “It’s even involving local politicians that are very corrupt, paying the youths to perpetrate these thefts. So then they bring the cow back to these corrupt politicians, and the politicians may present them to the families.”

The rustlers sometimes steal $5,000 worth of cows per night. Allen says, “In the Kenyan economy, that’s huge. So there’s a big economic impact. There’s political fallout because of these corrupt authority figures as well.

As the Luo people retaliate, Allen says, “It’s now not just an individual young cattle wrestler going out, but they’ve had to band together for their own security.  It’s really a gang effort now.”

Allen says, “They’ve taken to even going so far as announcing their intentions to a family. Before they come, they’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going to come into your neighborhood tonight. And we’re going to take your cattle.’ It’s just escalated to the point of intertribal warfare.”

Pastor Felix

Pastor Felix, an FMI partner, has planted a church among his fellow Luo people. But he has a vision for a reconciliation between the Luo and the Kalenjin. Allen says, “He’s been involved in trying to organize soccer tournaments. He recruits players from both sides of these areas so that they get to know each other and get to respect each other, even playing on the same teams so that they’re looking out for their teammates. He’s been involved in tree planting projects in the grasslands.”

Early next year, Pastor Felix will receive packets of cards from FMI, explaining the story of Jesus in a Kenyan context.

Pray for peace between these tribes. Ask God to bring a work of new creation out of this conflict, and all the destruction it has caused.

The header image shows Pastor Felix. (Photo courtesy of FMI)