Kenya church razed, 50 people reported killed

January 3’s World Section in our local paper raised that headline. I don’t read the full story not unless it’s about the awakening of a six-month woman in coma. Joke. But actually, the news article was about a church burned in Africa, home to the earliest known fossils. The question wasn’t how, but rather why on Earth would they burn down a place of worship. Could people get any worse? Shattered by an angry mob after an election went wrong, the church reported actually housed people who sought refuge from the post elections violence. The election happened on a Sunday, December 30. The burning took place on Tuesday, January 1. While we were flooded with grace from New Year feastings, many have died and a country drowned in fear. This would be Kenya’s darkest times and awareness is the best thing I could do right now. They were there Witnesses of the fire had seen at least fifty ethnic people burned to death by anti-government group. They didn’t like the newly-elected president that they actually didn’t shoot into their minds that the church included children. God rest their souls. The article even carried a photo from the helicopter video feed provided by Red Cross showing the church in a Kenyan town of Eldoret being succumbed down to fiery pits. Sidebar: This genocide followed the one in Rwanda, 1994 where half a million people died. I didn’t researched more on this as this would make me more depressed. In these times of desperation, we do nothing but turn to someone who’d stand for us, our leaders. Their re-elected president, Mwai Kibaki, called for a meeting with his political opponents to mend whatever disputes they have. But for that, he was criticized for he rarely speaks to press and he “vowed to crack down on rioters,” the paper said. Turning of a new leaf, you could say. But did you know that his opponent actually refused to open up as he accuses Kibaki’s administration of genocide. Raila Odinga had an offer to attend the meeting if Kibaki would announce that he was not elected. Yes, politics is a dirty game. It gets filthier when it’s tainted with blood splatters of innocent people getting killed. It makes things ironic like a passive leader wanting kiss and make up. And despite all these bad things happening, did you know that Kenya used to be Africa’s most stable democracy? But now, it’s dreaded by its own people as a dark shadow if civil war approaching. Yes, politics makes things ironic that even the holiest place might be the last one you’ll run into.