Under the cover of darkness, Lucy Teti’s attackers moved in silently.
The Kenyan night made it difficult to count their exact number but about eight young men, armed with swords and with violent intent, saw easy pickings at a house and plot of land growing maize, beans and wheat.
Before long Lucy’s husband Paul was dragged out and taken away for a beating. The men then turned their attentions to Lucy.
Leaving her crying one-year-old son Sammy, she pleaded with them not to kill her child. They didn’t but they set upon Lucy, only stopping their attack and making off when she gave them 10,000 Kenyan shillings (£75).
Good Samaritan
The terrified family fled into the night. `Thank God there was a Good Samaritan who was driving along and gave us a lift,’ said Lucy. `He dropped us at the hospital because we were bleeding badly and gave us some money for a room.’
Like 350,000 others, Lucy and her family were forced to abandon their home in the post-election nightmare that gripped Kenya six months ago.
Since early January, her family have been living in a camp - supported by Tearfund and other organisations - for 1,000 internally displaced people at Narok, west of Nairobi.
A Tearfund partner has helped Lucy enjoy security after her ordeal. Picture: Tearfund
Through our Christian partner, the Narok Integrated Development Programme (NIDP), which works closely with the local church, Tearfund has been providing them and others with the daily essentials – food, water, mosquito nets and bedding.
Gratitude
`Thank you for the work of NIDP,’ said Lucy. `Everything in this tent has been given to me.
`Thank you for the water tanks. We can’t live without water but now we have enough.’
With the immediate relief needs of those displaced being met, the work of the NIDP staff and the local church has moved on to helping them come to terms with the trauma of what they’ve been through.
Local pastors have been going into camps, spending time talking, listening and praying with the people, offering them spiritual and material support.
Scars
There is much supporting and caring to be done. Lucy’s story is awful enough but there are others at Narok who have lost loved ones in the ethnic violence which claimed 1,200 lives across the divided country.
Joseph was speared in his head, shoulder and leg during an attack by a mob of 40 on his shop and hotel.
Left for dead, he managed to crawl to help and although he received treatment for his physical injuries, the mental damage is still apparent, with his body `vibrating like a phone’.
The word of God that has been brought to the camp through various pastors has brought him some peace. But the scars run deep.