National Healing and Reconciliation with a bias to the Kenyan Child

A Report; KCDN Embakasi Peace Run
Held on 15th June 2008 at Jacaranda Grounds Embakasi

Prepared by;
Odhiambo T Oketch,
CEO KCDN

20th June 2008

1] Introduction;

Komarocks Community Development Network has been involved in the humanitarian crisis that recently engulfed our country following in the post election conflicts of 2007.

Our involvement helped in the evacuation of 9 families of 26 persons from Naivasha to Nairobi, setting up of 22 families in small businesses in Nairobi for sustenance, taking 19 children from the IDP families to school, they have since ressettled, and setting up of 9 youth groups into car washing business in Komarock.

This support has strectched our involvement with children to 189 across 10 schools in Embakasi Division. At full capacity, we want to reach out to 50 schools in Embakasi before we go national.

We are a Community Based Organisation, registered with the Ministry of Culture, with the Department of Social Services, Nairobi Province.

2] KCDN Embakasi Peace Run;

Having seen the effects of men at war first hand, our focus at KCDN turned to the plight of  children at times of conflict. We thought of a better way to bring this forth to the attention of the world, and we came up with the idea of a Peace Run.

Since athletics is a unifying game, we decided to host KCDN Embakasi Peace Run, the theme of which we settled on; Natioanal Healing and Reconciliation with a bias to the Kenyan Child.

We hence fixed the inaugural event to take place on 3st May 2008, to coincide with our  celebration of our third anniversary, but postponed it to 15th June 2008 on account of the Presidential visit to Embakasi on the same date.

3] Objectives of the Peace Run;

-To effectively support the ongoing efforts at National healing and Reconciliation.

-To promote unity and love.

-To create a forum from where leaders can come together to preach peace.

-To create a forum that is unifying to all in that atmosphere of sportsmanship.

-To focus firmly on the plight of the child whenevr there is conflict.

-To focus firmly on the need to have a society that does not cowtow to tribalism.

-To focus firmly on the need to have a society that is not divided on the basis of Religion, Colour, Creed and Ethnic affiliation.

-To introduce the general public to the various educational needs of children from less privileged families.

-To create a forum from where many people from various backgrounds can freely interact without fear of being captives to their tribal, religious and ethnic interests.

4] Guest List;

We were privilaged to have Mr Steven Karinga as our Chief Guest for occasion. Mr Karinga is the Deputy Commissioner for Sports. Through him, KCDN gave 11 bundles of used clothes and shoes to Pst Fred Barasa of Kayole Chapel Church to be used by those in need.

The second guest was Madam Sarah Kiwanuka, Chairlady Athletics Kenya, Nairobi Province. Through her, KCDN gave a donation of Exercise Books, Story Books and Text Books to Tumaini Primary School. The books were received by Madam Jane Ligare, the Head Teacher, Tumaini Primary School.

The other guests who graced the occasion were;

1] mr Charles MacAluodo, Chairman, Peace Building, Reconciliation and Conflict Management Committee, Nairobi East District.

2] Mr Irshad Sumra, an Embakasi Politician, who even donated his pick-up vehicle to help KCDN with logistics.

3] Mr Jack Were, Chairman Athletics Kenya Nairobi West District.

4] Mr Paul Kariuki, Chairman Athletics Kenya Nairobi East District.
5] Mr John Mwithiga, National Athletics Coach.

6] Mr George Kariuki, the IAAF Walk Judge LII, National Walk Coach, Athletics Kenya Nairobi Executive Member.

7] Joyce Odhiambo, former national record holder 100m.

8] Ruth Waithera, former African record holder 400m.

9] kenneth ‘Valdez’ Ochieng, former international boxer.

10] Jane Ligare, Head Teacher, Tumaini Primary School.

5] Attendance;

We were privilaged to host a total of 21 Athletics Clubs, 10 Primary Schools, and 6 Secondary Schools, besides the general public.

6] Races;

We had a total of 7 races;

1] 15 km men seniors

2] 15 km women seniors

3] 8 km men juniors

4] 6 km women juniors

5] 3 km men masters 40+

6] 3 km women masters 40+

7] 2 km children

7] Achievements;

We were able to bring together a big crowd very eager to listen to the peace gospel. The speakers, Mr Karinga, Madam Kiwanuka, Mr Mac Aluodo, Mr Sumra, and myself, were able to articulate the virtues of peace in the society. We inferred to how sports is unifying and made a strong case for the young people to come together just like athletes do.

We extolled the virtues of peace, national healing and reconciliation. We put the case of the child in times of conflict.

8] Challenges;

We had a successful event. In the process of planning and hosting such an event, obviously KCDN had to make some simple mistakes. We learned in the process, and we are optimistic that the second edition of KCDN Embakasi Peace Run will be a better version. We will start early and put everything in place before we announce the dates.

9] Security;

We want to thank the OCPD Kayole Police Station, who was with us besides assigning his officers all along the routes and at the venue. We salute the DTO, who was also with us, and all his officers for doing a good job.

10] Donations;

We thank Text Book Centre Ltd, Phoenix Publishers Ltd and East African Educational Publishers for all the books that we were able to donate. We thank the many people who gave us used items, more so Caroline Otieno from Arusha Tanzania, for the clothes that we gave out to Kayole Chapel Church.

We thank the MD SGS Kenya Ltd, Jairus K’Onyiego, Rodgers Orero and Mr Otiende Amolo of Rachier and Amolo Advocates for the financial support that made us host a successful event.

Lastly we thank Erdemann Company Kenya Ltd for giving us the water that we used on the field and at our feeding points. Erdemann are the makers of Ha-Ha water.

We thank you most sincerely, and in due course, we will formalize this.

11] Lessons learnt;

We learnt that Kenyans love each other, and we need more of these interacting events to indicate the need for love and unity.  We realized that a lot need to be done to awaken the subconscious minds of Kenyans from the ravages of tribalism and regional marginalization.

We realized that there is a lot going for us as Kenyans which we need to focus on, and we will have an everlasting peace, national healing and reconciliation.

12]Appreciation;

Lastly, our sincere appreciation to all the many Kenyans who came and joined us. We want to thank all those who wanted to support us but due to time constraints could not do this. We tell them that this will be an annual event, and we are determined to put up the case of the Kenyan Child in the midst of Peace, National Healing and Reconciliation.

Our sincere thanks to SGS Kenya Ltd, Jairus K’Onyiego, Rogders Orero and Otiende Amolo, without whose financial support, many things would not have been put in place.

Lastly, I must say thanks to our staff at The Network; Dorcus Amondi, Caleb Onyango, Florence Kanywa, Alphonce Opinya, Jerry Okonjo, Chadwick and Nicholas. Without you, this event would not have taken place.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
CEO KCDN Nairobi

– – –
Date:  Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:17:37 -0700 (PDT)
From:  odhiambo okecth
Subject:   Appreciation from KCDN; The report

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This is an extremely good show of concern for Kenya.
 
 Keep on with the good work.

F.Wamalwa

– – –
Date:  Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:41:12 +0000 (GMT)
From:  Fredrick Wamalwa
Subject:   Re: Appreciation from KCDN; The report