The Reverend Hudson M. Kuyanda runs the Swanland School in a poor district on the outskirts of the capital. It is funded by supporters from the village of Swanland in East Yorkshire.
The school has faced upheaval as the violence caused by the disputed election has hit the local community.
Pastor Hudson writes a regular diary for the BBC Humber website. He has sent a special report on the effect of the recent turmoil;
Monday 3rd March
We are doing well at school and happy that peace is back. We can now walk freely although it will take time for the country to come back to normal life. Everything is very expensive since farmers did not have time to prepare their land because of the violence and most stores were looted or destroyed. Education sector which was affected so much is coming back to normal we are taking our mid term exams.
Peace deal brokered.
With much respect I want to thank each one of you for the continual financial support and prayers during the most difficult times in our country. Thank you once again for standing with us and may God bless Swanland people and the entire Britain for their clear stand about Kenya that has seen the peace return. I want to welcome you to celebrate with us and glorify the Lord for restoring peace to our lovely nation Kenya. Last week the president Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Ondinga signed a peace agreement to share the power and we too hope that the calm will be seen in the entire country. The leaders agreed to create a Prime Minister post which is to be held by Mr Raila Ondinga.
Moving forwards
Yesterday Sunday calls for forgiveness and reconciliation dominated prayers services in Nairobi as the country embark on healing process following post election violence. I’m optimistic that despite the orgy of violence that saw 1000 people killed and over 350.000 others displaced, the country will raise up from ashes. We want to believe that the prices of food and other commodities among other things will be reduced because farmers are going back to their farms. Security has been beefed up and we are hoping that their will be No more killings and property destruction.
KCSE Kenya Certificate of secondary education 2007 results are out.
Once again I want to thank all our supporters for financial support to our school last year. The completion of the lab has enabled our children for the first time to sit for their examination within our school. The KCSE performance has improved so much and this time round the first student scored B- and the rest had C C-and C+ only one student got D. Thank you so much and may God bless you so much. Teachers and students celebrated and I was very happy when I went to receive the results from the Provincial Education Office bearing the name of Swanland School. We used to spend a lot of money by registering our students to another school that had an Examination Centre. This really affected our candidates so much because of the environment was very new and the equipments and even the teachers were strange this made our students not to perform very well. Thank God that now we have our own centre.
School is back to normal
This week we are beginning our mid term evaluation test in both the Senior and Junior School. We are set and every thing is at the course. We have some teachers who are helping apart from our own staff. We are optimistic that children will have to recover learning that they lost during the post election violence. The children have more hours in the morning thus from 7.30 am to 8.15am that is when they start their normal learning hours which goes on up to 3.30pm they also have some extra time from 4.00pm to 5.30 pm. The school and the community around has really benefited from the feeding programme supported by our friends and supporters in UK. We have two meals a day thus lunch and supper for everyone at school thus both working staffs and children.
Burnt-out buildings near to the school.
Wednesday 20 February
More Teachers
We are doing well and this time happy that the school is doing well. We have more teachers now at school as we have received nine teachers working for the school freely. What we need is just to provide them with lunch and break fast. These are teachers who came from the areas which were most affected by the violence of the election . They can not go back now since they are paid by the government. They have been told to help schools near them before plans are made to be send to government schools. I hope that our children will benefit very much because we have introduced an extra hour preps children from today will leave school at 5pm and will have three lessons each day until next month when we close.
Pray for peace in Kenya
The government and the opposition side are still meeting for mediation and we hope that the leaders bury all their differences and see the importance of giving Kenyans peace. If you walk around the village near the school you notice that people are suffering. They have no food and are living in fear. If everyone is able to see that this continuous cycle of violence and fear can only be broken by all people that have the will to love others without reserve. We are each parts of God's creation and we must give everyone our respect and our love in order for peace to be achieved either individually or Nationwide Kenya is torn into pieces. May the all powerful spirit of love bring about the peace that is beyond all understanding. Peace.
Saturday 16 February
Thank you so much for your continuing support and prayers for our school. Nairobi has not come back to normal and crime right now is very high thus petty crime like robbing, mugging and breaking into stores. Many people are being attacked on the way that is the lifestyle of the city now. If you have access to Kenya news papers you will learn that every day gangs are shooting and have exchanged fire with the police and in many cases one is killed from either side. I’m sorry and sad that John & Shirley will not be coming and hope that as soon as the situation has cooled down they will be able to come and see us. Yes it is important for your security, your life is very important and you still have a lot to do. I will keep you informed of what is happening.
Food prices
Food is very expensive here and everyone is complaining. Today I went to my store where we usually buy cooking fat which we use to buy 870 Kenya shillings but now it has gone up to 1250 and rice 50 kg has risen up from 1650 to 23400 Kenya shillings. Maize 90kg has gone up from normal price to 2300 per bag. A small cabbage that we used to buy 10 shillings has gone up to 50 to 60 Kenya shillings and you can imagine with the big population at school it is very difficult. As you know I have got so many kids to help and it is giving me a hard time how I can support them all. I was getting scared how I can handle the problem. I have to go back and see my supplier of food today. He had promised to come back in the afternoon since I do not have enough cash money I have to follow up so that he can see that I’m serious.
Pray for peace
Thank you so much for your recent support which has enabled us to help many people in the area to live and I think it is because of that support that we have not been attacked at school because some children and people from the near by village feed from the school. Keep on praying for us and our entire country that peace will come back again. Children have turned up back to school as normal.
Jobs are lost
The challenge is that most parents and guardians have lost their jobs during the violence and they are struggling to see the next day. In the evening you find kids back to school with their small ones for food and after supper they leave to their families. Right now it is easy for children to walk at any time but attackers are looking for mature adult people because they think that he or she may have something to take. They attack and take even clothes and shoes any valuables that you have but kids can walk as they have nothing to take so they are not having any problem.
Wednesday 14th February
Greetings from Swanland School Nairobi Kenya.
Thank you so much for your prayers for our great nation that is languishing. Our school is dong well and almost all the learning is coming back to normal.
High crime rate
We are all fine although crime is a bit high in the slums that is mugging and breaking into business. People who had tried to bring their business back are now living in a fear of being robbed again of their commodities. This morning police shot down four men next to the school who had mugged someone early in the morning. The gang had just looted a nearby kiosk and were trying to run away into the bushes neighbouring our school. We heard shooting several times and after an hour we saw many people. When I went to find out I discovered four young men armed with a Toy pistol laying a pool of blood with four police men standing their. For the last two weeks we have been living in security around the school and we thank God that the last forty days are over and at least it will be calm now.
High Food prices
As I told you earlier food prices have gone up and it is rare to find people who can afford to travel far and bring food as they are also being attacked some thing that is not normal. Last week Robert our male cook was attacked on his way to bring maize floor. Fortunately our Massai guard heard him scream and the attackers ran away leaving 50 kilogram of maize. As calm and peace return to the country, we should embrace for tough times ahead. After surviving politically charged times, the latest inflation rate is worrying, having jumped almost six points from 12 per cent in December to 19.5 percent in January. According to the information from Central Bank of Kenya there has been a huge jump in overall inflation this was mainly on accounts of high inflation for food, fuel, power, transport and communication services.
Inflation
The effects of inflation are already being felt in various households as the most basic commodities have risen in price from between 7 and 16 Kenya shillings respectively. Swanland School being the only hope for many as high inflation hurts those in the low income bracket more. Without the support from UK this school and village would be in a big mess. It is not easy for people around here to do harm to the school when their own children and even some family members come to feed here almost every day. Whether at supper time or lunch you will witness people at the gate asking for some thing to eat. Some come having spent some days without taking anything, others just send their kids while they hide around. I’m actually seeing tough times ahead for Kenyans shoppers. Even rural areas has not been spared from this erratic period every one is crying for food, Survey from Bondo district in Nyanza province revealed that a bag of maize is currently trading at 1700 Ksh from 800Kshn December of 2007. However, to the residents, the situation has been compounded by the post election violence that has made transport of cereals from Kitale and Endebes to their market difficult. Now how about Nairobi thus 430 kilometres away the food becomes so expensive more that what we can call double price.
Pastor Hudson
Our hope for peace
We are hoping for calm once the Koffi Annan lead group tells what has been agreed upon the government and the opposition. Right now the British high commissioner in Kenya announced that they do not recognize the present government.
Please pray for Kenya, Kenya is not the Kenya you used to know. The situation was so bad last week that we went to bring one of our Pastors a Kikuyu from Kisumu. On our way I witnessed several houses burned to ashes and shops looted, doors broken and many displaced people camped in churches, mostly catholic. We went with an escort of both Kenya Army and Kenya Police, one car in front with security and one behind. I was afraid but I wanted to see with my own eyes.
About your trip John & Shirley you will have to wait until next week when we have full report from both parties whether they have agreed to share power or not. The opposition is a bit silent everyone is waiting to hear what Annan team have done. If the mediation broke down then there will be no peace in Kenya.
Thank you for food and prayers please do not give up until something happens to Kenya. Thank you and send my love and greetings to all our friends and supporters in UK.
Wednesday 7th February
Dear Swanland Community UK
Thank you so much for your financial support. I know how much you are struggling to keep our school running. I was able to buy food and other educational material for both school and children who are living there. This week I have been very busy trying to talk to teachers and children at school. My office is always very full and l have had to council many people. It is difficult accommodating so many people on the school site as it disrupts the learning at the school.
Everything is OK and we are praying that calm will come back again. The calm has not yet resumed in many parts of our country. Our school is fine and teachers are committed to help kids. We have a population of 320 kids at school. Thank you for the feeding programme. I received the extra money that you sent and I was so grateful. God bless you all.
We are happy that we have not been so much affected. The only problem now is so many people who are requesting for admission which we do not want to do. We took in 10 kids who lost their parents and home during the violence and we feel that this is enough for now. Pupils like Lucy and Susan lost their parents during the post election violence and now they are having a new home at Swanland in Kenya. We have bought school uniform for all the new pupils, books and pens and now they are in class learning.
Thank you so much for all our supporters in UK God bless you.
Pastor Hudson Kuyanda
Swanland School Nairobi
Wednesday 30th January
Greetings from Swanland School Nairobi Kenya.
Thanks a lot for all your prayers and financial support. We are still living in fear and hope that the good Lord will intervene and everything will come back to normal.
Right now we do not move from the compound because of the violence that is going on. Children who are at school are learning but the learning has not picked up because of the chaos. Teachers are busy in class but their minds are very far.
Esther our computer clerk was evicted from her house in Utheru Nairobi 12 kilometers from Swanland. Esther and the mother escaped death and right now we do not know where they went. Her mother was a nurse working in Kawangare. We are trying to get in touch with her. Their areas were mostly affected and about six people died in Limuru, Tigoni. Many people in Kenya are now living in Police stations and churches.
My wife still attending a college in town but some times they report and some times she stays at home.
Thanks and may God bless you as we anticipate calm in Nairobi and the entire nation.
Some of the children with supporters from the UK
Send my greetings to all our friends and supporters in UK.
Tuesday 29th January
Greetings once gain from Tension Nairobi. Things are not good here and we do not know when it will cool down. Today Tuesday 29th January has been so bad in the areas surrounding Swanland School.
Shooting near school
Three kilometres from Swanland School a new member for parliament for Embakasi Hon. Were was gunned down at his gate at midnight. With the present situation in Kenya you can imagine what the neighbouring villages like us went through. Last night we had to wake up and stay awake. People from Kibera went round breaking into houses and looted many houses around here. This morning Ngong road near Kenya Science Teacher College was blocked by a group of youths. They were protesting about the killing of their Members of Parliament Hon Were. Youths who were protesting against the shooting blocked the roads smashed cars and lit fires in the middle of the road causing traffic jams. Many parents had to rush to schools to withdraw their children. As you may realize we have so many schools around here including public and private.
100 take refuge at Swanland School
Right now we are having again a group of parents and some people from the slum on the compound running for safety. On the top of the Science lab you can see military police and lorries patrolling the area. For sure we do not know when this chaos will end and things come back to normal. Education sector has been affected and right now in my area No child is in school. Even if they are in school there is no learning that going on as teachers and pupils are so worried about what might happen to their families and their property back home. There is tension all over the area. Churches that have schools like Swanland are the only place you can find kids with their families. Today we have over 100 strangers on the compound. In fact we have now locked our gate and we can only see what is happening outside through the fence.
Political Solution
Friends, the country shows little signs of a quick resolution, business are being forced to redraw their strategies. Faced with all manners of problems, looted and burned premises, displaced staffs, disrupted supply chains, dented long –term image and diminished markets- many business are tightening their belts. We are asking our selves when the violence will end. Innocent people have been gunned down and we do not know what will happen next.
Schools closed
Today schools were closed down and children went back to their homes. We do not know what will happen at Swanland. Everything is fine although the number of children who go back to their homes is now few. We expect to accommodate more because of the fear for their security in the slums.
Most people now are in the Church premises and police stations. Deep in the Village there is no store that is open or any shop. Everywhere is either looted and there is fear that they will break in. From Kisumu to Kakamega the bridges are destroyed and there is no transport to Kisimu and Kakamega along Eldoret road.
Thank you to all UK supporters
Thank you our diligent supporters from UK. Please we need your prayers that God will intervene in this situation. We need our peace back. We thank God for entire England thus your government for commitment they have made to make sure that there is calm in Kenya and that everything is back to normal again. Yesterday I saw your British minister of African state give some money to support the victims of the violence to settle. Thank you and may God bless England and its people. How are you in England? Hope that you are enjoying good environment around you of which l believe that you will love to see it happen to Kenya. Thank you so much for your effort to help our school and the community around by providing food, shelter and water. Surely we are so grateful to the British Minister of state in charge of Africa Affairs, Lord Mark Malloch Brown who is in the country trying to seek a lasting solution to the present violence. Brothers and sisters we are humbled as a Country by the way your government have stood with our nation right now. People are being killed across the country. The flow of goods and services is badly affected as roads are barricaded. Businesses are counting losses from the recent chaos and destruction sparked by the outcome of the last month’s disputed presidential election. Small and medium enterprises have been the most affected.
We have nothing to give back to you and I do not even know how I can express myself for you to understand how much we cherish your support and the impact it has for the Swanland Community in Kenya. Even tonight we never know what will happen. Everyday is a nightmare for us who live in the slum.
Please send my love and regards to All supporters in UK remind them that in whichever way they have supported us we appreciate and that their kinds heart have saved many people.
Some of the children with Pastor Hudson
God bless you All in what you are doing to help many in the world of trouble.
Yours in His Service
Pastor Hudson
Saturday 26th January
Greetings once again from Swanland School Nairobi Kenya. Thank you so much for all your effort to help our community during this hard and difficult time. The entire Swanland community is doing well and recovering from the recent political chaos. The only challenge is how to make sure that the school can keep on running and how to control the population at school. As you may realize from the past weeks Swanland School has become the only last solution and hope for many.
This week at least it has been a bit calm around the school. It is only Kibera where we still have chaos and people are still sleeping out on the cold. Some of the people who have relatives in Kawangware have moved there. Most schools are not yet open. Some places were burned down and it will take time to reconstruct Kibera to come back to normal. We are happy and proud of you our supporters in UK for standing with us.
The challenge that we have at school is taking care of both teachers and Pupils with lunch and supper. Our cooks are forced to prepare food supper early thus by five thirty so that everyone can have a bit before they leave to their respective areas. This is because during the chaos most of them were fed at school and since food is not easily found and if found very expensive.
I received the extra money that you sent on 21st of this month and were able to buy some food for this month and we cleared the debts I had with our food supplier. I also bought a few teaching materials thus chalks, pens and note books. We still have everything at school and our children are now learning. Most places in the slums like Kawangware, Riruta, Kangemi, Mathare, Soweto, Dandora , Huruma were affected so much that you cannot recall where houses were and what type of houses were there everything is burned to ashes.
We are praying that God will give you all the strength to stand with us until when Nairobi will come back to normal. We appreciate your kind hearts very much. From what is happening in Nairobi our teachers and non teaching staffs have formed a union, an association that everyone contributes some little shillings every month so that if one of us has a problem we can come together and help him or her. People are scared and it has taught us togetherness. Today we had a meeting and everyone is looking forward to joining the Swanland Union. We are meeting every morning to pray together and remember two of our teachers who have travelled and did not come back. Please send our love and appreciation to all friends and supporters in UK. We all appreciate your good work to our Swanland Community Kenya.
Friday 18th January
Greetings from Swanland School Kenya.
We always thank God for all of you at Swanland and believe that God who united this wonderful community knew what will happened. Yes at a time like this is when you can realize that surely God is able and He can not cause people to meet without a purpose. You have been of great help not only to the school but to the whole community surrounding Swanland School Kenya.
We had a very tension week and for the last four days things have been stuck. Thank God that today we are able to come back to normal and hopefully better. Many people have been killed in the last four days and many are in the hospitals. Some children have not even gone to school particularly in Kibera and Mathare and Dandora slums . We only have a few cases at Swanland where kids have not reported to school. Many schools in my area did not open due to the fear that they may be attacked on the way. Only church based school open doors since people could be catered for, with shelter and food. Thank you so much for the money that you sent last week it arrived on 15th and I picked it up on 16th.
I have paid some of our debts and we now have some food. I hope that when next transaction arrives it will also help to buy more food. Food here is very important and without it we cannot help the big number of people we have at school particularly the school going kids.
Due to the number of children whose homes have been destroyed near here we are helping a number of kids letting them join our school. We have allowed a few to stay as we try to find their parents and where they came from.
On 15th the entire country was in chaos many people were killed by police without mercy. We saw it on the TV and we could not believe this is the Kenya we know. Police shooting people who were running away from them , kicking them and stepping on their heads .
It was so bad and we feared. We looked in the compound with others from the near by villages thus Gagicu and Githembe . People feared that the attackers may also come to their homes. Men were forced to join others to go on the street and fight, while women remain home many of them were raped in the villages around.
Thank God that they did not come to Swanland School as the school has become a refugee centre. Thank God that it will be calm today so that these people can go to their homes to pave the way for children to continue with their education. We cannot have a good learning environment when the compound if so full of people.
Thank you so much for you and ALL and the people of Swanland and surrounding area community for standing with us. Surely I do not know what I can say but God knows and He will reward you. God Bless you Swanland people for your kind hearts.
Monday 14th January
Greetings from tension Kenya.
We opened our school today and the turn up is not bad almost all the children reported.
We are using beans and maize - one bag of maize is 2000 (£15) from 1600 (£12) normal price and it is not available in our local shops. We have to buy from the near by market - we are using half a bag of beans every day , a bag of beans is 5200 Kenya shillings (£40) and one and half bag of maize every day thus we need half bag of maize flour every day and the one bag for mixture of beans and maize for lunch. We also buy carrots and cabbages for vegetables.
We also take tea or porridge in the morning so we are using almost seven kilograms of sugar every day. Right now l have borrowed food worth 40.000 (£310) which I need to clear before he can give us more. Sugar used to be 3800 Kenya shillings (£30) but it has gone up to 5300 (£40) 50kg. A small cabbage that we use to buy 30 shiliings (23p) is 100 Kenya shillings (75p). Cooking fat has also gone up. Fire wood again is very expensive one lorry is 20.000 (£150)
Right now we have nothing in the store and l have been borrowing but right now it is not working. The person who was supplying is not happy with me. l had promised him to pay in a weeks time . We have over three hundred people at school now these are pupils and teachers with other children from nationhood that l had mentioned to you.
We may need almost 200.000 (£1,500) to take us through this months food as it is very expensive now . We pray and trust that God will see us through in this difficulty situation.
8th January
The school is fine the only problem is the population from slum - most of them kids - are still on the compound and controlling them is a bit hard without water and food available.
We have several kids from the slum which their parents and home has not been identified yet. I have over 100 kids on the compound including those orphans who live with me. Others came during the chaos that erupted in Kenya and they have not gone back.
Right now I'm in town trying to find out where I can borrow some money to buy food as we wait to see what the Lord will do for Kenya.
In fact we are opening our school on 14th Monday next week and expect more kids at school and if the chaos continues we might be in trouble because very few will be willing to go to their homes and again it might interfere with our learning. Right now teachers and their families are on the compound we have to give them some thing to eat before they leave in the evening.
We are anticipating the mediation that scheduled today to bear good fruits so that chaos may end up for normal duties. People are moving but in groups and are fearful. Young boys who are hungry are robbing and destroying the small kiosks where we buy food. Now they are all closed in the slums because of looting.
Well I have to go home now and hope that things will cool down. . Right now we do not have any money from outside a part from your church. Thank you a have a blessed day.
Wednesday 9th January
Greetings from weary Kenyans, some hungry and homeless after a week of violence marked by ethnic clashes.
This last Sunday we prayed for peace and begged our leaders to break the political deadlock. Things are bad here in the slums - police cars and lorries, military are patrolling but still violence is at large.
More than 300 people have died and 250,000 have been forced from their homes in the upheaval over the disputed vote. Only the second free election since Kenya's 1963 independence from Britain.
Please pray for Kenya .We need peace, right now there is no food kiosks in the slums. Whole areas have been looted and now there is No more food at all. Last week we had over 500 strangers on the compound it was very difficult for us to control the crowd without food and even water to drink.
Right now l have got over 100 children who have been lost on the compound including our orphans who live there. We expect the number to rise up as school resumes next week. Our teaching staffs, on teaching and their families are also on the compound they need food thus basic needs to keep these families.
Tens of thousands of people are hungry, cut off from supplies as the crisis has closed down shops and transport across Kenya. What food is available has tripled in price.
