Bridging Ethnic Divides: Finding Reconciliation Within an IDP Camp

Written by Jordan Miller

Following the 2007 Kenya Presidential election, over 1,000 people were killed and an estimated 500,000 people were displaced from their homes seemingly overnight.

Political tensions escalated in the months prior but, when claims of victory were met with cries of election fraud, all hell broke loose. Party turned against party, tribe against tribe, and most impactfully, neighbor against neighbor. The resulting chaos was devastating as families were attacked in their homes often, by people from their own village. Blood painted the streets.

Jordan Miller’s first visit to this IDP camp was in 2009. By 2010 the camp had grown, and even those who had land to return to were afraid to do so. That year, G.O.D. Int’l helped to resettle 8 families, in part through relationships built with youth that attended our summer Youth Bible Conference.

As they do, NGOs and the government set up internally displaced people camps (IDP camps) to temporarily house those who were either driven from their homes or had their houses destroyed. IDP camps are a short-term solution to a humanitarian crisis. Better said, they should be a temporary solution but, too often, it takes much longer to find lasting answers to the issues that brought on the camps.

When in 2010, a group of us from G.O.D. returned to a camp we’d visited before, we were shocked to discover that the number of occupants had grown and the government had slowed much of their rehousing efforts. Many grandmothers and widows, despite having land of their own, remained in the camp, because they did not have the money to rebuild. Others were too afraid to return home to the neighbors that attacked them.

A Bible Conference in the Camp changes the camp forever

We invited several youth from the IDP camp area to join a youth Bible conference we were facilitating. It was an impactful moment as youth from different tribes, the very tribes fighting each other, came together to study the Bible, to pray, and to fellowship. Through the week, Bible studies led by Gregg Garner, Founder & CEO of G.O.D. Int’l, helped everyone understand that their hope should be found in God and not any man-made entity. He taught about God’s eagerness to partner with us, to teach us, and to help us grow.

The 2010 Youth Conference brought together young people who would have been considered divided by familial and ethnic allegiances. Through this focused time studying God’s Word, the door was opened to finding reconciliation.

Most profoundly, through times of study and prayer, the once-divided youth found a unity that only comes from God and proclaimed their desire to help their neighbors.

Over the next year, G.O.D. Int’l partnered with these self-proclaimed camp ambassadors to survey the remaining inhabitants, to learn their stories, and to ultimately help resettle 8 families into new homes on their land. The reconciliation and unity demonstrated by these youth as a result of drawing near to God continue to impact the local community and all of us who are witness to their journey.

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