Update from Amani Family in Kenya

January 23, 2008

Amani friends –

Thank you, again, on behalf of all the Amani women in Kenya for your gifts of love during their time of suffering.

We have completed the third distribution of food to 70 Amani women and their families and now we think, barring more major violence rocks the country, they have made it through the worst of it. Their income was seriously interrupted during the post election chaos, the tribal threats put fear in their hearts and the transportation system was either unreliable or took them through dangerous sections of town.

The three distributions were just the kind of “push” they needed until they could return to work at Amani. Now most of the women are back making beautiful products of peace once again. They are also earning an income that will sustain them and their families and praying for peace together with their Amani family.

Alice collects her food
One of the recipients of your generosity, Dorcas, expresses well her response to your love: “Our friends from around the world make us feel like they are sitting right here with us during the heat of the moment.”

Most of the Amani women end up sharing their food with their neighbors. Their neighbors, who have to travel far to find their own food from the Red Cross, are always amazed: “Who is this that brings your food to you?” It gives the women an opportunity to talk about Amani ya Juu.

Zed, of Ethiopia, invented a new slogan with her reply to her friends who were complaining: “Why can’t we have peace!” Zed said: “Amani si Amani without juu” (Peace is not peace without God)

Every day this stalemate between the opposition and the ruling party causes the ethnic divide in the country to grow deeper. No one wants another tribal war that devastated the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Mozambique….


Stories behind some of your gifts towards the Amani food distribution program are astounding!

Yalelete, who used to work in the Amani Garden Café in Nairobi, and her family of 10 children repatriated to Chicago about 2 years ago. They sacrificially gave $300 as a gift to the Amani women!

Goreth, of Amani Burundi, gave not only $100 but is collecting cabbage to transport to the women in Kenya!

Your gifts of prayers are also appreciated.
Rosemary, who has made several trips to Amani in Kenya, prayerfully empathizes with the Amani women:

“Becky, I am finding it hard to concentrate on everyday living when I do not know if my dear friends are safe and well…My heart just breaks for Kenya and especially for the innocent lives who are always caught in the crossfire. I am often reminded of a sentence in the Hotel Rwanda movie where the line is spoken , ‘Americans will lay down their fork and watch what is happening and comment how terrible and then pick up their fork and go on eating’. I do not want to be one of them as my heart breaks and my soul cries out to God for this land and the people I love. Please let me know when you can if my dear sisters, as well as you, are safe. Let us know how we should be praying.
Love and prayers, Rosemary”


Please continue to remember the women of Amani.

• pray for continued safety for the Amani women.
• Pray that the Amani women will speak with a voice of truth as ethnic hate language circulates viciously around their communities.
• Pray that a solution of peace and justice will be found by the leadership of Kenya.


In God’s peace alone,

Becky Chinchen
Director, Amani ya Juu

Amani Friends Respond to Women in Crisis

January 7, 2008

Amani friends,

First we want to thank you for your overwhelming, generous response to the needs of the Amani women during this post election crisis in Kenya! The women are extremely grateful for their Amani friends around the world who have shared with them during their time of need.

Over the weekend we were able to complete a full round of food distribution to 68 families in various parts of the city of Nairobi.

We will begin with another distribution on Wednesday if possible. Country wide rallies are being called by the opposition party on Tuesday which could turn violent. If there is calm on Wednesday the food distribution program will continue until the women can get back on their feet again and return to work at Amani.


The contents of the food package to each family:
-- 2 head of cabbage
-- 4 bananas
-- 2 kg of potatoes
-- 4 oranges
-- 1 pack of salt
-- 2 packs of corn flour (to make ugali)
-- 1 kg of sugar
-- 1 pack of tea
-- 1 kg of rice
-- 8 onions
-- 8 carrots
-- 1 kg of beans (for protein)
-- 8 tomatoes
-- 1 bar of soap
-- 3 tins of charcoal (for cooking)
--kg of cooking oil


The core values of Amani are to live in peace and reconciliation. This is the training the women have received while at Amani.

Below is the letter that was put in each food packet to encourage the women to live out love and peace in their volatile communities.

Dear _______________,
Greetings of grace and peace in the New Year. We are so saddened by what is happening in Kenya. Our hearts are heavy with news of people being killed, displaced and property destroyed. May the Amani ya Juu in our hearts prompt us to reach out in love, peace and forgiveness to those around us. May we remember all the resources we have in Christ – love, grace, peace, forgiveness and prayer – helping us to stand firm in our faith and give us the stability we need during these difficult times. May we rise above the evil that is gripping the hearts of those involved in the violence so we can be a light of God’s peace during this dark hour of Kenya’s history. This gift of food was provided by our Amani friends from around the world. They are also praying for us. We thank God for His provision during such a time of need as this. Our love and prayers to you and your family.


Thank you, on behalf of all the women of Amani.

Becky Chinchen
Director, Amani ya Juu



Emergency Food Distribution Fund:

Violence due to Kenya elections

Dear friends of Amani –

Greetings from Amani in the New Year. We never dreamed we would meet the new year with violence in Kenya over the disputed elections. Kenya has always been a haven of peace for refugees for many years. Never did we imagine that Kenyans would become refugees in their own country. Hundreds have been killed, 75,000 people have been displaced, millions of dollars worth of property has been destroyed – all because of tribal differences.

We are on the brink of a civil war. The images seen on TV are frighteningly similar to Rwanda and Liberia. Kenyans are carrying machetes, wielding clubs with nails and burning people inside churches as they carry out their ethnic cleansing rampage.

Some of you have asked about the Amani women and we thank you for your concern. Many of the areas around the city where the women and their families live have erupted into violence. A number of the women are afraid to venture out of their homes for fear of being caught up in the mayhem. Ruth, who works at the Amani Café, was robbed at gunpoint when she left her home to look for food. The thugs told her to give them all her money or they would shoot her. The husband of Simprosa, who is the sales clerk in the Amani Boutique, tried to go to the local market to buy food but was accosted on the way. Thieves threatened to beat him if he did not part with his watch and money. A sister of Mary Karanja, Amani’s finance administrator, had to move from her house in the middle of the night. She had received word that gangs were going door to door killing people of her ethnic community. We have not heard from Mama Alice, an Amani cook, who lives in Kibera (a slum area on the outskirts of Nairobi where heavy loss of life and property has occurred) and are very concerned about her well being.

Fuel and food, if available, has skyrocketed in price. A head of cabbage, for example, has jumped from 25 cents to $1.25. The women can not afford to buy food at these exorbitant prices so many have gone for days already without food in the house. We need to get food to them urgently not knowing how long this crisis will drag on.

We have put a food distribution plan together and are collecting food from the productive farms north of the city, where it is affordable and available, and transporting it to the Amani center in Nairobi. Today, with $100, we were able to buy enough food to feed 10 families for two days. If you would like to help in this distribution program you can send a gift to:

Amani Foundation
P.O. Box 28133
Chattanooga, TN 37424
*Please write "food distribution" on memo line of your check.

*Or donated online at http://www.amaniafrica.org/shop/item.php?itemID=63

The whole purpose of Amani is for the women to learn how to work and live together in harmony and become promoters of peace in their communities. During this darkest hour of Kenya’s history may the women shine as lights of God’s peace.

In the power of God’s peace,


Becky Chinchen
Director, Amani ya Juu