Africa's Agonies

Fergal Keane, the BBC's correspondent in Nairobi, Kenya wrote a helpful article on the nature of the tribal violence that has plagued the continent for decades. You may read the article here.

Some of the key points are:

• The Western mind has been conditioned to accept a simplistic notion of what "tribal violence"' really means.
• Tribal issues are only the symptom.
• This is a conflict in which the poor are set at one another's throats.
• Those who have nothing are looting those who have a little bit more.
• This population has seen successive governments rob billions from the public purse in well-documented scandal.
• There are tens of thousands of Aids orphans.
• There is no proper water or sanitation or electricity.

Read as well about Ruth Awuma who lives in the vast Kibera slum in Nairobi.

Johanna's team will be going to a location southeast of Nairobi (in the opposite direction from the Rift Valley which has been the center of much of the violence since late December). We will share more details about where they will be staying and the nature of their service as we learn more.