The board of Friends of Kenya and, as we well know, many members of our organization have followed events in Kenya over the past month with a great sense of sadness, concern, and apprehension. We send our condolences to the families who have lost loved ones and our pole to those who have been displaced. We hope that peace will be restored soon in Kenya.

As a non-political organization, FOK has always refrained from expressing political views. We will continue to adhere to that policy and thus cannot support either President Kibaki or challenger Odinga.

However, we can and do take a stand in support of the Kenyan people. We support all Kenyan people at this time of crisis. We abhor ethnic enmity and tribal violence. We adamantly stand for truth and justice, and call for the cessation of the senseless hostility that divides Kenyans from each other. We endorse the efforts of the UN and African mediators to craft, along with Kenyan leaders from both sides, a resolution to the crisis.

The toll in Kenya in lives, homes, jobs, and prospects is already much too high. We deplore the destruction of neighborhoods and especially of the social comity that enabled Kenyans to mix together without rancor in pursuit of national development. It should be of highest priority to regain that lost ground, that togetherness, that sense of nationhood, that sense of being Kenyan. Success in pursuit of this goal will require a workable political settlement between the warring factions, which is something that only they can author. The world insists that they achieve this. But beyond that, Kenyans themselves will have to set aside suspicions and fears. Each person will have to take the brave steps to instill peace and forgiveness in his or her heart and to extend that peace to fellow citizens.

Friends of Kenya, as an organization composed of individuals who harbor a great respect for Kenya, want Kenyans to know of our concern for them and their nation at this time of crisis. We pray for peace and for reconciliation so that the nation that we all love so fondly might regain the vibrancy and the tolerance that served so well for generations.

January 18, 2008: In response to the crisis in Kenya, Friends of Kenya donated $250 to the International Medical Corps to support their work to provide rapid medical assistance to displaced people in Kenya. Please visit IMC's website for more information on their efforts and the valuable services they are providing during this time of need. http://www.imcworldwide.org/