Thursday 11 August 2011

Rachel’s Peace Caravan in Kenya – The Ushahidi Blog

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Rachel’s Peace Caravan in Kenya

Rachel Holding a Mobile Phone, originally uploaded by whiteafrican.

Rachel Kung’u is an amazing woman, and has been quite a heavy user of Ushahidi. Ory and I had a chance to meet with her while in Nairobi this June, and we talked at length about the violence that happened earlier in the year.

She started the Peace Caravan idea back in 2003:

“the idea to start the PEACE CARAVAN was to encourage the youth to form as many youth groups as possible at there own local community in order to tap the available resources within the area for self –reliance and community development. To emphasize that education is not the only way to success but teamwork, hard work, discovering own talents and turning them to a career into a better future.”

Rachel has been active with the youth of the region for some time, working as a voluntary youth philanthropist for a number of years. When the violence broke out in January, she and her team were particularly well positioned to physically go into areas and promote peace.

Even with the end to the major violence of January and February, there are some big issues with the internally displaced people (IDP) who are trying to return to their homes. Rachel is running another Peace Caravan right now, you can find out more on her blog.

“…the issue of Repatriation of IDPs is still alarming, i will briefly say that it was a rushed repatriation and the returnees have no choice since they are returning in order to be considered for compensation. Even though it is the case Kuresoi in Molo Distrist and Kipkelion in Kericho was a vacated place and the IDPS have not taken risk of going back despite the conditions.”

I would encourage anyone who is interested in seeing actual change happen to contact Rachel. She knows more about involving and engaging youth in proactive ways than almost anyone else I know. Her projects also need funding, and you’d be surprised at how much she can do with so little.

Posted in Community, Peace efforts, Plight of the Displaced, Uncategorized, Ushahidi. Tagged with , , , , .

By Erik Hersman
August 11, 2008

12 comments

12 Responses

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  1. Dear Colleagues
    Thank you for alerting me to Rachel’s initiatives. What Rachel is doing, and others like her, is incredibly important … and thanks to modern technology more easy to learn about. Bottom line, the future of everything depends on how the mass of ordinary people behave in their daily lives … and in order for ordinary people to have justice and for there to be fairness there also needs to be accountability, especially for those that have power and influence and have chosen to use this for their own benefit.
    Thank you Rachel for involving the youth … but don’t forget there are also some old people that do not want to be forgotten either!
    Sincerely
    Peter Burgess

  2. Maria Agnese Giraudo said

    I’m amazed to see what Rachel can do, how many young people she can mobilize, although quite alone and with limited resources. Unfortunately I can’t support her in consisted way and I’m wondering if youth in Europe could participate in some way to this exciting adventure! I’m not a teacher but my dream is to connect youth in Europe to this experience as well as to that of the NAFSI acrobats and other associations committed for peace and development, working in the field!
    Best wishes Rachel! God bless you!
    Maria Agnese Giraudo

  3. Dear Friend Rachel,

    You are such a huge inspiration, for young people and for us all! Peace will be much safer and more realizable in your caring and committed hands, and I know that Kenya will benefit in invaluable ways from the Caravan and all of your activities, let alone your indomitable spirit, which is truly a gift to the world.

    We will all be with you in thought and heart as the Caravan once again proves itself essential to peace education and to making and keeping the peace. And hopefully we will all find ways to help you keep doing this deeply vital and desperately-needed work!

    With love and greatest appreciation, Janet (Feldman, ActALIVE and KAIPPG International)

  4. Dear Friends,

    Thank you for your comments, i am happy that the little things one does in life really makes a difference to many, i have a dream of a world of friends which slowly becoming a reality. Thank you all, am humbled with your comment, lets walk the talk and peace will prevail in the world.

    Peace

    Rachel

  5. Rachel it really sounds like you are one of lifes amazing souls. You give so much without asking for anything in return. Your only aim being to further the people and communities close to your heart. You are an inspiration to us all, keep up the amazing work. Tom

  6. Really a very beautiful article really its going rock in youth community. Fantastic job hat’s off.

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    Oliver

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  8. janet said

    Good Idea , where are you based, do you have a site in Nairobi where we can view the caravan. What are the features inside

  9. Deniel Steckler said

    nice article and nice woking for youth community hat’s off for working well done rechel

Continuing the Discussion

  1. Websites tagged "kenya" on Postsaver linked to this post on August 21, 2008

    [...] – You do not want to be in Dallas Fort Worth this weekend saved by Hopkins902008-08-17 – Rachel’s Peace Caravan in Kenya saved by theuglybear2008-08-17 – Prostitution by teenagers increasing in Kenya saved by [...]

  2. Ushahidi.com Blog » Rachel Kungu Talks about Ushahidi linked to this post on September 1, 2008

    [...] Rachel Kungu, who we did a short write-up on a couple weeks ago, is interviewed about using Ushahidi and how she sees it being used in conflict areas in the future. [...]

  3. Recent Links Tagged With "caravan" - JabberTags linked to this post on November 30, 2008

    [...] links >> caravan Videos, Blogs & Touring Caravan Insurance! Saved by wka on Thu 20-11-2008 Rachel’s Peace Caravan in Kenya Saved by fishtank on Sun 09-11-2008 I have a bad feeling about this… Saved by [...]

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Ushahidi, which means ”testimony” in Swahili, is a website that was developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. We’re working to build a new platform that can be used anywhere in the world, and this blog tells some of that story. Ushahidi’s roots are in [...]more →
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