Kenyan Communities Celebrate a Year and a Half of Peace

Kenyan Communities Celebrate a Year and a Half of Peace

By Koech Cheruiyot Denis

The event brought together Pokot and Turkana communities, local and national governments. Photo: Denis Koech/Mercy Corps
On 21 September each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world. The theme of this year’s commemoration is “The sustainable development goals: building blocks of peace” which aims to highlight the importance of all segments of society to work together to strive for peace. After three months of planning, Peaceful Empowerment in Arid lands (PEARL), celebrated the International Day of Peace Day in Lotongot, Kenya, with close to 1,500 people in attendance.


Leaders engage in a peace song during the celebrations. Photo: Denis Koech/Mercy Corps
On 21 September each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world. The theme of this year’s commemoration is “The sustainable development goals: building blocks of peace” which aims to highlight the importance of all segments of society to work together to strive for peace. After three months of planning, Peaceful Empowerment in Arid lands (PEARL), celebrated the International Day of Peace Day in Lotongot, Kenya, with close to 1,500 people in attendance.

The three-day event did acknowledge the 18 months of relative peace realized amongst the Pokot and Turkana communities. With the presence of reformed warriors, who now serve as community leaders, the event strengthened, consolidated, and deepened the current state of peace. Activities included night prayers and vigils, dances, food exhibition and sharing, and speeches. The celebration culminated with reading and adoption of a joint compensation framework binding both Pokot and Turkana communities. All speakers called for initiatives meant to sustain the current peace such as shared water points, health centers, schools, and community-generated grazing patterns.

The celebration was graced by Bishop Korir of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret – who has been very instrumental in reconciling the two communities, both counties’ officials led by their Deputy Governors, local community with their leadership, representative of Peace from the Deputy President’s office, the National Government led by the County Commissioner, and representatives from Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties.

Bishop Korir


“I would like to urge all partners not to stop here now that Pokot and Turkana are living peacefully. We should now focus on education and other development projects that will unify these people more,” said Bishop Korir.

The PEARL Program is a USAID-funded program implemented by Mercy Corps in conflict stricken Northwestern Kenya, in partnership with the County Governments of Turkana and West Pokot, the national government, the Kenya Red Cross Society, Finn Church Aid, local community and the Catholic Church. Lotongot is historically a joint watering point, grazing field and livestock market and was adversely affected by conflict over natural resources and boundary issues.






This article was Published on Mercy Corps' the Hub website on 27 September, 2016.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Warriors of Peace

Image
Warriors of Peace By Koech Cheruiyot Denis It is noon. We are navigating corrugation, dry river bed after dry river bed.  We are headed to Takaywa, a kraal located deep along the West Pokot Turkana border. The village, located not far from the Turkwel River, welcomes us with Pokot and Turkana children playing under huge acacia trees. It is a beautiful picture, owe it to the current state of peace. We are here to meet Simon Chilaruk, a peace coordinator in the area.
Read more

Turkana Farmers and Pastoralists agree to share Resources

Image
Turkana Farmers and Pastoralists agree to share Resources By Koech Cheruiyot Denis Turkana pastoralists and farmers living in Nakwamoru and Katilu in Turkana South Constituency have agreed to share natural resources. This follows months of brewing conflict between the two factions emanating from use of River Turkwel water. Pastoralists had claimed farmers had blocked their access to water of River Turkwel by cultivating along the river. Farmers, on the other hand, had claimed pastoralists were intentionally driving their livestock into their farms.
Read more

West Pokot and Turkana Sign Inter-county MOU on Peace and NRM

Image
West Pokot and Turkana Sign Inter-county MOU on Peace and NRM By Koech Cheruiyot Denis Pokot and Turkana counties have signed a MoU on peace and natural resource management. The agreement was born out of a two day West Pokot and Turkana County leaders’ exchange forum in Kapenguria PEARL partners – Mercy Corps, Turkana Pastoralists Development Organization and West Pokot Youth Bunge County Forum organized the forum that brought together county and national government officials, MCAs, civil society, elders, women and youth representatives. The leaders were led by West Pokot Deputy Governor, Titus Lotee and his counterpart from Turkana, Peter Ekai Lokoel.
Read more