Update from Anna Ruth Merritt

Dear friends,

I am included an excerpt from Anna Ruth Merritt's blog who serves in Kenya. Anna Ruth is daughter of Jim and Debbie Merritt who live in Conway, AR. We became friends with the Merritts in community group at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock. Anna Ruth is a recent graduate of Wheaton College. She has spent this year volunteering with children and families in Uthiru which is close to our home. It was a delight to have her stay with us as part of our family and we have grown to love her as our own. Our family admires her tenacity in serving those God brings into her lives. We share a passion for the children and people of Kenya.

She is at a critical decision making time in her life. I have included photos and her writing here. Her link is listed on our side panel. Please join us in praying for her direction and protection during this time.

Thank you, Melody

26 January 2008

Safe but On the Move Excerpt from Anna Merritt's Blog

"Hi everyone,
Sorry there's been such a gap between last entry and this one. I really don't have time to do a proper update, but I hope I will before too long

For now, you should know that some things here are looking up, and some are looking down. It's hard to tell what will happen next, but we are praying for peace. Some signs show that Kibaki and Raila are ready to talk; others show neither is willing to budge an inch. Thing is, even common citizens of different tribes hate each other now with a passion, and that desperately needs to change.

I have been horrified and sobered by the things I have heard people of different tribes say about each other. It's been saddening to learn of my Kenyan friends' family members and friends who have been threatened, had their homes burned, have been raped, are in hiding, have been injured/hospitalized, and have even been hacked to death. Some children (including those of our neighbors) are still separated from their parents because they were not together when the violence began in December, and have not had a chance to reunite since. The damage is so widespread and horrific that even if the country began the healing process in earnest today, the task would be huge.

Upon returning from Tanzania, I have been heavily advised to leave Uthiru (outside Nairobi) for the present time.

I just moved my things from our apartment yesterday, and said (hopefully temporary) goodbyes to my roommate Rose, who also thinks it is a good thing for me to leave for now. (If you have been reading the news reports, then you've read that not only is there ethnic violence, but also that many groups of young men are taking advantage of the current security-compromised situation in order to loot and rape without regard to ethnicity. Given the risks I take and the men I encounter on an everyday basis in Uthiru anyway, the situation is just not conducive for a single white American female to be living in a slum-like area - especially with no on-the-ground support network outside of my roommate... so much more could be said on this topic.)

I am actively looking for other opportunities for involvement here in Kenya or in neighboring Tanzania. I want a place where I can live and serve in a useful capacity with a reasonable degree of safety and support. I have a couple leads I intend to pursue, and if any of you know of a place I could go, I'm up for suggestions! (I'd like to continue in the same line of work with at-risk children, or get involved with refugees or IDPs - internally displaced people, or quite possibly something else I haven't even thought of yet!)

In all this, I am so grateful for so many of the things I have experienced. It's not possible to go into all I have seen and learned these past few weeks and months, but I feel like I've experienced things that many people only experience or see/hear first-hand after living here for much longer periods of time. Also, I've seen God's hand in ways that have helped to grow my faith and deepen my understanding of what it means to walk with Him."