You Will See Fire: A Search for Justice in Kenya

You Will See Fire: A Search for Justice in Kenya
Author: Christopher Goffard
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2011-12-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0393083454

A nonfiction mystery dwelling on timeless themes: an individual’s stand against corruption, the complexity of the human heart. Whether gunning down a warthog, raising the beams he'd hewn himself for a new church, or standing up for landless refugees and abused girls, Father John Kaiser was a figure larger than life. He was fierce in his commitments, devoted to the poor and displaced, and fearless—what some would call reckless—in the pursuit of justice. For this he was beloved by his parishioners, seen as a loose cannon by his superiors in the church, and despised by Kenya's strongmen under the tyrannical leadership of Daniel arap Moi. When Kaiser was discovered dead on a remote roadside in the bush, the FBI ruled it a suicide. Kenyans were sure he'd been murdered. In a new Kenya, post-Moi, it would fall to Charles Mbuthi Gathenji, a prominent dissident and the son of a man himself murdered for his beliefs, to find out what really happened to Father John Kaiser.

Walking Home

Walking Home
Author: Eric Walters
Publisher: Penguin Group
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2014-10-28
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0385681585

Set in both the wilds and slums of Kenya, a powerful story about a brother and sister's brave journey to find a place to call home. 13-year-old Muchoki and his younger sister, Jata, can barely recognize what's become of their lives. Only weeks ago they lived in a bustling Kenyan village, going to school, playing soccer with friends, and helping at their parents' store. But sudden political violence has killed their father and destroyed their home. Now, Muchoki, Jata, and their ailing mother live in a tent in an overcrowded refugee camp. By day, they try to fend off hunger and boredom. By night, their fears about the future are harder to keep at bay. Driven by both hope and desperation, Muchoki and Jata set off on what seems like an impossible journey: to walk hundreds of kilometers to find their last remaining family.

Kenya

Kenya
Author: Daniel Branch
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2011-11-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300180640

On December 12, 1963, people across Kenya joyfully celebrated independence from British colonial rule, anticipating a bright future of prosperity and social justice. As the nation approaches the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, however, the people's dream remains elusive. During its first five decades Kenya has experienced assassinations, riots, coup attempts, ethnic violence, and political corruption. The ranks of the disaffected, the unemployed, and the poor have multiplied. In this authoritative and insightful account of Kenya's history from 1963 to the present day, Daniel Branch sheds new light on the nation's struggles and the complicated causes behind them.Branch describes how Kenya constructed itself as a state and how ethnicity has proved a powerful force in national politics from the start, as have disorder and violence. He explores such divisive political issues as the needs of the landless poor, international relations with Britain and with the Cold War superpowers, and the direction of economic development. Tracing an escalation of government corruption over time, the author brings his discussion to the present, paying particular attention to the rigged election of 2007, the subsequent compromise government, and Kenya's prospects as a still-evolving independent state.

Wizard of the Crow

Wizard of the Crow
Author: Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
Publisher: East African Publishers
Total Pages: 788
Release: 2007
Genre: Africa
ISBN: 9789966254917

Kenya

Kenya
Author: Charles Hornsby
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 1102
Release: 2013-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0755627741

Since independence from Great Britain in 1963, Kenya has survived five decades as a functioning nation-state, holding regular elections; its borders and political system intact and avoiding open war with its neighbours and military rule internally. It has been a favoured site for Western aid, trade, investment and tourism and has remained a close security partner for Western governments. However, Kenya's successive governments have failed to achieve adequate living conditions for most of its citizens; violence, corruption and tribalism have been ever-present, and its politics have failed to transcend its history. The decisions of the early years of independence and the acts of its leaders in the decades since have changed the country's path in unpredictable ways, but key themes of conflicts remain: over land, money, power, economic policy, national autonomy and the distribution of resources between classes and communities.While the country's political institutions have remained stable, the nation has changed, its population increasing nearly five-fold in five decades. But the economic and political elite's struggle for state resources and the exploitation of ethnicity for political purposes still threaten the country's existence. Today, Kenyans are arguing over many of the issues that divided them 50 years ago. The new constitution promulgated in 2010 provides an opportunity for national renewal, but it must confront a heavy legacy of history. This book reveals that history.

Scars of a Nation

Scars of a Nation
Author: Peter Mbuthia
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2019-05-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1643498975

On December 30, 2007, declaration of highly disputed presidential election results triggered widespread violence across Kenya. The height of the violence was on January 1, 2008 when attackers who were unleashing murderers' violence on supporters of the presidential candidate who had just been declared winner meticulously planned and torched down Kenya Assemblies of God church full of women, children, and old people who had sought refuge there after learning of an imminent attack on Kiambaa Village in Eldoret Kenya. Seventeen people, mostly women and children, were burnt alive inside the church, and more than eighteen other people were shot with arrows, hacked with machete, and killed outside the church. Anthony Njoroge Mbuthia, who was then ten years old, survived the church fire but with very severe burns. He was treated in Kenya for one year and then referred to Shriners Hospital for children in Sacramento, California, USA, for reconstructive surgery. The international community led by the UN, USA, and the African Union quickly intervened to stop the murderers' violence that was becoming genocide, and thereafter mediation efforts between the combatants gave rise to a government of national unity that incorporated all political stakeholders. Investigations into the violence revealed that crimes against humanity were committed by well-organized and properly financed tribal militias. Several people, among them two who would later become president and deputy president, were indicted by the international criminal court that seats in The Hague, Netherlands. While Anthony was recuperating at the hospital and while he was suffering acute pain, he asked, "Dad . . . why did they burn the church? I thought the church is a sacred place?" I had no simple answer. Scars of a Nation is a story that gives a witness narration of what transpired during and after the violence efforts to obtain justice for Anthony and all other survivors and victims of the violence, while at the same time answering Anthony's question, "Dad . . . why did they burn the church?" which is actually the real motivation behind the writing of this book.

A Death in Kenya

A Death in Kenya
Author: Michael A. Hiltzik
Publisher:
Total Pages: 378
Release: 1991
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

The story of Julie Ward and the relentless search for the truth of what happened to her in her finals days in the wild.

Living a Life of Fire

Living a Life of Fire
Author: Reinhard Bonnke
Publisher: CFAN Publications
Total Pages: 795
Release: 2021-12-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Living a Life of Fire is more than simple facts about an evangelist's life, it is filled with adventures from the heart of Africa, real-life dramatic stories of people and places that will leave you on the edge of your seat, and powerful demonstrations of the Holy Spirit working in the here and now. An autobiography of the life of one of God's generals that has left a legacy that is still impacting nations today.

Exporting American Dreams

Exporting American Dreams
Author: Mary L. Dudziak
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2008-07-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199716404

Thurgood Marshall became a living icon of civil rights when he argued Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court in 1954. Six years later, he was at a crossroads. A rising generation of activists were making sit-ins and demonstrations rather than lawsuits the hallmark of the civil rights movement. What role, he wondered, could he now play? When in 1960 Kenyan independence leaders asked him to help write their constitution, Marshall threw himself into their cause. Here was a new arena in which law might serve as the tool with which to forge a just society. In Exporting American Dreams , Mary Dudziak recounts with poignancy and power the untold story of Marshall's journey to Africa. African Americans were enslaved when the U.S. constitution was written. In Kenya, Marshall could become something that had not existed in his own country: a black man helping to found a nation. He became friends with Kenyan leaders Tom Mboya and Jomo Kenyatta, serving as advisor to the Kenyans, who needed to demonstrate to Great Britain and to the world that they would treat minority races (whites and Asians) fairly once Africans took power. He crafted a bill of rights, aiding constitutional negotiations that helped enable peaceful regime change, rather than violent resistance. Marshall's involvement with Kenya's foundation affirmed his faith in law, while also forcing him to understand how the struggle for justice could be compromised by the imperatives of sovereignty. Marshall's beliefs were most sorely tested later in the decade when he became a Supreme Court Justice, even as American cities erupted in flames and civil rights progress stalled. Kenya's first attempt at democracy faltered, but Marshall's African journey remained a cherished memory of a time and a place when all things seemed possible.

Leopard at the Door

Leopard at the Door
Author: Jennifer McVeigh
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2017-01-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0399575170

Set in Kenya in the 1950s against the fading backdrop of the British Empire, a story of self-discovery, betrayal, and an impossible love from the author of The Fever Tree. After six years in England, Rachel has returned to Kenya and the farm where she spent her childhood, but the beloved home she’d longed for is much changed. Her father’s new companion—a strange, intolerant woman—has taken over the household. The political climate in the country grows more unsettled by the day and is approaching the boiling point. And looming over them all is the threat of the Mau Mau, a secret society intent on uniting the native Kenyans and overthrowing the whites. As Rachel struggles to find her place in her home and her country, she initiates a covert relationship, one that will demand from her a gross act of betrayal. One man knows her secret, and he has made it clear how she can buy his silence. But she knows something of her own, something she has never told anyone. And her knowledge brings her power.