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Feature
POWER LIST 2008POWER LIST 2010
Rift Valley
r e - u n i fi e d
Not long ago, Kenya stood on the verge of civil war. But common
sense prevailed and eventually peace did, too. Elizabeth Ings
reports on how one day of sport became part of that process
he organisers of the London Olympics would probably
T
silence their critics, not to mention surprise themselves,
if peace between feuding communities was a legacy of the
2012 Games. Yet 4,000 miles away from London that was
precisely the outcome at a far more modest sports event.
The fi rst Laikipia Highland Games, held in the largely pastoral
central region of Kenya in November 2008, brought together
neighbouring ethnic groups who have warred over land and
precious resources for generations.
Kenya circa 2007 was very different to the harmonious, good-
natured place it was on this wonderful afternoon in late November.
Back then, after rumours of vote rigging in the nation’s presidential
election, civilians had turned on each other. Six months of bloody,
internal battling left an estimated 1,500 people dead and many more
injured, homeless and without work.
The violence was alleged to have been stoked for political Role model: former marathon champion Paul Tergat
ends and thankfully did not escalate into the type of civil war seen
in nearby Rwanda. The fi ghting shocked westerners, who have I had met three Kenyans – Helen, Lucy and Grace – and
honeymooned on the country’s east coast and taken safari tours in was catching up on their team’s performance in the volleyball
the Maasai Mara, but it was not the fi rst violence of its kind since tournament when the heavens opened. We had talked earlier
independence from Britain in 1963. Like internal battles before, last about their differing ethnicities, which they made clear no longer
year’s violence in Kenya was fought down ready-drawn, largely faint, mattered. “These are my sisters,” said Lucy, “We might laugh at
but omnipresent ethnic lines, and that these lines have been swept the different words we use but never more than that. None of that
over while the country heals is too great an insecurity for some. matters.” We fl ailed in the direction of the marquee, giggling as
But back to the good news. Since then Kenyans have begun to we stumbled and cradled and dropped and scrambled for drinks
rebuild their lives. Within months of the worst of the post-election bottles and jumpers and my sun cream. With perfect strangers
violence, and amid ongoing battles between pastoral communities, minutes before, I was as I am with my friends at home as we
including cattle rustling and nocturnal raids, infl uential Kenyans, reached the canopy, once for shade now sieving rain.
who might appear in publications like this, urged people to lay It was not all good news, though. A young man I spotted, who
down their weapons and their ethnic prejudices. This day of sport had played volleyball earlier in the day and whose team had just
was one more attempt to heal the wounds and bring together won the football and were jogging and punching the air on their
disparate communities. victory lap, should have been celebrating with the rest of them,
126-127 Kenya.indd 1 07/09/2009 23:45
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