Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

From Rev. Eva

February 8, 2008
Rev. Eva Českava

At this writing, California and twenty-some other states are only days away from a primary presidential election. It’s all a bit complicated for me to understand, a bit like dozens of straw polls before November’s election that will select the electors who will select the president. As messy as it seems, and it will get messier before it’s all decided, it is democracy at work.

Other countries are also struggling with their own challenges at democracy. I’m thinking specifically about Kenya. According to the Associated Press, foreign and local election observers have said the vote count in the December 27 presidential election was deeply flawed. Violent protests, promoted by the officially defeated candidate for president, have resulted in hundreds of deaths and hundreds of thousands of people displaced. Life in parts of many Kenyan cities has ground to a halt, making access to food and other necessities nearly impossible.

As we would expect, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is in Kenya, helping provide life’s essentials for needy people, including some Kenyan Unitarians. Because of the urgent need, last month a joint humanitarian aid fund between the UUA and the UUSC was created, and a delegation of leaders went on a fact-finding trip to assess the damage and determine needs there. This delegation included UUSC president Charlie Elements, MD; Atema Edlai, a native Kenyan and UUSC director of programs; and my friend Rosemary Bray McNatt, minister of the Fourth Universalist Church of New York and one of the founders of the UU Trauma Response Ministry (begun 2002 in the wake of 9/11).

Later this month, a delegation from the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists that is working with emerging African Unitarian Universalist congregations to help them develop their own voice, will travel to Kenya to offer assistance and support in this desperate situation as these people struggle to build a democratic society.

We all, especially Unitarian Universalists, must understand the situation in Kenya as a struggle for people to create a fair and democratic process, the process we promote with our Fifth Principle. May we never take our democratic privilege for granted.