VOA常速英语2008年-Some of Kenya's Displaced Seek to Return to Anc

By Scott Bobb
Nairobi
11 February 2008

Aid officials in Kenya are warning that the country faces a serious humanitarian¹ crisis because of the 300,000 people who have been displaced by violence that followed the country's disputed presidential election. VOA's Scott Bobb visited a camp for displaced people near Nairobi where many of the traumatized victims say they want to go back to their ancestral homes.

Children play on the swinging gate of a cow paddock inside the Jamhuri Trade Fairgrounds, a sprawling² agricultural complex on the outskirts³ of Nairobi.

Laundry is drying on a fence next to a row of latrines made from tin sheets. Families are camped in a shed of cattle stalls in front of which burns a cooking fire tended by an elderly woman.

The Jamhuri Fairgrounds lie near Kibera, one of Nairobi's largest slums. When violence erupted in December, following Kenya's elections, several-thousand people took refuge here. Five-thousand more came daily for food and health care.

The director of the African Evangelist Enterprises that coordinates⁴ relief services here is Reverend Steven Mbogo. He says besides caring for the physical needs of the displaced, a major challenge is dealing⁵ with the psychological effects of their ordeal⁶.

"Many of these people were traumatized," he said. "You had even children who would tell what they had witnessed, either people being killed or beaten up. So there was lots of counseling that took place."

One-fourth of the camp's 200 volunteers are counselors⁷. Mbogo says even they need counseling periodically.

New arrivals continue to stream in, a young woman balancing a suitcase on her head, a man with a rolled-up mattress⁹ over his shoulder.

One of these is Mary Akinyi. A young woman with a round face, she came from Thika, a nearby town in a traditionally Kikuyu area. She fled after gangs armed with machetes told her family to leave or be killed.

"We want to go home because we can not do anything here, no work, no school," she said. "So we are feeling bad."

But the home Akinyi seeks is not Thika. It is her ancestral home in the traditionally Luo region in western Kenya.

"We want to go Siaya, Kisumu," she said. "We do not want to [go] back from [to] Thika again. Because many people are Kikuyu. They want to kill us so we can not go back again."

The elections inflamed¹⁰ long-standing ethnic¹¹ tensions. A great deal of the violence came from traditional inhabitants in a given region seeking to evict¹² the more recent settlers there.

Relief official Mbogo says this has raised a major issue for the country.

"Most of the people who are being repatriated¹³, they are headed for their rural homes, their ancestral homes, which raises lots of questions politically, whether or not we are demarcating, Balkanizing the whole country according to their tribes," he said.

Richard Gitahi is a somber¹⁴ young man sitting alone on a rock in the middle of the camp. He owned a small business in Kibera that repaired and sold used electronic products. He says he was resting at his house when he was attacked by gangs that robbed him and destroyed his shop.

Gitahi is originally from the traditionally Kikuyu area of Murang'a, 70 kilometers north of Nairobi. But he left home 10 years ago and lost contact with his family. As a result, he says he has no place to go.

A counselor⁸ says that even if Gitahi located his family he could not go home because he does not have money to buy the gifts that are required by tradition to take to his family.

Mbogo says if the political leaders do their job then perhaps there will be peace. But he says the wounds of the conflict will take a long time to heal.

"Some of the people, they will tell you, the neighbors I lived with, someone with whom we shared cooking oil or fire or a matchbox; I could eat in their houses," he said. "They would say these are the same people who turned against me. These are the same people who occupy my house. To win back their trust, it will take time and possibly it could be a younger generation."

At the same time, Mbogo says, the violence brought out the best in some people. Many Kenyans donated food, clothing and shelter to the victims. And religious and civic¹⁵ groups quickly organized facilities in many areas to care for them.

Nevertheless, he says a great deal of resources are still needed to deal with the humanitarian crisis that he believes will last long after a political solution is reached.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

3 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

4 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

7 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册

8 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

9 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

10 inflamed   

adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His comments have inflamed teachers all over the country. 他的评论激怒了全国教师。
• Her joints are severely inflamed. 她的关节严重发炎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

12 evict   

vt.驱逐，赶出，撵走

参考例句：

• The lessor can evict the lessee for failure to pay rent.出租人可驱逐不付租金的承租人。
• The government always says it's for the greater good when they evict farmers from their land.当政府把农民从他们的土地赶出去的时候，总是号称是为了更大众的利益。

13 repatriated   

v.把（某人）遣送回国，遣返( repatriate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The refugees were forcibly repatriated. 难民被强制遣送回国。
• Ancient artworks were repatriated from the US to Greece. 古代艺术品从美国遣送回希腊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

15 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。