Pastor says U.S. has role to play in Kenya

LYNN – Accounts of violence in Kenya are more than just news stories to Joseph Ngotho; they are the latest news about the fate of his homeland and his dispossessed family.”They had homes and businesses. Now they are living in churches or communal compounds,” Ngotho said.Democratic stability in this African nation disintegrated last year when a power sharing agreement between political rivals fell apart.The ensuing bloodshed sent a tidal wave of anguish through the Greater Boston Kenyan community Ngotho ministers to a congregation of 60 Kenyans at St. Stephens Memorial Church.He holds onto slim hope that a new power sharing agreement between Kenyan leaders will end the rioting and killing. He said Americans can help Kenya economically and as a fellow democracy or risk having the People’s Republic of China and Japan dominate the Kenyan economy.”We need to lure people to the U.S. or they will go east,” he said.After winning independence from Britain in 1963, Kenya adopted the British governing model and dominant tribal leaders took the reins of government.Tribal fighting and corruption undermined the multi-party political system adopted in the 1980s and allegations of election fraud plagued last December’s presidential election.”We’ve been struggling for years because of poor leadership.” Ngotho received a traditional Anglican religious education in Kenya. He continued his education after moving to the United States 12 years ago and has ministered to his countrymen at St. Stephen’s for five years.The debate in the last several years over openly gay Episcopal Church leaders prompted some Kenyans to endorse a rift between the Anglican and Episcopal Church.Ngotho has tried to help his St. Stephens parishioners understand that more issues unite than divide them, including struggles to overcome poverty and racial and gender injustices.Tragedy united the North Shore Kenyan community last year when Kenyan Patrick Waweru was charged with murdering Esther Kinyanjui, the mother of his children.Ngotho hopes similar tragedies can be avoided by stressing the value of family to young Kenyan Americans.”The challenge is to reach young people. We try to teach the importance of maintaining family and to seek spiritual guidance when needed,” he said.Ngotho and his wife, Emily Njuguna, struggled to pay their family bills while they balanced work and college studies. He has almost completed the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.”My heart is with our children in America,” he said.