Tag: kenya

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Patrick Ishimwe, Giving Non-Traditional Students a Voice

Senior Patrick Ishimwe, executive officer of nontraditional students, grew up wanting to help people.

Born in Rwanda, moving from there to Congo, to Kenya, and eventually to Togo, where he lived for ten years, Ishimwe grew up in what he described as an “unstable environment.” Yet, he said, “there was always someone to help,” and through that, his family got “all the help we needed.”

Having moved to Buffalo, where he went to City Honors School for two years, Ishimwe eventually arrived at Houghton looking for a Christian environment and a good soccer program. Ishimwe initially did not consider SGA, but during his Sophomore year, a friend, Ben Hardy, convinced him to go to a meeting. Ishimwe was intrigued, and by his Junior year, he ran for the Senate and became part of the SGA. The SGA, he realized, was an opportunity to be a helpful voice on campus.

AnthonyBurdo_Patrick Ishimwe

However, among the changes the 2014-2015 year brought was the elimination of the Senate. Again Ishimwe made the decision to participate in SGA, this time becoming the Executive Officer of Nontraditional Students. In this role, Ishimwe deals with reaching out to the students of Buffalo who do not have the opportunity to go to traditional college.

Placing great value on education, Ishimwe is personally invested in the programs. “Education is just the key to success,” he said. In a recent Facebook post, Ishimwe wrote, “Jesus did not die on the cross just for us to live an average life.” He said, “Education showed me you don’t have to lead that life.” In his SGA position, Ishimwe is able to share this opportunity with students who otherwise would have no access to it. “They’re no different from us,” said Ishimwe, “We’re just fortunate enough to be able to afford to go here.”

Having attended school in Buffalo, Ishimwe has a personal understanding of the purpose and value of the programs for nontraditional students. He discovered that one of the students in the program was a good friend, and was able to see the positive effects. He noticed that his “friends from high school struggle with staying in college and getting a degree.” Ishimwe, in his position, is now able to see the tangible results of the programs.

Ishimwe describes his office as giving Buffalo students in the program “a voice on campus.” He keeps the SGA informed on how the programs are going, but also is responsible for sharing opportunities for involvement with other Houghton students. He and SGA president Katharine Labrecque have formed a committee that will be bringing in lecturers and possibly Buffalo residing Houghton alumni, who will inform Houghton students of opportunities to serve in Buffalo.

Patrick Ishimwe is a political science major, minoring in business and French. His desire to help people, to make a difference, is the root for his ultimate dream of going to law school and working with the United Nations. For now, he speaks for himself and reminds Houghton students, “Buffalo is a mission.” Although there is much to address for the rest of the world, for now “it’s preparation for future experiences.”

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News

U.S. Captures Senior al-Queda Member

Nairobi Embassy bombing.
Nairobi Embassy bombing.

In an effort to capture two prominent al-Qaeda members, U.S. forces conducted two raids in Libya and Somalia on October 5. Both members, Anas al-Liby and Abdukadir Mohamed Abdukadir, also known as Ikrima, were wanted for their connections to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and injured another 5,000. While commandos were able to capture al-Liby, they failed in capturing Ikrima.

The capture of al-Liby is a big success in Washington’s fight against al-Qaeda. According to Al-Jazeera, al-Liby was indicted by the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York in 2000 for his alleged role in planning the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya on August 7, 1998. Currently, al-Liby is being interrogated aboard the USS San Antonio off the coast of Libya. He will be interrogated for sixty days before being transferred to the Federal Court in New York to stand trial. This comes as three U.S. Senators, Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte and Saxby Chambliss, wish to send al-Liby to Guantanamo Bay’s detention center for further interrogation. U.S. President Barack Obama, however, is reluctant to send more alleged terrorists to Guantanamo due to a desire to close the detention center which has housed numerous untried accused terrorists for years and received criticism from various human-rights groups.

Meanwhile, the raid in Somalia was unsuccessful. U.S. forces planned to capture Ikrima, a senior commander in al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist terror group that controls large swathes of territory in mostly lawless Somalia.  A spokesman for the Pentagon, George Little, told the BBC that Ikrima was closely associated with two now-dead al-Qaeda members Harun Fazul and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who helped with the 1998 embassy bombings and later attacks on a hotel and airline in Mombasa, Kenya in 2002. The raid, however, was aborted after a guard for Ikrima’s compound in the coastal Somali town of Barawe sounded an alarm. Out of concern for heavy civilian and possible American casualties, the commandos withdrew from Barawe and returned to a waiting U.S. ship in the Indian Ocean. Though the commandos managed to kill one al-Shabab fighter, Ikrima was not captured or killed in the process.

The raids against Islamist militants in Libya and Somalia highlight the United States’ increased attention to terror networks operating in many African countries with unstable régimes. According to Reuters, during a press conference on October 8, President Obama made clear that in cases where local governments lack the capacity to fight terror groups, the United States was “going to have to continue to go after them.” Contested political authority has contributed to increased instability across North Africa. With the fall of longtime rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya since the Arab Spring, many al-Qaeda affiliates have taken advantage of the political turmoil and set up operations in these countries. Somalia has become a haven for terror networks, as it has been in near anarchy for over twenty years since the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre in 1991. Many analysts predict that until authority is reestablished in these unstable countries, the United States will not hesitate to conduct similar operations like in Libya and Somalia in the future.

 

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Terrorist Attack in Nairobi, Kenya

Last week’s terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in Kenya hit me hard. Kenya is my second home. I grew up in that beautiful country. It is a modernized nation where most people attend churches on Sunday and believe strongly in peace. I went to high school there, taught there, married there and two of my children were born there. Some of my children and grandchildren presently live in Nairobi. How can I comprehend the vicious terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall – a place where I dined on roasted chicken last year?

Courtesy of theguardian.co.uk
Courtesy of huffingtonpost.com

It started at 12:00 noon local time on Saturday, September 21 – a time when the mall was full of shoppers and diners. Gangs of men wearing black turbans stormed three entrances simultaneously. They threw grenades and fired indiscriminately using high-powered assault rifles. There was pandemonium as people hid or tried to flee. Many were taken as hostages. In some cases the terrorists asked people to name their religion. Muslims were released while Christians were executed. The terrorists ensconced themselves in the inner shops of the 6-story mall. The Kenyan police and army arrived and the battle went on for 4 days and nights. In the end over 1,000 traumatized people managed to escape, but the Kenyan Red Cross has confirmed that 67 people have died, over 150 were wounded and 35 are still unaccounted for. The terrorists were estimated to number about 15. Five of them were eventually killed by Kenyan police and the other 10 were supposedly taken into custody. The mall itself was bombed and completely destroyed.

An Indian blogger stated, “The Westgate Mall atrocity defies analysis.” He is right, but let me try. A shadowy organization named el-Shabab has taken credit for the killings. Who is el-Shabab? They are a radical Muslim group based out of Somalia and are known to have links to al-Qaeda. Somalia has been at civil war for the past 20 years. It is a failed state with various clans fighting for control. Somalia is Kenya’s neighbor to the northeast. During the various phases of the civil war many Somali people (primarily women and children) have fled to refugee camps in Kenya. Dabaab is presently the largest refugee camp in the world with over half a million people squatting in the harsh desert. For a short time in 2010 el-Shabab controlled Somalia. At that point they invaded Kenya, attacking various villages and refugee camps. Kenya regarded this as a violation of their sovereign rights so in 2011 the government sent troops into Somalia to punish el-Shabab. Over time Kenya helped free Kismayu and eventually Mogadishu from el-Shabab. El-Shabab vowed revenge. So this attack on the Nairobi mall can be regarded primarily as revenge, but also as a form of publicity – we are still here and we are dangerous.

There have been small attacks by el-Shabab over the past two years with grenades thrown into public places in Nairobi. Kenya has been on alert with double security checks at the airports and metal detectors at store entrances and at sporting events. But the attack on the mall was much bigger. It was well planned. The terrorists chose a mall that was Israeli owned and was frequented by wealthy Kenyans and foreigners. The terrorists even rented a shop in the mall, giving them passes and free access. They were able to bring in large weapons through the back service elevators. During the 4-day siege they were even in Internet connection with people outside the mall.

So where does Kenya go from here? There are hard questions to be asked. To start with, what has happened to the terrorists taken into custody?  Are they being questioned? Did they make some kind of deal? There are rumors that the terrorists escaped through an underground sewer system and have returned to Somalia. There are further rumors stating that some of these terrorists came from Somali communities based in Britain and America. And what about security in the future? In addition to the many Somalis living legally in Nairobi as Kenyan citizens, there are also another 30,000 Somali people living there illegally and over 1 million more living in the Kenyan desert. Documenting people is difficult and the country of Kenya is full of soft targets. And yet nobody wants to live in fear and a lock-down mode.

The recent terrorist attack has unified Kenya. The 67 people killed came from many nations and included President Kenyatta’s nephew, two Canadian diplomats, and the renowned poet from Ghana, Kofi Awoonor – aged 78. Even during the siege hundreds of Kenyans showed up to pray, give blood, and donate thousands of shillings to pay for funerals. This past week there was a large inter-faith prayer rally led by religious leaders who were Hindu, Muslim, and Christians. A cleric who spoke confirmed this unity by stating, “We are one people and one nation”.