A Country's Suicide

Another of Kenya's famed runners is felled by his countrymen.

Wesley Ngetich, the 2006 Chevron Houston Marathon runner-up who pushed the race's three-time champion David Cheruiyot to a then career-best time with a personal best, has been killed in the spreading tribal violence that is rocking his native Kenya. [SNIP]

Ngetich had planned to run the P. F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Marathon in Phoenix the same day as the Houston race a week ago but was unable to get a flight out of Kenya because of the fighting.

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UPDATE: Save the Children accepts refugees in Uganda--old people and their orphaned grandchildren.

With one baby strapped to her back, another in her arms and a posse of other grandchildren clinging to her skirts, Mary Nyawera stood in line for food rations.

The explosion of violence over Kenya's disputed election has cost Nyawera her home, her livelihood and all four of her sons. She is now the sole provider for 22 grandchildren, all refugees at a border camp in neighboring Uganda.

The 74-year-old was lucky to be called to the front of the line here recently, where she received some ground corn and dried beans. SNIP]

John Karanja, 76, has used what little money he was able to salvage from his looted home to buy his orphaned grandchildren — he fled with 10 of them — milk and other food.

"It is not easy to feed the children. They don't want to eat the food supplied by the charities," he explained.

Three weeks ago Karanja lived in comfort, raising pigs, cows and goats on his farm.

Then a mob armed with machetes arrived. "They destroyed everything, and looted everything. They cut the animals (down) and set fire to what they could not carry with them," he says.

And the cash he managed to escape with is running out. [SNIP]

"If I met Odinga today I would tell him that 'You are a killer,'" Karanja said. "And Kibaki, I would tell him to improve on the security, especially in areas where his supporters are hunted."

The Kenya Crisis