Violent demonstrations and clashes between various ethnic groups broke out across the city. Images of policemen firing at protestors dominated both the local and international media for weeks but stories like Esther's went mostly untold. She had 25 people from different ethnic groups sleeping at her place. "I know what it means to lose so I had to everything I could to help others," says Esther.

Esther is just one amongst hundreds if not thousands of Kenyans who acted with empathy while surrounded by ethnic clashes, violence and robberies often at a risk to themselves and their families. Thus, in November 2008, the Unsung Peace Heroes campaign was launched nationwide which aimed at identifying and recognizing these people who played a positive role during and immediately after the post elections chaos in Kenya.  Through SMS, phone or internet the Kenyan public was invited to nominate their own ‘unsung heroes'. In less than one month over 500 nominations were received from across the country. 

"The initiative is premised on the understanding that in order to move forward, there is a need to profile and hear the very beautiful stories that gave us hope as Kenyans and strengthened the social cohesion among the antagonistic communities. It recognises that not everyone gave in to the madness in those dark hours. There were people who, during moments of crisis and violence, risked their own lives to save members of other communities," says Sharad Rao, chair of the jury and former director of public prosecutions.

The human and economic toll of the violence that erupted after the elections of December 2007 was catastrophic for all Kenyans, and the effects linger, not just in Kenya but around the greater East African region. The prolonged stand-off between the two parties and the subsequent violence and lawlessness damaged Kenyans' confidence in the nation and each other, and seriously hurt the country's standing in the world. The power sharing agreement between Kibaki and Raila negotiated by Kofi Annan was a first step to re-establishing peace. But political reconciliation is not enough to restore confidence at the local level where neighbours turned on neighbours and friends became enemies, or at least had their friendships tested to the limit. 

Frank Klein, the Executive Director of Media Focus on Africa Foundation; "The initiative can be big or small, local or national. People who contributed to positive change in the post election period by organising peace marches, bringing together former friends or other things to strengthen social cohesion in their community. These are the people we call; heroes. Kenyan heroes are ordinary people who did extraordinary things. They saw a human in danger and didn't care if it was a Luo, a Kikuyu or a Kalenjin. When everyone around them told them to accept the status quo of blood and brutality, these Kenyan heroes chose to listen to their internal voices; youth peace initiatives, women, men, children, groups, community leaders, ordinary people, and prominent people, just about anybody in the community. These are the heroes this initiative seeks to recognize."

Selected 8 peace heroes: 

1. Alfred Sakwa Sabatia (Eastleigh) - Alfred is 21 years and grew up as an orphan. Since 1996 he lived under sponsorship of the St. Teresa's Catholic Church in Eastleigh. He got hurt while bringing a friend's child to school. He decided to help others during the crisis.

He took food, clothes, and utensils given by friends, churches and organizations to Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps in Mathare, Air Force and Huruma. He organized peace talks, composed peace songs, verses and plays, started a peace self help group to keep the youth engaged named "High hopes", "The jaws" and "Joapapes"; he joined organizations like Eastleigh Youth Network. Currently, he is recording three new peace songs.

2. Esther Wanza Muisu (Mombasa) - Esther is 42 years old and a Kamba married to a Kikuyu. She lives in Mikoni, Mombasa. During the period December 28th - January 15th she helped people with food and shelter, a total of 25 people slept overnight at her place. She said; "I know what it means to lose". 

3. Family Pabari (Kisumu and Nairobi) - This Asian family has been active in charity work for twenty years. During the post election violence they paid for transport for Kikuyus and Kisii who fled Kisumu. They assisted Luos who returned to Kisumu area with food, seeds, farming equipment and medical support. Mrs. Pabari is the driving force behind their charity work, especially through her organization ‘Ladies in Action' supporting orphans and elders. Mr. Pabari retired in 2007 and dedicated his time to charity. Son Dipesh Pabari and his wife Elodie Yard actively support their parents and raise online funds for GBP 5,000 through their organization Sukuma Kenya during the post-election violence. 

4. Joel Cheruiyot Sigei (Bomet) - Joel is a 48 year old Kipsigis who hid 18 people, 4 Kisii families, for 2 weeks in his compound. He did this secretly to hide them from the community. He gave them maize from his stock and milk from his two dairy cows. Furthermore, he helped children in an IDP camp by bringing them 40 litres of milk every day. When the violence ended, he arranged transport for the 4 families.

5. Freddy Kamakei Ole Sangiriaki (Narok) - 'Freddy' is 28 years old Maasai who wanted to protect his Kikuyu friend from an angry group of Maasais looking for ‘enemies'. He got beaten up and decided that this could not be accepted. He and his neighbor friends formed a group called 'Kenyan Initiative - by Kenyans for Kenyans' consisting of mostly Maasai together with Kikuyu, Kisii and Luo men. They went out at night to follow and find the angry mob. By talking to them they convinced them to stop the violence and killing after one week. As they went around Narok area, other groups copied their example and set up similar 'peacekeeping groups'. As a result, (Freddy claims) the violence ended much sooner in Narok area than in the rest of the country. 

6. Maureen 'MKenya' Auma Obonyo (Kibera-Kisumu Ndogo) - When others were too afraid, 'Maureen Mkenya' went out and helped the weak in Kibera. When Kibera started 'burning' there was a sudden shortage of food. She witnessed the anger and despair from close by. Uzima Foundation received food donations and Maureen distributed food and food vouchers for them to the sick and the old. Maureen hid her Luo identity by calling herself Maureen MKenya. Some people thought she was a Kikuyu and she was beaten up three times for this reason. She furthermore facilitated peace sessions and organized football tournaments and drama festivals. 

7. Ann Wangari 'Mugeci Damiano' (Nariobi) - Next to her own three children Ann (39) takes care of 15 orphans in the age 6 to 15 years. During the post-election period she went to Muranga district and found 59 children from a burned children's homes, children from Molo and Narok who needed help, she chose the youngest and brought them to her home in Kasarani. One is Luo and the rest are Kikuyu. All children are now in school. She receives support from friends, church and family. 

8. Paul Omukaya Ayodi (Kawangware) - This 39 years old pastor took immediate action after the election violence broke loose. He took orphans and people who lost their homes to a school for shelter. He helped a total of 20 families of which 5 families are still supported by him, mostly with contributions through the church. One family is Luo, two Kikuyu families, some Luhya and other tribes. Every day he works in a bar in Nairobi from 3pm to late and the rest of his time he dedicates to charity. 

Jury members: 

Sharad Rao (chair) - Legal advisor, former Director of Public Prosecutions

Mildred Awiti - Former Kenyan Model and Corporate Trainer

Yasvin Shretta - Lawyer and former Kenyan Lawn Tennis Champion

Dekha Ibrahim - Respected Peace Maker

Elizabeth Mwangi - HR consultant, experienced the post-electionviolence first hand 

Prize:

The selected unsung peace heroes will receive a money prize of Kshs. 30,000/=, largely raised by the jury members, as well as a certificate and attention in the media.

This is an initiative of:

Butterfly Works [A social design agency helping people around the world to get a fair deal]

Media Focus on Africa Foundation [Strengthens the capacity for democracy and human development within societies in Africa through exchange of information, and facilitation of dialogue using the media]

Executed with the help of:

Nairobits [a Digital Design School that provides education to the Nairobi slum youth]

Ushahidi [Platform for aggregation for information from the public for use in crisis response] 

For additional information on UNSUNG PEACE HEROES see http://www.peaceheroes.ushahidi.com/ or contact:

Marten Schoonman, Media Focus on Africa Foundation,

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