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Sister Rosita AranitaA Catholic missionary who lived and worked in Puna for 15 years is currently in Kenya, where on Jan. 11 she entered a church compound to escape the violent political upheaval wracking the East African nation. She sent an e-mail to friends and colleagues that day saying she wouldn't be able to send any more until further notice. And now that no one has heard from her since, concern is growing.

Sister Rosita Aranita, a missionary with the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, has been working in Kenya about a year, trying to improve water supplies for residents of rural West Africa near Lake Victoria.

But hundreds of Kenyans have been killed in street protests and other violence since a disputed nationwide election on Dec. 27, which kept President Mwai Kibaki in control of the government and left opposition leader Raila Odinga bitterly charging Kibaki with rigging the election.

Odinga was born in the Nyanza Province where Sister Rosita worked and sought refuge in the compound with other missionaries. The same province is home to the grandmother and other relatives of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, whom he wrote about in his book, "Dreams of My Father."

Today's reports (International Online, BBC) indicate a relative calm pending mediation attempts but inter-tribal violence did erupt overnight resulting in at least two deaths. Odinga reportedly has called for economic boycotts instead of continuing street protests in an attempt to ease the violence which protesters blame on government security forces. But more demonstrations are being planned next week as an international team of diplomats, including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, are scheduled to arrive in Kenya in an attempt to mediate the situation.

Still there’s no word from Sister Rosita and the hundreds of thousands reportedly seeking refuge in the compounds and the Catholic Information Service for Africa Web site reported Jan. 11 that the church is struggling to help:

"About 250, 000 are living in dismal conditions on open grounds in church compounds, police stations and stadiums in the worst affected areas of Nyanza, Western, Rift Valley, Coast and Nairobi provinces.”

Local residents aware of Sister Rosita's situation and her past contributions to the Puna community also are trying to help. 

Patrick Walsh, active in the church and a Puna businessman, has a Web site with journals written by Sister Rosita over the past year of her life working with the Kenya Water Project in an area about two hours away by bus from the nearest town, Kisumu. Sister Rosita wrote on Jan. 11 that all the roads in the province had been destroyed in the unrest, making ground transportation all but impossible, and that she would not be leaving. Food and supplies inside the compound would last about two weeks, she wrote.

Monsignor John Mutiso, a Kenyan who is in residence at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hilo, has been trying to contact people in Kenya who might be able to reach Sister Rosita, Walsh said.

Walsh fears the government wants to restore and inflame old tribal divisions within the country and is beginning to target journalists as well as protesters in an attempt to drive independent observers out of the country. That could lead to Kenya spiraling down the the desperate path of Kenya's neighbor in the region, Darfur, he said.

Walsh has been contacting the faith-based Idaho non-profit Mission Aviation Fellowship  in an effort either to take people out of the country or to deliver food and supplies. According to this MAF account on Jan. 8:

"MAF pilots have flown to various towns in western Kenya, such as Eldoret, Kisumu, Kitale and Homa Bay, to evacuate both Kenyans, who have been threatened, as well as staff members from such organizations as Scripture Mission, International Committee of the Red Cross, the Navigators and Gospel Fire International, who were no longer safe in their homes."

Walsh is also trying to raise political awareness of the situation in Kenya, appealing publicly to the Bush administration and U.S. presidential candidates with appeals to both sides to end the violence and broker a peace agreement.

Kehena resident Norm Olesen, a retired engineer, former deputy county planning director and former executive assistant to Mayor Stephen Yamashiro, said Sister Rosita was a tireless provider of food and care for children and teens at Sacred Heart Church in Pahoa for about 15 years until reassigned about three years ago. He said she'd worked in other Third World countries before Kenya, and that she'd been back to her former home in Pahoa before she left for Kenya about a year ago. She also was instrumental in establishing Puna Performing Arts and ran summer programs for scores of local kids. “She was wonderful,” Olesen said.

Puna environmental activists and county Planning Commissioner Rene Siracusa said Sister Rosita "was really good at grant writing and brought a lot of money into the community ... I liked Rosita a lot."

"She had a lot going for her as a human being," Siracusa said. "She was very clear in her thinking and her commitment to help people.”

Mutiso is calling on both sides to make efforts to ease the tension in Kenya. Following diplomatic assessments that the December election results are hopelessly flawed, he said new elections need to be held with international observers if necessary. He also sees the help of international mediators arriving in Kenya, including former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as an encouraging development toward peace in his native country.

"The people are tired of protests," Mutiso said Saturday. "They want peace and calm. I think it's about time the two sides came together. They should make use of these international observers to mediate on their behalf and take some steps whatever that will be. If the international observers feel that elections must be held, I think that would be the best way to calm the fears of many."

Meanwhile, Sister Rosita's status remains unknown as friends and colleagues anxiously wait for news.