LIMURU, Kenya (ABP) — Several students attending Wayland Baptist University's Kenya campus have lost family members in the recent violence that has plagued the nation.
School administrators are monitoring the situation to determine whether to postpone the start of a new semester. Classes at the outpost of the Texas-based Baptist school are scheduled to resume Jan. 14.
The campus, sponsored in conjunction with the Kenya Baptist Theological College, is about 15 miles from Nairobi, where some of the worst violence occurred. Don Ashley, associate professor of religion at Wayland's campus in Anchorage, Alaska, is scheduled to teach a course beginning later this month.
Rick Shaw, dean of the Kenya campus, said Ashley and his family, who arrived in Kenya before Christmas, were not in danger as of Jan. 3. If the situation becomes too dangerous, they will return to the United States, and classes at the Kenya campus will be postponed.
Shaw, director of the Wayland Missions Center, is scheduled to leave for Kenya Jan. 11. However, he may not make the trip if conditions remain unstable.
“I really don't know what I'm going to do,” Shaw said. “I will watch it probably until Monday or Tuesday, [and] then I'll make a decision.”
Lack of supplies presents the most pressing concern for Wayland's Kenya campus, Ashley said — the school is running low on food and other necessities. Fuel also is at a premium, making transportation to and from the campus difficult for students.
Ethnic violence resulting from a contested presidential election and inauguration erupted across Kenya Jan. 1. An estimated 300 deaths have resulted, including at least 30 people who were burned alive in an Assemblies of God church near the western city of Eldoret.
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