Silas Wanjala just finished six months as the Friends Relations intern at AFSC. He was born and raised in western Kenya in Kitale. After graduating from seminary in 2003, he worked as a pastor in Elgon East Yearly Meeting. Silas has been involved in community development and peace work. Silas was a member of the Friends Church Peace Team. He has a Masters of Arts in Religion with a focus on Peace and Justice Studies from the Earlham School of Religion. His time at Earlham helped him to further his understanding of conflict transformation. In June he completed a year of study at Pendle Hill, a Quaker retreat and training center.

With the assistance of a grant from the Pickett Endowment for Quaker Leadership, Silas has been speaking about unrest in Kenya and the efforts of Quakers and other organizations to promote peace there. He says, “Though Kenya has patterned herself as an island of peace in a volatile region, the truth is we have had a lot of violence and injustice there.”