Kenya

Machete-attack survivor: I thought I was dead

• Story Highlights
• Man survives machete attack, says tribalism is rampant and must "be stopped"
  
• As many as 500,000 Kenyans have been affected by post-election violence
  
• An estimated 250,000 people have been driven from their homes
  
• Pastor in town where 40,000 have fled says, "We have no aid assistance"
  

MOLO, Kenya (CNN) -- Lying in a hospital bed in this rural hub of Kenya's Rift Valley, a man describes surviving two machete wounds to his head and multiple slashes to his hands. He says he was attacked by people who now live by the rules of tribalism.

John Machana survived a machete attack: "I was sure they would kill me."

"They have to be stopped," he said. "It is the work of the devil."

Nearby, another machete-attack survivor, John Machana, said he thought he was a dead man when he was attacked.

"I was sure they would kill me," he said, nursing slashes to his backside and still lying in his blood-stained clothes.

"They told me the blood in Kenya now had to be pure and clean, and they accused me of being of mixed tribal blood."

Both men are among the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans victimized by a weeklong spate of violence after the nation's disputed presidential election. Watch survivors describe their desperate situation »

The Kenyan Red Cross says it is trying to meet the needs of more than a half-million affected Kenyans, including more than 250,000 people who have been driven from their homes. Thousands are escaping ethnic violence and, while they are lucky to leave with their lives, they now have little else.

Squatting on the grass, a mother of eight cried quietly as she explained that she needs food, water, medicine and clothing for her children, including her youngest, who is just 2 weeks old. See photos of Kenya plunged into crisis »

She and her family are among an estimated 40,000 people to flee to Molo, a town on the edge of Kenya's desolate Rift Valley.

Officials in Molo say the victims just keep coming by the hundreds. Especially at night, they are on the move escaping the killing, raping, burning and looting, a consequence of tribal clashes.

Pastor George Keliuki presides over the Baptist church in Molo. Thousands have taken refuge in the church's back yard. But Keliuki said he has nothing more than beans and blankets to give them for the moment.

"We just entrust our lives to God because we have no aid assistance right now unless the international community intervenes," he said.

The victims of the crisis say there are still families trapped in rural areas -- dead, dying or too terrified to find a way out. They are caught in the election turmoil that erupted when Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 27 election, a result the opposition party disputes.

The government has said 482 people have been killed in the violence.

Kibaki on Saturday appeared to offer a way out of the stalemate with the opposition over the disputed elections, announcing he was ready to form a government of national unity, a government spokesman said.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga said he and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) were ready to negotiate with the president without preconditions. Odinga's party had earlier insisted Kibaki must resign before talks could take place.

Opposition leaders on Monday canceled plans for protests on Tuesday as they wait for Ghana's president to arrive to begin mediation efforts aimed at ending the widespread violence. E-mail to a friend