This is not entirely surprising given the manner we have chosen to define and respond to conflicts. In courts of law, which are the primary conflict resolution mechanism, hardly are victims given the chance to lament, search for badly needed answers, and embark on the journey to healing. Psychologists have advised us that being able to retell a story is a sure indicator of overcoming trauma. It would seem that the story of the blast victims has been taken away from them. They are no longer at the center of the grieving and mourning. Their search for healing has taken a public dimension and for many of them this may result in secondary victimization.

Individual stories are painful. Most of us would prefer to insulate ourselves from the pain. The reality is that the nation can heal only when the pains of individuals are validated. We cannot afford to deal with victims as statistics. We must create conditions for individuals who know the story to shape it. There are many victims who are looking back at their lives and picking any sin they committed that merited the wrath of their ancestors, God or other supernatural beings. Friends and relatives are thinking the dead deserved to die for one reason or another. Victims are blaming themselves for being alive because they believe they were in a position to do something to prevent the death or injury of their friends and relatives.

Victims need information on what happened and why it happened. The victims of the bomb blasts, including friends and relatives, need to know what transpired on August 7, and why the bomb had to be detonated at that particular place. This task is made difficult now that the main trials will take place thousands of miles from East Africa. The governments of Nairobi, Dar and Washington, as well as the media, should consider it a priority to relay information on the trial, particularly the testimony of the accused people, to the victims.

Victims need opportunities to have their anger, fear and pains validated. Kenyans, Tanzanians and Americans need to provide the space for the victims to express their anger not just in counseling sessions but with neighbors, workmates and the general community. In this respect it is most unfortunate that the trials will not take place where many victims will get to tell their truth. However, as a symbolic gesture, representatives of victims should be allowed to attend court and tell their story.

It would be a worthwhile idea to create conditions for victims to mourn, lament and make the story of the blast their own. It is very African for people to provide support for each other in times of grief. Grieving in isolation as it seems to be the case now may not be very healthy for the victims. Healing groups for victims may be one way of helping victims move from being victims to becoming survivors.

Victims need to be empowered so that they "have a sense of control in the resolution of their cases." For example, the victims should be made part of the decision making process for the National Bomb Blast Fund and other rebuilding programs. At a symbolic level, this places victims in control of their lives.

Victims need an "experience of justice." Soon after the tragedy, most victims may harbor feelings of revenge and cry for the blood of the criminals. As time goes by many of them will need assurances that the offenders realize what they did to fellow humans. The "experience of justice" will be much wider than a court conviction.

Victims require an assurance that what happened will not be repeated and that concrete steps must be seen to be taken towards this end. The establishment of a disaster preparedness unit and beefing up security in buildings needs to be taken up with alacrity.

Victims need restitution. This can be done symbolically. Victims need not be reminded by anyone that a check will not replace their loved ones. They know that only too well. However, a symbolic gesture of restitution in critical in the healing process.

The case of the East African bombings is extremely complicated given the varied circumstances, the international angle to the crime and the lack of precedence. How can we make the offenders accountable? How can we mend the relationships? How can we make the victims feel human again? The easy way out is to feel helpless and despair. However, how we respond to this tragedy will shape our narrative of peace in a most fundamental way. Those who responded in generosity on August 7 made an excellent introduction to the narrative of community building and healing. Kenyans, Tanzanians, and Americans cannot afford to let them down. And, there is no short cut; we must cry together, return names to the faces that deeply suffered and then weave our story of peace – string by string.

Joseph Ayindo Babu is a graduate of the MA program. He is currently working wtih Amani Peoples Theatre in Kenya.