A local pastor took part in a small, international ceremony in Kenya recently to memorialize those who died in the United States Embassy bombing.

Representing Christians around the world, Father David Epps, pastor of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church in Peachtree City along with three American bishops, one European bishop, one Southeast Asian bishop, one Kenyan bishop and other priests laid a wreath at the site last month in honor of the 213 Kenyan families who lost a relative in the terrorist blast.

"It was a dangerous journey, in light of the $10,000 bounty placed on American heads by the terrorists," Epps said. "Many of the passersby stopped and glowered at the van full of non-Africans who had stopped at this place of pain and anguish."

There was a pile of thousands of flowers there, he said, four feet high and five feet wide, mixed with toys, personal notes, written prayers and religious articles. On a wall behind the altar of flowers were dozens of photographs of the Kenyan victims.

"The sadness of the place overwhelmed us all," Epps said. "The glare of the onlooking crowd softened a bit as we touched the photographs and wept." The Episcopalian contention gathered around the flower pile to read Scriptures, to repent, to pray and to intercede for the nation of Kenya and its citizens.

More than 5,400 people were injured and 250 killed in the August blast. Many are still hospitalized over a month later, and more than 200 still need reconstructive surgery. Twelve Americans died in the bombing.

Epps said he and many of us are often outraged at the loss of American lives in such situations, but fail to consider the loss of lives of people from other countries. He said the Nairobi trip changed his attitude.

"The face of anguish has no nationality," he said. "A Kenyan child cries just as sorrowfully at the senseless loss of his mother as a child in upscale America. The blood that flowed so freely in Nairobi Aug. 7 was all red and it was all precious.

"I will never be able to forget, or ignore, again."

Epps was in Africa for two weeks, during which he attended pastors' conferences, the consecration of three bishops and ordination of 12 clergy in Kenya and Uganda, among other activities.

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