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An innovative research-led model for building peace has been pioneered by an Irish Catholic priest and his shalom center colleagues working in areas of Northern Kenya where assault rifles are as common in households as cooking pots. Lawlessness is prevalent in the isolated areas of Kenya bordering Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia, and family possessions include, on average, 1.6 AK-47s, the weapon of choice also of organized cattle-rustling gangs. Weak institutions, porous borders and climate change, meanwhile, combine to make conditions harsher, nurturing historic, sometimes violent competition over scarce resources between the 11 ethnic communities of Northern Kenya with which the Centre works. More recently, conflicts over official positions and new administrative boundaries driven by politics have become commonplace. Of immediate concern to the peace makers: the Aug. 8 Kenya general elections. In 2007-08, post-election violence nationwide, fuelled by political in-fighting, retaliation and power struggles, left roughly 1,300 Kenyans dead, 60,000 maimed and 600,000 displaced.