Nairobi
Sad to see what’s happening after the election in Kenya. We had heard grumbling about Kibaki and his chronies when we were there in May, and now things are getting ugly after his re-election — over 100 dead in the last 24 hours, and it’s far from over.
It makes this story more real to have been there recently. When I read about Uhuru Park or the Kibera slum or the Imperial Hotel, I know right where they’re talking about. I hope our friends are all safe and things calm down soon.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 7:31 am. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on December 31, 2007 at 9:16 am Tom wrote:
Happy New Year!
You know, I was about to post something about strife seeming to happen a few times right after you’ve been somewhere (train bombings in India, unrest in Nepal, unrest in Kenya, protests in Chile [or maybe Colombia?], etc.). But then it occurred to me that there’s some random percentage of the world that’s experiencing unrest at any given moment, and if you spend several months doing more international traveling than staying home, you’re likely to end up with a certain number of these types of things. In fact, you could argue that you’ve been fortunate to be either not yet there or already gone when these things happen, given where you spend a lot of time.
Anyhow, here’s hoping things slow down there. I just recently saw a movie (God Grew Tired of Us) about the Lost Boys of Sudan, and many of the ones who have not yet been relocated to other parts of the world are living in a camp in Kenya. One of my first thoughts (mostly because of how recently I saw the film) when I saw the news reports about Kenya was that a violent change of government there could suddenly leave the Sudanese as unwelcome there as they are in Sudan.
Not to mention, of course, the various peoples of Kenya including the people you know. Kind of puts things in persective about the U.S., huh? Things may be screwed up, but there’s very little rioting, threat of martial law, or potential for ethnic or political cleansing.
on December 31, 2007 at 8:43 pm Doug wrote:
Yeah, we’re sadly lacking those things, even on the days when we could sure use them.
Happy New Year, Evanston!
on December 31, 2007 at 9:16 pm Tom wrote:
That wasn’t exactly my point, but it’s a good one, too!
Happy New Year, Seattle! We’re under about four inches of fresh, heavy snow. Big clumpy snowflakes and all that. We went to a First Night thing with some friends from Arlington Heights and ended up blowing it off to go teach our daughters how to have a snowball fight an hour past bedtime. Definitely one of the better New Years Eves I’ve ever had. And now we’re safe inside while the bozos get gassed and drive around on the icy roads. There are some benefits to being fuddy duddies!