The Polls Are Closed!

27,000 polls opened at 6am this morning, and apparently a significant percentage of Kenya's 12.5 Million registered voters turned out to cast their votes.    Some Kenyans walked more than three hours each way to the nearest polling station in order to be sure their vote was included.   Lines were long, security was tight, and each voter left the polling station with a splash of indelible ink on their left hand to avoid double-voting.

After a peaceful day of voting, the polls closed at 6pm.   The local news channel is monitoring the results, and currently the tally sits at 66% Yes, 34% No, with only 1/3 of the polling stations tallied.

The election coverage involves no colorful, interactive maps or charts, and no "Situation Room."
That said, the coverage is being branded "Decision 2010."

Some things must just be universal. 

We're anxious to see where the final tally lands tomorrow.

If you're interested, the BBC has a good article on the election:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10856761

Meanwhile, it's Wednesday night and our running water ration for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday has run out.
Awesome.

Agnes

I love that election day here is a national holiday.   There’s no school...no work...no open grocery stores...
just children playing outside and people waiting in lines at the 27,000 polling stations around the country.

We spent the afternoon having lunch at Angie’s mother’s house.   Angie is one of the medical students we’re staying with here in Nairobi, and when her mother, Agnes, dropped by the apartment last week she insisted that we all come to her home for lunch before leaving the city.   Today turned out to be the day.

We arrived at Agnes’ house at about 1:30, and were greeted with open arms, glasses of passion fruit juice, and a spread of food so massive I wondered if a dozen other people were expected.
They weren’t.
Agnes, a jovial woman with kind eyes, exudes a sense of caring and empathy.   When you meet her, you get the sense that you’re in the presence of a truly good and gentle human being.  She smiles widely and often - a smile that reveals thick laugh lines and defined cheekbones.  She offers hugs to anyone and everyone, and yet has a weathered face that clearly has seen much.  I found myself really wanting to hear about her experiences, her life.    And I got to!

She proudly cast her vote at dawn, and then spent the rest of the morning preparing a delicious traditional Kikuyu meal for us (her family comes from the Kikuyu Tribe in Kenya).

Over lunch we heard stories about the time Mercy’s mother found a leopard lazing on her living room carpet, and the time Agnes found monkeys righteously sitting in her dining room eating her fruit.
Both incidents occurred in the middle of Nairobi, and quite honestly I can’t fathom experiencing either one.

But then we heard more about what Agnes does for a living.   She’s a practicing psychologist in Nairobi, focusing mainly on relationship counseling and people with addictions.   But that’s only part of her livelihood.   She also has a contract with the United Nations – working for Kenya’s National Commission on Gender and Development.   Her focus is on trying to stop violence against women and children.   No small task in Kenya, she leads teams around the country that spend weeks, sometimes months at a time raising awareness in villages that violence against women and children is wrong and should be discussed.   Apparently rape, other sexual abuses and physical beatings are not uncommon in parts of Kenya.  The subject is taboo, and therefore not discussed or reported.   Agnes has spent the last few years taking action – creating specific gender-based violence and domestic violence desks at local police stations, coordinating rallies and discussion groups, and generally educating both men and women about the realities of such abuses and the corresponding long term repercussions.   Think of the difference this woman is making!

She described other issues women in Kenya face, too.   Issues such as the fact that many girls in Kenya are forced to miss school one week per month.   Why?  Because they have nothing to use as sanitary protection when they get their periods.   Another project Agnes has been working on is to get these girls the items they need, so they can keep up with their studies, not be mocked or abused, and grow into confident young women.

With every story my eyes grew wider and wider, until 100% of my energy was being devoted to NOT bursting into tears on the spot.   Some of the things we’ve seen here are so terrible, so hard, and yet just when I feel defeated I meet people like Agnes who are doing such good, meaningful work, making a significant difference in the lives of many.   I sat there feeling foolish – what am I doing that means anything or that makes any sort of difference?   My basic pre-med classes, many of which I detest and yet worry endlessly about, and my job that, let’s face it, is really about making or keeping other people an overabundance of money - both seem embarrassingly indulgent.   I suddenly felt the urge to drop everything, stay here and go to work with Agnes.    Maybe not the most practical idea I’ve ever had, but I’m not exactly known for having practical ideas.
And then, again, I thought I might cry.
I hate crying.

Our taxi home showed up at that moment.   We told Agnes that we really wanted to find a way to help her and her efforts in some way.  
I’m not sure yet what that will look like, but we’ll find a way. 

Kenya Referendum 2010

Tomorrow marks an important day here in Kenya: the day Kenyans will vote in a referendum on a new national constitution.  

You might remember reading about the Kenyan election back in 2007, when a similar issue was put to a vote.   Disputed election results then led to deadly clashes through the country – clashes that only ended with a promise of another election.  That promised election is set to take place tomorrow. 

At the polls, Kenyan voters will be required to respond to the question:  "Do you approve the proposed new Constitution?”

Based on what I've read, the campaigns for the referendum involve two camps: the “Yes” camp led by the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the “No” camp led by former President Moi and the Church.

Opinions here in Nairobi (and presumably throughout the country) are strong, and yet oddly enough no two people I’ve spoken with have offered the same definition of what a “Yes” versus “No” vote really means.  

Confusion abounds.  

Not once since we’ve been here has the newspaper clearly outlined the key differences between the two sides, either. 

In the United States, on the day before and day of any major election, we expect to see a clear outline of each side of whatever issue is at hand.    However, the front page of today’s Daily Nation (their tagline is, of course, The Truth), only reads “It’s all Systems Go For the Referendum.”  

Subsequent articles brag about the 63,000 police officers will be deployed tomorrow to guard election materials and voters, while others clearly outline what each voter must bring to the polls in order to cast a vote.    Nowhere could I find a clear explanation of what a “yes” or “no” vote would mean.

I’ve done a bit of research, and from what I understand, if a “yes” vote carries the day, it will mean an entirely new constitution for Kenya.   Much of the proposed constitution draft is agreeable to the masses – it decentralizes power, and offers fairer laws to land owners.   But two major pieces of the proposed draft appear to be contentious: one provides a loophole that could allow for legal abortions, and another retains a Kadhi court system in Kenya.     The “No” camp is vehemently opposed to both pieces.

Opinion articles claim that the Obama Administration is backing the “Yes” camp, and that the President and Prime Ministers are only in favor of the new constitution so they can leave a legacy.     Yet opinion polls show that nearly 60% of voters intend to vote “yes.”   Now, many claim that such opinion polls are corrupt, rigged, or just plain lies.   I’ve no idea what is true,  but the tension around here is palpable.  

Tomorrow has been declared a national holiday, and most businesses (including all supermarkets) even shut down early today.   People have been encouraged to stock up on food, water, and cell phone credit just in case any problems arise as a result of the election.    We took the advice.   

We now have more water, food, and Internet airtime than we could possibly want. 

Advertisements encouraging a peaceful election line the streets and fill radio airtime.   Our fingers our crossed that things will go smoothly.    We’ll stay safe inside at home behind locked gates and doors, but I’m looking forward to seeing how things unfold.  

Photos from Tanzania

Maasai Children in Northern Tanzania

Maasai Men - Northern Tanzania

How in the world?

Under NO circumstances should there be any Hooting.

A Maasai hut in Southern Kenya

Maasai Children near Arusha

Arusha Market

Wow.

Arusha: Wimps Need Not Apply

I’ll be honest, I left Moshi feeling rather defeated. 

I wanted so badly to see Mt. Kilimanjaro, but it just wasn’t meant to be. 

We could have tooled around Moshi for the day, or even driven up to Kilimanjaro National Park.   But, it seemed silly to pay $60 per person in park entrance fees if seeing anything wasn’t really a possibility. 

We didn’t.   We hopped the 11am shuttle to Arusha.  

I left thinking I would be back – I just don’t know when.

But I will.

In Arusha, we stayed with a friend of Dami’s family.   Lola, a Nigerian, and one of the funniest women I’ve met since I arrived in Africa, has more attitude than Wanda Sykes and more strong opinions than Nancy Grace.   I loved her.

Though she vehemently (and vocally) hates Arusha, she has been there for eight years, working as a French-English Interpreter for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.    While I think her job sounds fascinating, it’s clearly just a job to her.  Frustrated with it, she’s looking to transfer elsewhere through the United Nations – possibly to Afghanistan or Sudan.    Imagine how much she must hate Arusha to want to transfer to either one of those places! 

As she says, its not safe, the people aren't very nice, and the medical care is frighteningly poor.  

Her home, meanwhile, was beautiful, and located in very nice part of the city.   All of her neighbors are affiliated with the Tribunal, and the UN provides each employee with two 24-hour security guards, a gate to the driveway, and two 24-hour policemen who patrol the area.   Her house is outfitted with three emergency panic buttons, located in all the high traffic areas.   Lola feels so safe in her house that she sometimes doesn’t even bother to lock her door.    The UN, she said, takes very good care of its people.

She graciously let us spend the night, and took us this morning to the 8am shuttle for Nairobi.  

We boarded the shuttle, and found that we had been assigned the three seats that sat right on top of the back wheels.   While sitting in the seat with the giant hump in the floor was fun on the elementary school bus, it isn’t now that I’m 5’10’. 

Great.

I sat with my knees to my chest for a little over three hours, and then thankfully was able to move when another passenger got off the bus.   

Despite the fact that I my legs were cramping, the bus hit a pothole every .5 seconds, and it was generally really cold, I enjoyed the ride.   I saw more ostriches, impalas, and even about 10-15 baboons!   It was great.   I love the scenery here - it changes faster than the weather does in Washington DC. 

After 7.5 hours on a shaking, jerking, jostling and bouncing bus, we’re back in Nairobi.   

I still feel a little numb. 

But we’re back, and though we’re exhausted, we’re happy to be “home.”  

Kenyan Border Patrolling

The first night was spent at the Kilimanjaro Crane hotel and I actually got to sleep on a BED! It was incredible. I still wore ear plugs because there was a wedding going on in what sounded like our bathroom but other than that, I slept like a rock. We woke at dawn to see the sunrise over “Kili” but the powers that be decided it should look like Gorillas in the Mist instead. No snows of Kilimanjaro for these girls.

We hopped on the 11:30 shuttle back up to Arusha where we were greeted by Dami's family friends that were kind enough to let us crash their Sunday afternoon plans. “Auntie” Lola's son Olumide picked us up from the bus stop sounding like he had been hit by the very shuttle we came in on. Turns out he hadn't gotten to sleep until 6am the night before. I guess I was wrong in assuming Arusha didn't have much of a night life. NB: Auntie is a term of endearment in Nigeria for a woman older than you with whom you are acquainted. It was a nice evening spent relaxing with some tea watching silly Nigerian talk shows such as “Ladies Love Gisting” and the movie Clue.

Olu graciously gave us his bed for the night that he had freshly Febreezed upon our arrival. We woke up nice and early and caught the 8am shuttle back to Nairobi. The ride felt bumpier than the way down but there were quite a few open seats so overall it wasn't too bad. The stop at the border was probably the worst part. The line for arrivals on the Kenyan side was a mile long and there was only one gentleman at the window. By the time I finally got to the front of the line, he told me he would not give my passport back until I “told my friends to reform the line”. By that he meant, tell everyone in line from all over the world what to do. I did it, because I didn't have much of a choice but SB commented later how great it was that suddenly I was a part of the Kenyan border patrol.

And now we are back in Nairobi. I'm feeling quite comfortable now in our little neighborhood where at least things are a bit familiar. Oh yes, and I was convinced that I had picked up some sort of parasite in my tummy because I haven't been able to eat much since Wednesday. That was coincidentally the day I ate intestines that were wrinkled on one side with funny black bumps on the other. What was I thinking? Well, actually...I only ate one bite. So it couldn't be the intestines. But it could have been any number of other questionable meat dishes I've eaten over the past week. The point is I'm feeling pretty good right now. Whew.

And speaking of feeling good...my mom is doing great!!! I spoke to her after her surgery and all is well. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Isn't it Ironic?

We travelled all the way to Tanzania to see Mt. Kilimanjaro, and it was too cloudy to see it.

I'm sure Toto was right, that Kilimanjaro was "rising like Olympus above the Serengeti,"  but I couldn't tell. 

I guess I’ll just have to come back.  

:)