I got a note today inviting me to a reunion of folks who went to Nairobi International School back in the seventies. My parents were missionaries and we lived outside of Nairobi in a small town called Karen that took it’s name from Karen Blixen or Isak Dinesen, as she is known to many. I was in ninth grade, my brother in seventh. On Saturday mornings, we would walk out to the road and hitchhike into the city to eat at Iqbal’s (whose specialty was chipati and keema).
My view, looking back, is romanticized because I was a ninth grader and I’ll also stand by my statement that Kenya was a great place to grow up. Though it shares many of the same problems of other African nations – poverty, HIV/AIDS, postcolonial tribal issues – Kenya has been a haven for refugees of the surrounding war-torn countries (Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and others), so the brutal rioting and ethnic violence that broke out in Kenya over discrepancies in the most recent presidential election are damaging in many, many ways.
Here are two first hand video accounts from a Kenyan television station, one from Kisumu
and one from Nairobi.
I follow my blogging pals Bill and Laurie in asking for prayers; I would also ask you to talk about what is going on to those around you. On a night when our presidential race is officially beginning (does it ever really end?), a country I love dearly is imploding over the election of their president. Hundreds have been killed. Tens of thousands have been displaced.
Please, please, talk and pray.
Peace,
Milton
P. S. — NPR has a good collection of information.
My friend, R, grew up in Kenya. Her stories of life there are wonderful. She takes her kids there for most of the summer. She and her husband had been planning to move back there with their two children. I’ll have to talk to her to see if this changes her mind.
Prayers for sure.
This is so tragic. Reading, talking and praying.
Milton,
Thanks for this post. We are praying together.
Milton, I’ve also posted about this tragedy … though I have no direct connection to it. For some reason, that I cannot put a finger on, this horrible situation has just blown me apart.
Thank you for bringing this up, Milton. Kenya and you are in our prayers.