Here's the lowdown on the election in Kenya right now:
Dec 27th people went out to vote. Long lines but everything was okay. Raila was in the lead.
Dec 28th people were waiting for the election results, some were getting antsy. Raila still in the lead
Dec 29th riots started breaking out, downtown Nairobi was a ghost town (as I went through it to catch a bus). My ride to Mombasa was uneventful but there was heavy rioting in Kisumu, and some in Nairobi and Mombasa. Raila officially declared that there had been rigging and that his people had the correct tallies and that he had already won. Kibaki's party announced his victory as well. The ECK continued to wait Raila was in the lead
Dec 30th the ECK held an overnight meeting with delagates from all parties to tally votes. People started getting worked up anticipating Kibaki would be announced the winner. Around 4:30 ECK did just that saying Kibaki won by around 200,000 votes. Kibaki was immediatly sworn into office in a private ceremony. Kisumu, Kibera, Mathare, and many other places were looted and in flames. Raila declared that 2:00 the next day he would be sworn in at Uhuru Park and form a parallel government. Kibaki blacked out the media saying the TV and Radio stations could show no live feeds. He also said anyone at Uhuru park the next day would be arrested.
Dec 31st (today) there is still maddness and the Western Provence (ODM land) is a bit of a mess. Kibera is on fire and everyone was blocked from entering Uhuru park. Raila didn't even try and go. Kisumu is under a curfew. Supposivly 120 people have died. Also the UK and EU said if rigging is proved they will not recognize the government. There is no way the new students are coming in on the 2nd. I believe I will also be extending my stay on the coast as a train to Nairobi got turned around in Voi yesterday.
For the record I am okay and I am safe. I plan on staying that way. Don't worry but send me e-mails with any questions or call. I'll respond when I get the chance. I am fine.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Becca's Here!
One of my roomates from last year is currently visiting me here in lovely Nairobi which is really really exciting! The semester is final over and I'm hoping that I'll be able to fill in some gaps about what went on in the near future. I know I've missed out on telling you guys about a lot of things I've just been so busy. Hopefully next semester will be better. Keep your fingers crossed.
So the semester ended in a big endo-of-the-year party that was nice but not really what we were all looking for. It was everyone's bosses from their externships so it was mostly a night of everyone acting awkward around each other and their bosses. The next morning my first roomate left. That sucked. It didn't feel like the semester was really over until I turned around and she was already gone. Bu hao. Slowly everyone has been left. We would loose about one or two people a day until now there is only 4 of us in Nairobi and 3 in Malindi.
I've been having a good time showing Becca everything Nairobi has to offer and I think she's having a good time. Two highlights of the past week are hands down the animal orphanage and Lwanda. The animal orphanage was amazing!! So it started out kind of slow because all the animals are in cages which is kind of dissapointing considering i've seen most of them in the wild. (Am I a wildlife snob? maybe just a little. . . giraffs, zebras ::scoff:: been there seen that. . .) So we're walking around when we come up to the cheetahs. Scouts honor- cheetahs are probably the most beautiful creatures on earth. So two of my friends that I was going with had it in there mind that they were going to hold a baby cheetah. That didn't so much happen but they did say that we could go in and pet them. There were three females and they were so sweet. They kept licking two of the girl's hands. Cheetahs!! Needless to say we were all really excited as our guide took us around the rest of the park. Did we have to tip the guards who let us in to the cheetah enclosure. . . yes, but hey this is Kenya, and how many people can say they pet a cheetah. So yes he can keep the 50 shillings.
So we were walking around the park seeing everything and we got to the end. My two friends asked the guy about the baby cheetahs. He said we should go on the safari walk. We said no. We all stoof around awkwardly for a couple minutes then he said follow me but move quickly. We went to the middle of the orphanage and through a staff only gate. We passed by two cages with full sized lions before he brought us in a smaller building. There were a lot of small cages and he opened on and out came a baby lion!! He said we could hold it. It was so cute although I was freaking out a little bit while this was all going on. But I got to hold it!!! And there are pictures!!! After all this excitement our guide was like we need to go, move quickly. So we hustled out of the staff only area and back to the rest of the park. He said if anyone asked to tell them we were seeing the older lions. This is why I love Kenya.
The other event I mentioned before is Lwanda. Lwanda is a Kenyan musical written by Eric Wainaina. Eric is a big music personality here and two of the girls externed with him this past semester. So he wrote this musical Lwanda based of an old Luo tale. He updated it so now it takes place in a slum and Lwanda is a DJ. The show is about 40% English and 60% kiswahili and sheng (a slang of kiswahili). I didn't understand everything but it was still hilarious and amazing. The songs and singing was amazing. I think it could do well in the U.S. Their hoping to bring it there and I hope they suceed.
It was so amazing seeing and hearing the talent and after the second time I saw it (yes I saw it twice) I got to meet the cast which was great. Something about people with ridiculous voices and rhythm. . . we're just the littlest bit in love. So quick note about the two venues I saw the shows at because it's a little bit hilarious. The first on was at Aliance Frances which has a legit theater and all of that. Lwanda was showing as a double feature with, get this - Scrooge. When all those white children ran out on stage I almost had a heart attack. I don't think i've seen that much blonde hair and blue eyes since I've been here. It freaked me out. The second time I saw Lwanda it was behind a Shell. Literally it was behind a Shell gas station. A bit of a different crowd but just as good.
Okay I'm going to go but on a final note I'm off to Tanzania tomorrow. I'm really excited to see Kenya's neighbor and hopefully Becca and I can make it to Zanzibar. I hope everyone is doing well. You all should e-mail me. Could be nice :o)
So the semester ended in a big endo-of-the-year party that was nice but not really what we were all looking for. It was everyone's bosses from their externships so it was mostly a night of everyone acting awkward around each other and their bosses. The next morning my first roomate left. That sucked. It didn't feel like the semester was really over until I turned around and she was already gone. Bu hao. Slowly everyone has been left. We would loose about one or two people a day until now there is only 4 of us in Nairobi and 3 in Malindi.
I've been having a good time showing Becca everything Nairobi has to offer and I think she's having a good time. Two highlights of the past week are hands down the animal orphanage and Lwanda. The animal orphanage was amazing!! So it started out kind of slow because all the animals are in cages which is kind of dissapointing considering i've seen most of them in the wild. (Am I a wildlife snob? maybe just a little. . . giraffs, zebras ::scoff:: been there seen that. . .) So we're walking around when we come up to the cheetahs. Scouts honor- cheetahs are probably the most beautiful creatures on earth. So two of my friends that I was going with had it in there mind that they were going to hold a baby cheetah. That didn't so much happen but they did say that we could go in and pet them. There were three females and they were so sweet. They kept licking two of the girl's hands. Cheetahs!! Needless to say we were all really excited as our guide took us around the rest of the park. Did we have to tip the guards who let us in to the cheetah enclosure. . . yes, but hey this is Kenya, and how many people can say they pet a cheetah. So yes he can keep the 50 shillings.
So we were walking around the park seeing everything and we got to the end. My two friends asked the guy about the baby cheetahs. He said we should go on the safari walk. We said no. We all stoof around awkwardly for a couple minutes then he said follow me but move quickly. We went to the middle of the orphanage and through a staff only gate. We passed by two cages with full sized lions before he brought us in a smaller building. There were a lot of small cages and he opened on and out came a baby lion!! He said we could hold it. It was so cute although I was freaking out a little bit while this was all going on. But I got to hold it!!! And there are pictures!!! After all this excitement our guide was like we need to go, move quickly. So we hustled out of the staff only area and back to the rest of the park. He said if anyone asked to tell them we were seeing the older lions. This is why I love Kenya.
The other event I mentioned before is Lwanda. Lwanda is a Kenyan musical written by Eric Wainaina. Eric is a big music personality here and two of the girls externed with him this past semester. So he wrote this musical Lwanda based of an old Luo tale. He updated it so now it takes place in a slum and Lwanda is a DJ. The show is about 40% English and 60% kiswahili and sheng (a slang of kiswahili). I didn't understand everything but it was still hilarious and amazing. The songs and singing was amazing. I think it could do well in the U.S. Their hoping to bring it there and I hope they suceed.
It was so amazing seeing and hearing the talent and after the second time I saw it (yes I saw it twice) I got to meet the cast which was great. Something about people with ridiculous voices and rhythm. . . we're just the littlest bit in love. So quick note about the two venues I saw the shows at because it's a little bit hilarious. The first on was at Aliance Frances which has a legit theater and all of that. Lwanda was showing as a double feature with, get this - Scrooge. When all those white children ran out on stage I almost had a heart attack. I don't think i've seen that much blonde hair and blue eyes since I've been here. It freaked me out. The second time I saw Lwanda it was behind a Shell. Literally it was behind a Shell gas station. A bit of a different crowd but just as good.
Okay I'm going to go but on a final note I'm off to Tanzania tomorrow. I'm really excited to see Kenya's neighbor and hopefully Becca and I can make it to Zanzibar. I hope everyone is doing well. You all should e-mail me. Could be nice :o)
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sarakasi Video
I know I haven't gotten a chance to talk about it yet but I work for a performing arts development organization called Sarakasi (Kiswahili for Circus). The organization trains children in slums how to do dance, acrobatics and drumming. I will have more on it later because I'm working on starting a training center in one of the slums and I want to tell you all about it. In the mean time if you're interested we had an assignment to make a video about some aspect of Nairobi. I did Sarakasi.
The video is posted on YouTube under the name Sarakasi and the user name is bwanasindio (it means 'sir. really?' it's kind of a joke, don't worry about it). Anyways it is just a bunch of clips that I put together. It's really roughly done but it gives you a good picture of where I work and the environment there. If you get a chance check it out.
The video is posted on YouTube under the name Sarakasi and the user name is bwanasindio (it means 'sir. really?' it's kind of a joke, don't worry about it). Anyways it is just a bunch of clips that I put together. It's really roughly done but it gives you a good picture of where I work and the environment there. If you get a chance check it out.
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