Saturday Night in Kenya again

After a turbulent week, we are now having a quiet weekend. Praise God! Friday was marred with a number of deaths at the hands of police. However, some of these “peaceful” protests got out of control, as machete wielding mobs began to attack the police, who, in turn, used full force to dispel the crowds. Near the Massai Mara game reserve, a Kikuyu village and a Massai village attacked one another. I want to stress in all of this violence, it doesn’t appear to be political. In Nairobi, most of those participating are unemployed, frustrated and angry and simply spoiling for a fight. In the rural areas, tribal tensions have festered under the surface for years, and the election was the catalyst that has allowed them to explode.

All in all, however, the size of the protests has been dramatically smaller, less than 10 percent the size of the previous week’s, and the violence has been much more sporadic. This tells me that the people are growing weary of this nonsense and want to get their lives back to normal. I know we do.

I attended the meeting with the US Ambassador yesterday. Many sources believe the counting process and the reporting of results of the election were flawed on both sides. While the US recognizes the limitations and mistakes of both sides on this issue, our home country is neutral in its choice of who it would support – this is an important point that we wish more of the Kenyan community were made aware of. There is, it seems, always blame for the US in international matters. There are Kenyans who blame the US for supporting the opposition and encouraging the trouble. The Ambassador reiterated that they are simply interested in a peaceful resolution that is crafted by Kenyans. The US and other outside interests are merely here to support a process of reconciliation between parties in Kenya. They are not here to issue orders and tell Kenyans what must be done. As it stands now, both sides have shown interest in talking but have not acted toward that. The EU Parliament has recommended suspending aid from European countries to Kenya. The US does not agree that this is necessary at this time. The Ambassador is very positive that a peaceful, political settlement will occur. Just how that will be is anybody’s guess.

The opposition has said it will be switching tactics from demonstrations to boycotting certain businesses. These are businesses which are owned by those who are close to the current government. Time will tell what effect this has on the country. There is a delegation of former Presidents of African countries here in Kenya, and the opposition met with them yesterday. Kofi Annan is due to arrive in the country Tuesday. He is recovering from the flu.

While our children did attend a few hours of school today to get some extra instruction on a few things, we will be back to a regular schedule beginning Monday. We are praying that we can get back to “normal”. Of course, all events are subject to cancellation. One area of concern in our household is, of course, sports. Basketball is back on the calendar with two games scheduled for Horace’s team. We have not received word on the Middle School Model UN.

I suppose the question is, “What will “normal” look like for us?” If this political stalemate muddles through a solution over the next several months, then sporadic violence is possible, as all parties become frustrated. However, if a negotiated settlement is reached soon, all parties will once again be forced to live with one another. Please pray for true reconciliation amongst all Kenyans.

We will keep you posted about further developments here in Kenya.

May God bless all of you.

Horace