Mapendo Blog

Sasha in Nairobi - the crisis in Kenya

Wed, 27 Feb, 2008 00:00:00

Here’s a little about the current crisis in Kenya:

In 2002, Mwai Kibaki, the president who beat out Kenya’s 24-year ruler, Daniel Arap Moi, won because he put together a broad coalition that included many among Kenya’s 42 tribes. Kenyans appeared to be fed up with corruption and cronyism. An overwhelming majority voted for Kibaki because he represented change. They cheered him in and literally booed Moi out when the former president gave his farewell speech in Uhuru Park Stadium in 2002. I lived here then and remember the time well – this giddy feeling of optimism, freedom, self-determination, and choice. Kenyans had found their political voice and coaxed a fragile shoot of democracy from the ground. It felt good.

President Kibaki took over and in time alienated many people whom he had invited into his coalition to help him win, including Raila Odinga, a leader of one of Kenya’s largest tribes, the Luo, that backed Kibaki in 2002. The ill will Kibaki engendered has now come home to roost.

Raila ran against him in this election, using a similar message of inclusion that Kibaki used before. It worked and Raila garnered a huge amount of support. But when the tallying finished under uncertain circumstances on December 30th and Kibaki was quickly and dubiously sworn in for a second term, people protested violently (Neither side was free of criticism, not during this election or any other in Kenya’s history).

The ensuing mayhem finally brought both sides to the bargaining table. Kofi Annan arrived and pledged not to leave until resolutions could be found that would prevent further violence.

Last night I watched Kofi Annan say that he was suspending the negotiations due to a lack of will to move forward. He said that he would attempt to speak directly with Kibaki and Odinga instead of continuing on with their appointed negotiators.

In frustration, the opposition has called for renewed mass demonstrations this Thursday. The problem is that protests amount to generalized rioting, vandalism, ethnic division and violence, pitting opposition supporters against presidential supporters. These scenes mostly play out in impoverished areas and places where politicians preyed on ethnic sentiments and paid people to take up arms. Since the negotiations started, a sense of normalcy has returned to Nairobi, but that could end tomorrow. The sunny days and smiling faces here belie the fiery crossroads at which Kenya now stands.

Down one path you can see political compromise, economic reform and fair treatment among Kenya’s diverse people, or at least a roadmap promise of these things. There is peace here.

Down the other path you can see continued ethnic division, imports of deadly weapons, an escalation of fighting, homegrown vigilante “protection” groups culled from criminal elements of the impoverished masses. Imagine hordes of Tony Saprano’s lowest-rung thugs, militarized, ready to protect their own and equally ready to rob and kill their own when the time is right.

The situation is unpredictable. But, amidst the fear and uncertainty, there is also a tremendous optimism that Kenyans will find a peaceful way forward. Esther, our clinical officer, keeps looking me in the eye and saying, “everything will be OK, you’ll see. Kenyans don’t want to fight anymore.” There is conviction in her stare and tone.

If you’re interested in additional information, don’t take to heart everything you read in US newspapers. Check out Kenyan newspapers instead. Here are some links:

The East African Standard
Kenya’s Daily Nation

Click here to read an Op-Ed piece I wrote for the Boston Globe about Kenya

Sasha

Sasha in Nairobi - Early Morning

Wed, 20 Feb, 2008 00:00:00

I’ve been up for about four hours. The jetlag usually keeps me up most of the night for the first week. It’s not quite dawn. Nairobi is close to the equator so the sun rises and sets at precisely the same time throughout the year. It’s the quiet time before sunrise now. I hear the familiar songs of morning birds. And now another sound is breaking the morning silence – a kind of low chanting from many throats.

My first thought is of the mobs that tore through the streets during the post-election violence. But the chanting doesn’t sound violent, more like a calm singsong to keep a certain rhythm. Then there’s a shriek in the middle of the chant. If this were my first time in Kenya, such a high-pitched yell would have scared me. But I just smiled, recognizing it as a playful yyiiii yiiii of a Masai warrior that I’ve heard when watching Masai dances.

I looked out the window and saw a group jogging by. Maybe they are in the army. When I lived here I would go out for early-morning runs and often fall in with Kenyan runners in training. The first man I met one morning turned out to be a marathoner whose record was two hours and twelve minutes. He was hoping to get to Boston the following year. He slowed way down to run with me, but when he say goodbye, his long legs swept him away so fast it left me awed. 5-minute miles, I thought. I also met other runners who were in the army. Now the chanting has passed by and the bird songs have reclaimed the pre-dawn morning.

Sasha

Sasha in Nairobi - John

Mon, 18 Feb, 2008 00:00:00

I saw John today, one of the refugees we are assisting. He has the most winning smile. John fled from Congo many years ago, and has lived in Nairobi since 2000. He was threatened in the refugee camp due to his ethnicity and fled back to Nairobi. He’s had to sleep in the streets at times.

John had this terrible nasal congestion problem that kept him up at night and in pain for a few years. One of the biggest problems he, along with so many other refugees, face in Nairobi is lack of access to medical care. Refugees are double or quadruple charged as foreigners when they go to hospitals, and yet they don’t even have the money to pay local rates. John needed surgery for his nasal problem, but couldn’t afford it.

We found a donor to pay the money for the surgery. When this donor couple came to Kenya, John met them, shook their hands so vigorously and pronounced on the spot that they were his new father and mother.

He still doesn’t have a permanent home, but he was pumping my hand as vigorously as ever and smiling away today. Even though he had to stay inside for many days during the election violence, things are OK for him now in Nairobi, better than OK. He will most likely come to the US sometime soon...

Sasha

Sasha Chanoff - Editorial in Boston Globe

Tue, 05 Feb, 2008 00:00:00

Sasha Chanoff, Mapendo's Executive Director, published an Op-Ed in the Boston Globe recently, discussing the media portrayal of the Kenyan violence. Read it here.

Making sense of Chad

Mon, 04 Feb, 2008 00:00:00

The African scholar and writer Alex de Waal discusses the current situation in Chad here.

Back to the blog...

Mon, 04 Feb, 2008 00:00:00

Hi readers,

Apologies for not posting in so long, there's really no excuse for it - as you know, some of our work is too sensitive to write about on a public website, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be posting more news given the serious situations in Kenya and other places Mapendo is currently working.

So, let me direct your attention to a very interesting debate about the benefits of U.S. activism in the current Darfur crisis. Find a letter by Jeff Weintraub to Alex de Waal here, and Mr. de Waal's response here.

Links on Kenya news soon...

all the best,

matt

Tales from Kenya - Part 8

Sun, 08 Jul, 2007 00:00:00

[Click here to begin at Tales from Kenya - Part 1]

This world is crazy. Crazier than even I thought. It makes me hope for small changes because big ones seem too optimistic. But the world is changed I guess for the few people we can help through Mapendo and Millennium Promise and that is their entire world, so I guess that is all you can, keep working at it
I don't know, I've never had a problem finding meaning in this world. Peace has been harder.

I lost that meaning for a while when I painted myself into a corner of sterile board work. Its not that my causes weren't worthy -- it’s that I couldn't get my hands dirty, which is what makes me happy. Too busy choosing between salmon or chicken for lunch menus and the right shade of ivory for invitations.

I need to be an active part of making a difference, not simply writing a check. Checks are needed too and God bless those who do that because it is the fuel that makes it all happen. I am not putting myself above them, just differentiating my style of activism.

I have felt a shift from this eye opening trip. I feel like I found religion. I could live part time here some day. A second, third, fourth home. Not now. But I want to be here a lot. I want you here with me, in the trenches, getting your hands dirty and knowing the incredibly blessed feeling of helping someone in the moment while knowing the ultimate goal is relocation to a safe place. It is both a short term and long term fix. Can't be better.

I love Mapendo's work. The goal of our "refugee hospital" is, believe it or not, groundbreaking. There isn't one. We also want to buy a few mobile units to go directly to the people for basic care, screenings, inoculations etc.

I feel a part of it. Tomorrow I will be back in the clinic and I can't wait. I will bring a big bag of oranges to cut up and put out on plates. The people that come in are so hungry and this is a blessing and welcome to them, and a cup of clean water.

-Lorna

Tales from Kenya - Part 7

Sat, 07 Jul, 2007 00:00:00

The Mapendo clinic, once again.

We went on a site visit in the Kangemi slums. This is the story of a Congolese woman and her six children.

They all live in one damp room about the size of a walk-in closet. They have one thin mattress for all of them. The room smelled like kerosene and mold.

The children ranged from 7 to 22. She fled the Congo to a camp in Rwanda and there her husband died. She was then passed to the husband's brother, as is tradition, and had her two youngest. While they were there, her oldest son got sick and had to go to the hospital where he became very sick because of a blood transfusion or a dirty needle. They were devastated.

They then fled to Uganda and eventually Nairobi this past February. He wasn't getting medical care and was weak. At the UNHCR they were rejected so they slept there outside the building for two weeks. Her oldest daughter was attacked and now needs medical attention. A beautiful sweet girl. The UNHCR finally gave them status but no assistance. They told them to go back to the camp. They couldn't.

Now they live in the slums and Mapendo has begun to advocate for them. We brought them food and clothes.

They told me there was a school but you had to have uniforms or you can't attend. I am buying them uniforms so the kids can study and have something to do.

We all cried and then prayed together before I left. They are strong Catholics.

-Lorna

Tales from Kenya - Part 8

Tales from Kenya - Part 6

Fri, 06 Jul, 2007 00:00:00

I took the day to travel to see Karen Blixen’s house in the suburbs of Nairobi. When she built it the house was considered very far from town. So this is where her love affair with Africa started.

A beautiful house, a big porch, a nice garden. I saw the original coffee roaster she used. Where the coffee plants once grew, now a jungle of brush lived. She said in her book it all wants to go wild again and she was right.

Every world traveler must bring home local art and jewelry and trinkets to their family and friends at home living vicariously through you. I went to the Masaii market where I bought beautiful beaded bracelets, earring, hand woven textiles and other things. My iPod was a big hit among the Masaii and everyone wanted to hear the music. Most requested artist, Bob Marley.

-Lorna

Tales from Kenya - Part 7

Tales from Kenya - Part 5

Thu, 05 Jul, 2007 00:00:00

Very early this morning we went to the Kenya National Park for our quick safari, which really just means journey. The Park is a huge reserve of land just 20 minutes out of Nairobi. You can see the tall buildings of the city in the distance, so it is surreal because you are at the same time driving among giraffes, rhinos, gazelle and yes, lions.

I met a lion and stared him in the eye. It was a moment I will never forget.
We had just about the best half day adventure you could have.

Five minutes in to the park we turned the corner and in the road was a Masai Giraffe. They have different markings than the ones we see in the zoo. He stood there and ignored us as he ate his leaves. So close I could hear him snort and breathe. Seeing one in the wild makes you look at the animal differently. They are so interesting. These long necks, horns, the markings. What made them over hundreds of millions of years becomes this amazing animal.

Driving in the plains area, we had started in the bush; we saw a mother rhino and her baby. They were a bit far away but with binoculars we watched them forever. It was hard not to as they were so sweet together, the mother keeping a watchful eye on her baby and he looked so small -- which he was certainly not.

Back to the bush and my lion who awaited me. A few cars had stopped and they were all looking at a lion and lioness in the distance. Close enough to see well without binoculars but not that close. We move on and they moved on. Driving around the bend on a narrow grassy lane I spied the lion in the tall grass.

We stopped the car and turned off the engine. The windows were down. We watched him watch us from the grass, 12 feet away. I was on the passenger side, which is the left as they have British cars here. The lion was on the right of the car. I stood on my seat and stood up out of the car, looking over the roof and took a picture. He just stared at us. I went to take another one, hanging out of the car. Then he stood up fast and stared me right in the eye. I suppose he would not go for us in the car and couldn't really jump in -- and I was on the other side -- but he was so damn close. We stared at each other for a few seconds before I began to think of how fast they move and I got back in, fast! He made this low, frightenly guttural growl that made the hairs on my neck stand up and walked away.

I was shaking. Surely we were safe but the adrenalin, staring a lion in the eye from 12 feet not behind a cage.

Ah, then we ran in to a bunch of gazelles grazing. When they ran it was spectacular, they don't run as much as jump away.

More giraffe, the other kind. A baby giraffe. A bunch of them. We also saw beautiful guinea fowls and these big birds with amazing colors and plumage on their heads that looked like a fountain of yellow spraying up.

When we left we went to the elephant orphanage. The baby elephants were adorable. Rescued from the wild when their mothers died from attack or by poachers seeking their ivory tusks. There was this little one who was so mischievous I got to pet him and he wanted to play. These babies weigh 300 pounds!

Next, the orphan zoo. Warthogs, monkeys, hyenas, jackals, ostriches, lions, leopards...and I went in to the cheetahs' caged area and pet them. Yes! They were raised in captivity so they were tame I guess. They like having their ears scratched like cats. I kept staring at their claws but I guess the people knew what they were doing.

-Lorna

Tales from Kenya - Part 6