Let it rain… 

The road that leads to my house is narrow one, filled with hundreds of potholes, there is even some residue of tarmac left over from better days, but mostly potholes in which fresh puddles form every time it rains…and more important…the road leading to my place is ever changing…after every rainfall you have to find a new way to navigate up and down that hill since the rains reshape the road.  There is lots of traffic from mini-vans or so called taxis that is the main form of transportation for most Ugandans…one has to pull over so that someone can drive by you…besides there are the ever un-predictable boda-bodas (motorcycles) which is a fast transport around town.  Africa’s rains are unpredictable in that they do not just affect a side road like mine, but can change major routes in a half an hour.  I have seen 20 meters of tarmac simply disappear only to find a hole and engineers trying to figure out how to repair the damage quickly until the next rain. 

A few days before the commonwealth meetings and the queen of England’s arrival we had a particularly wild rainstorm in which five people perished and countless of homes were damaged; the rains in Africa are simply unpredictable.

Yet, East Africa has enjoyed a lot of sunshine in the last few years, though portions of Uganda had extreme flooding that visited certain districts destroying crops, whole villages, bridges and more. All in all things have been calm here, the Lord’s Resistance Army has been holding peace talks in South Sudan at Juba and there have been no raids on the villages of Northern Uganda.  Kenya was headed toward economic independence and had a lot of economic growth under President Mwai Kibaki; Tanzania was enjoying national unity, with the occasional rumble from Zanzibar.

Just before New Year’s on the 27^th of December 2007 it rained in Kenya.  It was Election Day and everyone thought that the populist opposition leader Raila Odinga was going to win over reigning president Mwai Kibaki.  The Luo ethnic community was beginning to celebrate when the hard African rain came and changed the landscape of Kenya for a long time to come. Kenya, that country in a region plagued by chaos and brutal governments projected itself to the world as an island of stability, an island of economic growth and success, all changed as the harsh rains came on Election Day and the days following. Literally opening a rift valley of Kenya’s heart, far beyond the one that has attracted thousands with its natural wonder and beauty, this was a washing away of surface tranquility opening festering sores that divided Kenyans from Kenyans.  You can call it tribal as most due, while others call it economic, nevertheless the division is and was real.

Kenya has always stereo typed people from different tribes unlike Uganda where the division are more the lines of regions and of economic class.  In Kenya the middle class and the upper class came mostly from the Kikuyu tribe while the huge Ghettos such as Kibera with its over 800 thousand to a million residents lived in poverty, looking into a Kenya in which they felt disenfranchised, in which just getting their daily bread was a chore and often impossible.

Periodically the rains came that opened old wounds amongst the people of Kenya.  The rift valley of the 90’s standing out most prominently.  Thousands were affected, lives ruined and forever changed.  Homes burned, looted, people killed and maimed all because of deep hatred and feelings that someone had taken one’s rights and lands.

The rains in those days bared deep wounds and feelings that at the end of the last year were opened once again.  Neighbors killing, chasing away neighbors from land on which they had lived for generations.

Recently even churches where burned in various places, in some cases such as El Doret with people inside killing 30 people of Kikuyu background who lived in that region on land which in many cases had been bought after independence but their neighbors felt that it was not rightfully theirs and that they should be removed in one way or another.

The election results were denounced by the European Union teams of observers.  The USA did a turnaround after first accepting the results but took a hasty retreat as evidence showed voter turnouts that far exceeded the number of registered voters in a certain district, election results seem to have been inflated in favor of Mwai Kibaki.  He was hastily sworn in a low key ceremony and the down pour of the rain of hatred and the feelings that the election had been rigged poured out into more violence.  650 plus people have lost their lives in various parts of the country.  Police ran amok at times killing people who were simply protesting shooting live ammunition into groups of demonstrators.

The violence is Kenyan against Kenyan…the impoverished members of the opposition who are behind Raila Odinga and then there is the Mungiki gang, a semi-quasi religious group, that does a lot of terrorizing and not too much religion…Kenya is aflame, and not only is Kenya in an uproar, surrounding land locked nations cannot get goods to market to the Port of Mombasa and fuel became non-existent in places such as Uganda.

Just a few weeks ago, tourists were still arriving in great numbers.  As they would reach their place of stay a band would most often play the song “Hakuna Matata.” Don’t worry… you are in for the time of your life in Kenya, so Bwana, sit back and relax, have a pleasant drink, a meal, enjoy the Safari, your journey.  No longer can you hear the catchy tune, and no longer is there talk about harambee, the pulling together of the people of Kenya.  Raila Odinga’s forces are in the streets, a second generation politician whose father was also an instrumental force in the political life of the country.  Mwai Kibaki was holding on and is holding on to power…Peaceful turn-over of power are still a rarity in Africa. 

The economy is moving toward shambles, the tourism trade has virtually come to a stand still; economic aid by foreign nations is being discussed and put on hold.  The beloved country of Kenya that given me personally much joy, has shown me its best side, is hemorrhaging to death, while wealthy men on all sides are posturing to hold on or to gain. 

Even sensible people from Mwai Kibaki’s tribe are calling for some solutions since they see their business hurting, they see what is happening to the country due to economic injustice, due to divisions between Kenyans and they too want change, as do the mothers in places such as Kisumu that has been devastated, Mombasa where the hotels are opening quicker than you can heat a cup of tea. 

In the meantime, power brokers from Mr. Anan to Bishop Tutu have been involved.  Koffi Annan had the flue and that took some time…but then his track records with conflicts in Africa is questionable, all one has to consider his actions or rather inactions in Rwanda in 1994.  President Museveni is flying into Kenya momentarily, but then he congratulated Mwai Kibaki the moment he was sworn in, I just hope that the grandfather of African harmony between people of all types would come on the scene, Nelson Mandela. 

It is raining hard in Kenya and the landscape has changed drastically for some time to come…one used to joke about the city of Nairobbery, that was one thing, one used to laugh at the police stops that claimed to have caught you speeding and saw you, a westerner as a giving unit to their well being.  This is beyond all the scandals that have rocked the Kenyan community, this about Kenya dying. 

What can be confusing is this…I have never met an atheist in Kenya, not even an agnostic; there are million of born against in East Africa.  American Evangelist hold rallies that attract hundreds of thousands.  The Muslim community is Kenya is thriving and growing, especially in the coastal region and yet when it comes down to it all, where today is God in the men and women of Kenya.  I am sure that blood has been shed by brother against brother in Kenya where churches were burned in various places.  A prayer meeting for the peace of Kenya was just held in Kampala, Uganda.  The violence has even spilled over into refugee camps in Uganda where people from various tribes continue what is taking place inside of Kenya. 

I have sat down with ministers when I used to live in Kenya, most notably, Bishop Birech of the African Inland Church who told me that Kenya was different that in Kenya God reigned.  But now, it is pouring in Kenya, the rains are falling hard, the landscape has changed and the reign of God amongst his people has been sidelined for hatred, revenge and personal reasons. 

It is my prayer that the reign of God would replace the violent rains of man and may God in his mercy heal the beloved land of Kenya…let it reign…jon 

Recommendation regarding Travel into Kenya in January – February of 2008: