obama day...

As amazing as it would have been to be in DC during the election, I have to say, Nairobi definitely did not let us down! We got invited to the American Ambassador’s Residence to watch the votes coming in, so we all got up at like 4 this morning, and took cabs over there. We needed our invitations and passports to get in and there was quite a bit of security, but almost 1,000 people ended up coming, so we were glad we got there early. Apparently a lot of the big people from parliament made an appearance, and although we didn’t actually get to see her, Wangari Maathai was there too. (She’s famous for winning a Nobel Peace Prize and being the first women in Africa to get her doctorate, and she started the Green Belt Movement, which has helped women’s groups to plant billions of trees all over the continent.)

Anyways, we watched the votes coming in till about 7:00 in the morning, when they announced that Obama was officially the new president-elect. I cannot begin to explain the energy in compound then, and when McCain and Obama gave their speeches; the Kenyans were excited that their brother was going to be leading America and we were excited to actually have something to be proud of in our country for once. Everyone was laughing and crying and excited (and tired)—just generally a crazy time.

After that the Ambassador made a speech and some Kenyan high school girls who had won a essay-writing contest read letters they had written to Obama. And then, a representative from the Kenyan government spoke briefly said that Kibaki, the president, had announced that tomorrow is an official holiday, in honor of Obama!

It’s been crazy being in Kenya for the election, firstly because in the US, the nation is split between Obama and McCain, but in Kenya, literally everyone is a fan of Obama. And secondly, it’s crazy because we’re so much more important here. We would never get invited to the home of an important dignitary to watch the elections in the US, and even walking down the street today, people are all cheering and excited and wanting to shake our hands. I’m not sure all the Kenyans we’re interacting with fully understand that having Obama as president is not going to dramatically change US foreign policy towards Africa, but it still is cool for them that someone whose father is from Kenya is going to be president of the US.