lazy lie-in

Serving abroad, we get both local and American holidays off from work, though knowing that some countries go a bit overboard with celebrations, the State Department caps the number of total holiday days per year at twenty.

short, but slow

It took us most of this week to recover from the last weekend. In fact, the mere thought of going through our photos and reliving some of the tournament games was exhausting.

from the vault

The Foreign Service roller-coaster tends to rush from one crisis to the next, the workload at times threatening to overwhelm before suddenly dissipating into a lull. With the electoral commission declaring a victor in last week’s presidential vote by the slimmest of margins, and his main rival vowing to fight the decision in court, we’ve had a chance to catch our breath and focus on other things for a change while the whole country awaits the outcome of the court case.

democracy in action: Kenya’s election, part two

Monday was a long, exciting, exhausting, and eye-opening day. Voters old and young, across many demographic groups, came out en masse to make their voices heard through the ballot box.

Kenya’s election in photos, part one

It is not often that one has the opportunity to witness history being made. With international attention focused on Kenya’s March 4 elections, we welcomed the chance to form part of the election observation team.

business with a side of pleasure

In the morning, a thick, billowing mist blanketed the densely forested slopes of Mt. Marsabit, the extinct shield volcano that lends its name to one of Kenya’s largest and most sparsely populated counties. The soupy fog completely enveloped the rustic cabins of Marsabit Lodge, obscuring from view the picturesque clearing on which it sits. The tepid early morning light struggled to fight its way through the brume, but still managed to rouse D from his deep Sunday morning slumber, the first night of real rest he had enjoyed in a week during which consecutive 12-hour workdays melded into a continuous, frantic rush of last-minute pre-election preparations.

We both volunteered to serve as observers for Kenya’s first presidential election under its new constitution. S was assigned to cover a county in western Kenya. Because D had organized a work trip to Kenya’s remote northern lands in December, the election team decided to send him to Marsabit, a grueling ten-hour drive from Nairobi.

house guests

Arriving Sunday night, mere hours before Kenyans headed to the polls to vote in a new government, our latest visitor had to wait several days to actually see us, as we both left Nairobi to serve as election observers. The last presidential election in 2007 set off a three-months long wave of violence that left more than a thousand Kenyans dead and displaced half a million others. Yet, while international NGOs relocated staff out of Kenya and the State Department put out travel warnings about the potential dangers of coming here, Chris – who is doing a one-month long cardiology rotation in Nairobi to cap off his residency – decided that this was an opportune time for a visit.

Emmie had not yet grown accustomed to strangers when Courtney, one of our first visitors, spent a weekend with us two summers ago.

feeling overwhelmed

We are still grappling with the realization that we are leaving Nairobi soon, and reading the 30-page departure guide cover to cover certainly did not help.

messy democracy

Last week Kenyans went to the polls in the country’s much anticipated political party primaries. The rapidly approaching March 4 general elections will be Kenya’s first since the disputed 2007 presidential election plunged the country into horrific ethnic violence, leaving over a thousand people dead and displacing half a million others. The primaries were viewed by many as an important litmus test, a gauge of Kenya’s preparedness for peaceful, democratic transition.

vulnerability and strength

One of the most striking things about Kenya is the resilience of its people. This is no doubt true in most of the developing world, but it is no less remarkable for its ubiquity, especially when one is coming from a country characterized by #firstworldproblems.