Saturday, January 5, 2008

The depressing situation continues .........

(This sign should actually read this Mzungu Chick has sharp edges. Do not touch the edges of this Chick!)


Reports from today are just incredibly depressing.

One of my staff lost a cousin who was only 12 years old and just went out to buy some milk for his mother and somehow got caught in some skirmishes and ended up with a stray bullet in his head.

I spoke to another fellow who had gone upcountry to vote and ended up stranded. He finally arrived back last night and was so very frightened. He couldn't stay up-country as although he is from the right tribe in the right area so he was relatively safe where he was and therefore his family is too, he says he couldn't stay there as his work is in Nairobi and there is no work where he is from. Without working and earning he has absolutely nothing for the family to live off. He had to risk his life to come back here and was on a bus with fellow tribesmen and they were warned that if they went through Naivasha town on their way back to Nairobi, they would be burnt alive in the bus. Anyway they ran the gauntlet, stayed on the highway, and thank god made it safely to Nairobi, but as you must have seen on the international news, not everyone has been so lucky.



I watched our local evening news this evening and cried in despair. It is absolutely shocking what these leaders have done to our fellow Kenyans. They spent millions of shillings on their campaigns and preached to the masses how they would make their lives better. All those who lived close to the poverty line were the ones who bought into all the ideals and voted for change and now, through the complete arrogance of our leaders, have been stripped of what little they had. They are now way below the poverty line and are homeless, hungry and only have the clothes they stand up in to wear. So how the hell did that improve their lives pray tell me.

The news showed men crying in shame when they were given handouts of food. They had fled from their homes and farms and left behind in the flames bumper harvests of food that could have kept themselves and their families for months and now they are standing in a queue in a field which they have no choice but to currently call 'home', to get something to eat for their families.



What i personally don't understand is how the main two contenders in this election contest really believed that we wouldn't have some form of rigging, and there is reports of it happening on both sides of the fence I might add. I'm not sure if any of you read my cynical blog on the 26th December - http://lostwhitekenyan.blogspot.com/2007/12/things-looking-little-tricky-here-on.html In that post I stupidly predicted a dodgy outcome, but it didn't for one minute cross my mind that it would come to this. Don't forget that we do live in what has been an incredibly corrupt country - although it was one of the most democratic in our region perhaps, it is still up there amongst the most corrupt. I completely understand that we want and deserve democracy but we will not get it this way surely. Killing each other cannot be the way forward.

I understand in Eldoret, which has been the scenes of the most horrific violence, some bright spark has evacuated all those from the Kikuyu tribe in this area for their own safety, but I want to know how it is that suddenly it is that tribe that has no rights to live in that area and yet others do. I think the real reason they are doing this is because the police realised they had lost control of the waring factions, and Eldoret is where the main oil pipeline comes into from the coast and it is from here that the petrol tankers all go to the Western areas of Kenya and more importantly other East African countries. This means they'd like peace here in a hurry so they can get on with supplying fuel around and about. I do understand the meaning behind this, but surely by moving one tribe out of the area is only a temporary solution and forced tribal divisions cannot be good in the long term.

Kenyans have co-existed for years in these various areas and how dare these leaders who have raped our country of millions and now live in peaceful large guarded estates now dictate to the masses who must live where.



Sorry about this post, I think I should shut up now and stop blatting everyone before i get blatted myself as I'm not sure that life is going to continue as free and fair as it has been for years now as I think we have just destroyed the last 50 years of our democracy in the last 5 days.

Please understand these are my personal thoughts of what is going on around us and they are probably written when I am in far too an emotional state to look at things rationally. I will go to bed now and hopefully wake up a little more rational tomorrow.

Goodnight all and please don't forget to stand up with us tomorrow and pray for peace!

8 comments:

belle said...

Don't appologise! You have nothing to appologies for. I think you're providing an invaluable insight for those of us too far away to really know what's happening. My heart breaks for you and your beautiful country. I visited there about fifteen years ago and fell in love with it. Incidently, you might like reading Bagdad Burning which is linked from my blog. Though I will be praying your situation is resolved far sooner than that one has.

Sleep well, and stay safe x

Peter Clothier said...

I'm glad to have stumbled on your blog. Here in the US, we have been watching news from Kenya with concern and distress. It gets to be so much more real, through, in your voice. Thanks for posting. I'll keep checking back in, and will certainly hold you in my thoughts.

Anonymous said...

you are right,hawa mapoliticians wameharibu kila kitu,but we hope everything is gonna be back normal soon. I got a name from Eastern Province but my ID is from the Rift.Quite tricky for me there!!. I dont understand why the wanasiasa think that they are the only ones who should lead,they have to be rais at any cost.Even a mjinga like me can reason that it is so easy to solve the stalemate by a re-run of the voting.thanks. Abdul kamau

Anonymous said...

I have just bumped onto this blog,its very interesting,not being too serious like the other kenyan blogs.You have got a wonderful sense of humor!.just realized that this blog is not on mashada.com blogs or connected to other kenya based blogs.. Anyway keep up the great job!

Anonymous said...

I really cannot take much more of this. After reading about the 12 year old at the top of your post, I just couldn't go on...

I still haven't heard from my friends there and this sitting and waiting and reading and sitting and waiting is beginning to really get to me.

I'm praying...I mean with all sincerity praying...that this will stop.

I recall the famous child custody story of King Solomon ruling that a child 2 women were fighting over be cut in half so as to satisfy both. One agreed, but the one that truly loved her child immediately gave up the fight and was ready to give custody to the other woman in order to spare her baby's life. These men cannot say that they love their country or their fellow countrymen and allow this to happen. The one that truly loves their people is the one that would immediately back down and say that it's just not worth it to rule a country at the cost of its destruction and innocent lives. Yes, politics are important. Yes, power in those politics is important. But in a democracy, that power is supposed to be on behalf of the greater good of the people. If it isn't benefiting the people, especially the tiniest and most helpless, what really is the point? Whether you think you're right and your opponent wrong, what's more important...the lives of innocent people or your pride in being right and having power?

Aaaagh! I'm so frustrated I can't even tell you!

Please, you're there, tell us what we can do. I'm in the U.S. and having been to Kenya and having friends there (details in my 1/5 comment on your 1/3 post on the Current Situation in Nairobi), I feel so helpless just sitting here. Besides prayer, what can any of us do to help those suffering there?

I'm on Blackberry too, so I'll get your message right away if you have any ideas or ways that we can help.

Thank you for these updates. Although difficult to read, I so appreciate bloggers, like yourself, taking the time to give us regular on the ground reports. Many blessings to you for doing this and may your strength in the face of this most difficult time be a comfort to you and to all those that you encourage.

~L.

Lamasa7@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Everyone seems ot be saying that a re-run of the election is the solution.

But seriously... why do people think things will be any better or any more fair in another election??

Don't they think they can easily be rigged again??!!

Anonymous said...

Oh Mzungu Chick, its heartbreaking; Kenya was the jewel in the East African crown and her people justifiably proud of huge achievements in the face of crappy leadership and appalling corruption, to be brought to their knees by arrogant megalomaniacs is unbearable. Please keep writing.

Mzungu Chick said...

Belle - thanks so much for your kind words. Funnily enough I did read the Baghdad Burning blog a while back and thought how awful it must be to have to leave your home under such circumstances. I never imagined for one minute that one day there would be people in Kenya who would end up in a similar predicament.

Peter - Thanks for checking in on us.

Abdul – Pole about your ID. In the current climate that isn’t too useful probably. I'm with Anonymous (comment of 6Jan at 8.11 - see above), I'm not sure a re-run of the election will solve this now and so many Kenyans seem to be so apathetic for the whole voting process at the moment, I’m not quite sure how many would turn out again.

Thanks to another Anon re: the sense of humour; we're most definitely trying our best to keep one!

Lamasa - thanks for thinking of us but I'm not sure there's anything you can do at this stage to help us apart from donating to our Red Cross at www.kenyaredcross.org

Memsahib - you're so right. It is totally heartbreaking.