So I've hear from several of you concerned about me and the violence in Kenya, and I figure there are probably others who haven't called, so here's the latest: I am still in the States, though I am planning to travel home to East Africa starting tomorrow.
Obviously I'm new to Kenyan politics, so remember that I've got pretty minimal understanding, but here's what I've heard. The violence is a response to the extremely close elections held right after Christmas. Each candidate got about 50% of the vote (approx 51/49 split according to CNN). Corruption is a major issue in Kenya, so it's not much of a stretch to figure that one or both sides were working to fix the election. Of course the losing side is making those accusations loudly, and election violence is as old as elections in Kenya. The tighter the race, the bigger the fallout. So there is looting and rioting, and the reported death toll is about 230 as of right now (up from 140 when I checked last night). The violence seems focused primarily in Nairobi, and there are rumors of a major rally scheduled for Thursday. I've heard there's a ban on live television broadcasts and a curfew in place. Over on the side of town where I live, things are pretty quiet. Supplies are running a bit low and various utilities are more spotty than usual, but that's it.
My flight is scheduled to arrive in Nairobi Thursday night after dark; I'd made arrangements with some coworkers to pick me up at the airport. I don't know enough about the curfews or the geography of Nairobi to know if that will be a problem, and I can't seem to decipher it from the State Department website. A friend of mine was discussing my arrival with a school administrator, and he said he thought everything would probably be fine, but he suggested that I look into delaying my arrival by a day or two so I'm not coming in immediately after the rally. Unfortunately, that cost about $400 more than I could afford. A lot could change in the next day and a half, so we'll see.
Please pray, not only for my safety, but for shalom in Kenya. I know God desires peace, unity, and justice, and there is great need for those in Nairobi right now. I also know God is fully capable of protecting me and those coming to get me, and I trust that He will either provide the money to change my flight or protect me as I travel during that time.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
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- Jessielynn
- Nairobi, Kenya
4 comments:
So the story gets better- after deciding the change in tickets was too expensive, my parents and I continued to read the news and the embassy advisories. My dad agreed it was important to change my flights, so I called again, but still ended up not making the change that time because there were additional complications. However, my phone call had providentially overflowed to the supervisor's desk, and she looked for "event waivers," bulletins that the airlines put out to allow people to waive change fees due to uncontrollable circumstances. She put in a note to the people who write such things to consider the situation in Nairobi. So when I called back 2 hours later, the person answering my call put me on hold for a long time, and then changed the fee from $530 to $15. Praise God! So now I'm leaving on Thursday, Lord willing, and not arriving immediately after a rally. My mom's not complaining about an extra 24 hours with her daughter, either...
Wow! God presciently answered the prayer I was going to pray had I read your blog 2 hours earlier! It is unimaginably wonderful when He so lovingly answers our prayers. I will continue to pray for your safety as well as well as thank Him for the prayers He answers before we are even aware we need to pray them.
O.K. Mrs. Gacs It's Brandon M. from seventh grade(of course I'm in 8th grade now)
JEEZE that's a bad sitution, it's like your stuck between a rock and a hard place; but I always have a solution: on my trip to NY I had an hour layover in (gulp) Chicago. A 13-almost 14 year old alone in a chicago air port, this was my first year flying without any help from the airport staff. despite everybody telling me to be careful and not take anything for granted, and telling me all the bad things that could happen when I arrived I found my flight sat down and called my cousin ashley so she could tell me It would be ok. I hung up, calmed myself down prayed my flight wouldn't be canceled (there was A LOT of fog that night and the day before many flights were canceled) and guess what! nobody tried to kid-nap me, steal my stuff oir my ever-important backpack, not even try to talk to me! My flight wasn't canceled either. So when in a fix really all you need is to tell yorself (if there's not someone lese to do it) "it's going to be O.K." calm down, and just convince yor self that you'll make it and, i'm sure that whatever destination, or situation, you were panning to reach, if you keep a good-state-of-mind, you will get there with no trouble at all but don't let your hopes all the way up and take those things for granted because those things are extremely important and losing them would crush any plans you had (I learned my lesson last year on X-mas, but that's another story...) so Mrs. Gacs I wish you more luck then you could fathom and I hope i've helped maybe a little, maybe eventually I'll see you sometime. Well goodluck.
P.S. You relly helped me with math last year and this year! it's so easy :D -YAY-
New improved travel time and route is tentatively Saturday/Sunday, going from DC to Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi. Seems like "wait and see" basically summarizes these past 2 months...!
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