Going to the Largest Barak Obama Party: Kenya!
We are all celebrating Barack Hussein Obama II
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Last night in a Seattle airport bar, I learned we would have the son of an immigrant as our next president. I have never slept better on a redeye flight. While I dozed in happiness on the way home to DC, joy and relief passed through the hearts of the world.
We just proved the American Dream is alive – anyone can be President. And even though I missed the epic Election Day parties here in DC, I’m headed to the biggest Barak Obama party ever – Kenya. The country is in a fit of ecstatic delight. The son of a Kenyan, President of America. I am crying as I type this, overwhelmed with pride in my country. I cannot even imagine what a beacon of hope Obama brings to Kenya. I do know that tomorrow, Thursday, was already declared a national holiday and I bet that by the time I arrive on Sunday, the country will still be in the midst of the party. A party similar to the first time I went to Kenya. In January 2003, Kenya had just elected Mwai Kibaki after decades of Daniel arap Moi, and the country could not contain its joy. Then too change was the order of the day. Bribes, lawlessness, and governmental dysfunction we all out. A new wave of social change and business growth followed, creating an East African powerhouse that led the continent. Then, in January of this year, that miracle became a nightmare with ethnic bloodshed after the disputed Kibaki/Odinga elections. With racial tensions still raw in Kenya, America offers yet another American Dream. An election, fought hard, yet won and lost with honor, leading to a peaceful governmental transition. This whole other American Dream is just as powerful as the dream that any child can be President. This dream makes me cry yet again. No matter our party or our vote, we are all red, white, and blue the day after – Americans true and through. Thank you America. |
Hi, Wayan!
We too are ecstatic over Obama’s election!!!!!!!!!!! I am sad about the fact that his Grandmother did not live to see him elected after all she had done to raise him. I am sure that makes his victory a little bitter sweet.
There is hope. Too long have we hoped for hope. The work begins.
We hope.
You’re not alone, comrade. Obama’s win has me crying, too. Maybe for a slightly different reason, though.
Thank you, America(ns)!! Gratitude on this side of the Atlantic is immense.
Best wishes – to you, to America, and to the rest of us,
Wayan,
It is rare to see so many people moved to tears in one spot. My favorite was my friend Jim–6’3″, and bawling like a baby because he was so happy that things were hopefully going to change. The thing I thought was the best was how many people in DC randomly decided to got o the White House after the announcement. The blocked off road in front of it was filled with people. At the end of the night, as I tried to go home, the whole town sounded like, as a co-worker put it “the streets of Brazil after winning the World Cup.”
I have heard numerous people comment that they feel like they can be proud to be American again after several years of what they felt was a slippery slope heading towards many things that America is not about. But another person I was talking to indicated something important also: this was one of the first elections in several years where no one felt that there was shady business going on at the polls.
We have a big climb ahead of us, with many issues. But, with cooperation and luck, we are going to pull out of this stronger.
What insane mileage accumulation drive are you on that has you going through Seattle to get to Nairobi?
We went down to the White House at 2am to participate in the merriment. What a feeling!
Well said Belly Button Window man, well said!
Yes we Can!!!
yeah !!! well done :)))
A very emotional account, indeed. Now that the wave of a voracious and equally the most needed change is gripping the world like never before, all I have to say is, yes, this is a glaring proof that Africans too can shake the world.

The election signified protest votes by Americans against the eight-year administration of President George Bush and its political, social, foreign and economic misadventure. It does not mean that the Americans have suddenly become colour blind. That will be a simplistic analysis of the issue. It is just that they are protesting the eight-year rule of Bush, which has left the American economy prostrate.
There is also the class war in the American society, between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. The working class saw Obama as representing their cause and so voted massively for him. So, it doesn’t not mean that Rev. Martin Luther King’s dream has come to pass yet. Racism is still well and alive in the United States just as it is in Europe and elsewhere. Obama’s win in the US presidential election should not be misconstrued that every American whites have come to accept blacks into political leadership.
The real lesson Africans can learn from the American experience is that people were not bribed to vote and that the election was not rigged. But they themselves contributed money to fund the campaign of the candidate in order for him to come and serve them.Here in Africa, it is opposite. The African politicians will bribe the people who themselves often expect to be given money in order to vote of any candidate.
Partying or parties in Kenya or celebrations in Nairobi, Nanyuki, Mombasa, Pretoria, Lagos and elsewhere means nothing if the core lesson is misunderstood.
July 2 – 22 our group of eight delivered six XO systems in Kenya to a primary school where a larger group of around twenty people plan to return July, 2009, for a full month. I myself have been to Kenya seven times 1980 – 2008. We have a twenty-year partnership with an Educational Centre in Central Province.