Obama Day!

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I had been waiting for this day for two years. No, I have been weighed down under complete anticipation of this momentous day for eight long years! It was finally here and I had reached the culmination of my East African vacation, Election Day in Nairobi Kenya. We started the day off taking a matatu from Moshi to Arusha Tanzania. The previous night was spent at a school Emerald had worked at two years earlier at the foot of Kilimanjaro with spectacular views of the mountain. She wanted to surprise the kids so when she showed up they were overjoyed to see her. The school has a couple hundred students but houses thirty or so children who are blind, have albinism, or other sun-related diseases.
In Arusha we grabbed lunch in the shade of a garden on the outskirts of town with friends. We only passed through town to get to and from the bus park, but I was less then impressed with the city. While it is an economic center for East African trade as well as the location of the on-going Rwanda genocide trials, there wasn’t much else to see and it is impossible to avoid being hassled by street venders selling everything from watches to safaris.
Once on the road the views of the Masai countryside are downright stunning. I have to admit I was a bit surprised to see Masai cow herders in traditional robe. I had always assumed that like many other beautiful customary dresses of tribes in Africa, the Masai had abandoned the garb and saved it only for the tourist. This is simply not so. I must have seen one-hundred-and-one amazing shots I wish I could have captured with my camera but it was simply an impossible endeavor from the moving vehicle. I thought how I would like to one-day hike or bike the section of road between Arusha and Namanga.
After seven dusty hours on the small shuttle flying across the eastern edge of the Serengeti we finally reached the periphery of Nairobi only to find an extremely dense traffic jam. It was agonizing torture to know we were so close to Capitol but had to wait patiently for another hour to reach our destination. Once inside the city we were giddy to see a giant television screen billboard displaying the images of Kenya’s favorite son Barack Obama propped above a city center round-about.
At the bus stop we grabbed a cab to an area with several cheap hotels to give ourselves a couple different options. It was the best part of town, but we thought it would do. Disappointed with the first option we moved down the street to the Africana Guest House. It wasn’t great either but it figured it would work. We were happy to see a group of people had already converged on the television in the lounge to watch pre-election commentary. We dropped off our bags, watched a few minutes of CNN, set the alarm and then went to bed in hopes of getting a few hours of sleep since we knew it would be a long night.
At three A.M. we woke, got dressed and headed outside to find a cab. We had heard there was an election watching party at a famous restaurant called Carnivore and so we set out to find it. Not two minutes outside the door our decision was immediately called into question when a man came stumbling toward us in the opposite direction propped up by two friends under each arm. The front of his shirt and pants were soaked in blood but he seemed too drunk to be concerned. Clearly this man had had a pretty rough night. Sufficiently creeped-out, we ducked into the nearest taxi.
When we finally arrived at the restaurant, which was conveniently located on the opposite side of town, we were informed that the party had ended and the outdoor screen lowered when everyone realized that the results would not come in at 3am but rather 6:30am. How anyone could have organized (and advertised) a party like this without actually checking the time was beyond us. Extremely disappointed with the set of circumstances, but even more so, disappointed with everyone’s unwillingness to stay up a few more hours we headed back to the hotel to watch the results.
At first it was just a small group but as it got later in the morning more and more people came out of their rooms to watch. By 6am it was a ragtag mixture of bazungu, Kenyan businessmen, and hotel cleaning staff. It wasn’t exactly the place we had imagined watching the results come in but it turned out to be loads of fun. After Obama had secured Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida he had 207 electoral votes. A wave of excitement washed over me when I realized we had just clinched the election. 60 electoral votes were guaranteed from California, which means we only needed three votes from any other state, and I was pretty confident Hawaii wasn’t voting for McCain. We just needed the polls on the West Coast to close for CNN to call the election. I, of course, started crying and then when they made the announcement and whole room erupted in cheers. We all leapt to our feet jumping up and down and hugging each other. Not a pair of eyes in the room were dry. Outside we could hear the rest of the city celebrating as Matatus laid on their horns.
The cheering didn’t end until McCain came out to give his concession speech. After which, the Kenyans graciously gave the Senator praise for his words. Then we all prepared for Obama’s speech, but just as he was about to step out on stage the sound cut out. Three people grabbed for the remote control but nothing happened when they pressed mute on and off. Frantic, Emerald, Julia and I ran to a tiny television on the floor above us. We were damned if we were going to miss Obama’s victory speech. Yet, the station was muted on that TV too, so we changed the channel and realized that any of the other stations that was picking up CNN had sound. So, we turned around and started running back downstairs to the big television just as rest of the group was vaulting up the stairs to join us. We fly by the group yelling, “its just the channel, its just the channel!” They all turn around and follow us back to the first TV. We find another station just as Barack stepped up to his podium, a second before he began.
Again, the tears flowed as Obama thanked everyone and set the tone of his soon to be presidency. It was an amazing time and one I knew I would remember it for the rest of my life. When the speech was done I continued watching trying in vain to see the Minnesota Senate race results but gave up and went downstairs in search of breakfast. Afterwards we all promptly went back to bed for some sorely needed sleep.
Later in the day we joined one of our election-watching friends for tea. Solomon, a Kenyan business consultant, was very curious about our take, as young Americans, on the historic election in the U.S. We, of course, were more then happy to share our enthusiasm for Obama and his proposed policies. We were then able to get his perspective on the election violence last December in Kenya. All-and-all it was an incredibly informative conversation for the four of us (I hope).
Over the day I must have had several similar conversations with other Nairobians, all eager to share their feelings about my now President Elect. The consensus among them was that they believed Obama would bring real change to global politics. At the same time, everyone of them were quick to admit that they didn’t think he would do anything special for his fathers country. They seemed realistic about the fact that he would still pursue policies that were in the U.S.’s best interest but still their excitement remained. It was even impossible to walk down the street without getting a dozen “OBAMA!” shouts at the sight of my Barack T-shirt.
In the evening we headed to a bar called Havana on Janis’s recommendation. In response to the Obama’s victory the Kenyan Government had announced that the following day would be a national Holiday. As a result everyone and their mothers were out to celebrate on Obama Day Eve. After a few drinks we moved on to a club called Gypsy, where we proceeded to dance the night away.
The following morning we woke at 5:30 to make a 15-hour bus ride to Kampala. I was disappointed I wasn’t going to spend more time in Nairobi. It would have been fun to explore the city some more but we had to be in Kampala that night for Julia’s flight early the next morning. Although driving across Southern Kenya on Obama Day presented its own opportunities. In every town we passed through we saw a plethora of American flags hanging from windows and storefronts. It was a sight I would have never thought I would see. It was a sight that caused me to beam with pride for my country as never before. Happy Obama Day indeed.

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Photos

Having Fun
Playing at the school for blind in Moshi

Anticipation
Waiting for the election results to come in

Election Party
the gang

Sleeping
Us, passed out on the 15 hour bus ride back from Nairobi

Comments

[Bill]

this may be of interest Obama-Day.org - just for you
I agree it is a momentous day. It shows the world that after 4 years of bushes rules. The American people can dismantle the old boys club. It shows that America is forward looking and ready for the new millenium. http://www.obama-day.org - "the day when a nation turned from it's old ideas"