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Published: February 5th 2008
Escaped!
Here is Suzy, arriving from Kenya (from Kisumu to Nairobi to Kampala to Mbale)!On Wednesday last week, our friend and colleague at GWU was forced to flee from Kisumu, Kenya to Uganda. The escalating violence following the election there has now spread into general tribal warfare between the Kikuyu and the Luo people. The President, Kibaki, is Kikuyu, while the opposition leader, Reila Odinga, is Luo. According to one friend, the issue of circumcision underlies the conflict, as the Kikuyu and most tribes in Kenya circumcise, while the Luo do not. The Luo are seen as unfit to lead the country, since you are not a man if you are not circumsized. The violence includes burning people in their homes, shooting with bows and arrows (see photo), and terrible machete deaths. Apparently regular Kenyans do not own many guns. Suzy says that there is no way a political reconciliation would stop the violence - it has spread too far - each side in the struggle will not accept their leaders’ making concessions.
So, Suzy had to evacuate from Kisumu to Nairobi, then on to Entebbe, Uganda. After two days in Kampala, she got a ride to Mbale and is now here in the office with us. She’s probably going to stay here and
join us on our project, so we are excited! She has already taught us how to make delicious curry lentils and enhanced our DVD collection markedly. The fleeing went okay, and she is now safe with us.
In other news, I got burned on the leg as I was getting off a boda-boda over the weekend (mopeds have a hot hot hot little something near the foot rest). It isn’t so bad, although by the book it is a second degree burn. It’s only about 1 inch by 1.5 inches, so it is fine, and starting to heal. I’ll spare you all those photos…
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Joe
non-member comment
Hi!
Hi, AnnaSara! I'm sorry I've been a slacker and not been reading your travel blog like I should have, but I'm all caught up now and I'm even promoting your blog to my LJ friends. I'm glad that things are going as well as they are right now, and I'm especially glad to hear that your friend was able to get out of Uganda safely.