23 March 13

     One week ago today the opposition filed a petition in the Supreme Court contesting the election results and claiming rigging and fraud.  The Court will begin to hear the petition on Monday and will return a verdict by next Saturday...Holy Saturday. They can throw the petition out and the President elect will be inaugurated or they can call for another election process.  There is tension but so far people are peaceful and waiting patiently.
     On Friday we found out that Msambweni District, where I do a monthly clinic near to the Tanzanian border, has no immunizations and no medicines to prevent the transmission of HIV virus from pregnant mother to her unborn baby.  A pregnant woman came to the clinic this past week having already been to two other clinics.  Our clinic didn't have any medicine, which is provided by the government, and she was sent to a fourth government dispensary right on the TZ border.  I'm sure they won't have the medicine either.  The District hospital does have vaccines but they don't have the special one shot syringes used to give the vaccines and they won't allow health workers to use regular syringes...which were used for years before these syringes became available.  The male  clinical officer at our dispensary who is from the coast has resigned because of 'family problems'.  The clinical officer we offered the position to is a woman from another part of the country. We doubt that she will stay and I'm not sure she should stay, being a woman from 'upcountry' who may be a target of people with bad intentions.  These are problems that no one hears about in the news.
     Now for the good news...This past week I found out that a young Turkana man who was rescued from the streets of Kitale many years back by Bosco Street Children's program (run by Russ Brine, Maryknoll Lay Missioner) has started his first job as a clinical officer in Kakuma Mission hospital in his home district of Turkana!!!  Ben was the first in his high school class and wanted to be a doctor.  There wasn't enough money to do that but he came to Kiminini Cottage hospital when I was there to volunteer and chose to go to clinical officer training school, similar to physician assistant or nurse practitioner in the USA.  He is a fine young man and the people of Turkana will be well cared for by him.  The same night I heard that news I got a text message from Teresa, a nurse who has completed her training and had just finished her first day working at Kiminini Cottage hospital.  We had funded her training through money from my mission account with the agreement that she would return to work at the hospital for three years.  She is a lovely woman who has been very hardworking and conscientious over the years.  There is another young man, Anderson, who came from Bosco and is also in nurses training with one year left, funded by my mission account.  He is doing well and when he finishes he will go to work at Kiminini too.  With all of the difficulties at the moment these three young people are really hope for the future...hardworking, compassionate, capable and trying to do their best.  It is a real privilege to to have been able to assist them and to watch them reach their potentials.
     So we begin Holy Week tomorrow and it will be a very special week of prayer with the courts proceedings moving forward.  At the moment the judiciary seems to be the one arm of the government that most people feel has some integrity.  Keep Kenya in your prayer!    

10 March 13 - 2pm

     It is now 24 hours after the official announcement that Uhuru Kenyatta was elected the next president of Kenya.  There have been no violent incidents in Mombasa and I haven't heard of problems elsewhere in the country.  Mary and the Kluegs are preparing to return to Mombasa on Tuesday and we will be very happy to have them back with us.
     The opposition will go to court with the evidence they have of violations of the election process.  This is great progress for this country as this was not a viable option in 2008 and people took to the streets in what they saw as their only chance to right the wrongs.  Credit goes to all who stood in the blazing hot sun for many hours to participate in the voting process.  The vote seems to have been on ethnic lines rather than issues so there are still many difficulties to face in moving the country forward as a nation.  Justice is important and change is difficult.  I just hope that in some small way I can be helpful and supportive, especially to those who are on the margins and most in need.
     I don't plan to be writing such frequent blogs from now on.  Still, from time to time I will make ssome entries for those of you who find this site helpful to keep in touch.  Blessings, susan

09 March 13 - 3pm

     Yesterday when I went to the Cathedral the funeral of one of several police officers killed while trying to bring voting materials to the polling stations was just finishing.
     The electoral commission has just announced that Uhuru Kenyatta has been elected the next president of Kenya.  He and his VP have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity during the elections in 2007.  His trial will start on July 9th in the Hague.
     Mombasa is quiet and all celebrations have been prohibited.  Many people have had great fear this past week and some may have been too afraid to vote.  And as the funeral reminded me, some have given their lives and leave behind family and children.  Now we wait to see what will happen. The biggest difference I see today is that there is a functioning judiciary with a Chief Justice whom people respect and feel is a man of integrity.  In 2007 the only recourse was to go to the streets.  Hopefully this time around their grievances will be heard in court, peacefully.

08 March 13 - 3pm

08 March 13 - 3pm

     Yesterday evening I went to 5:30pm Mass and met up with Cecilia, an 87 year old retired teacher born in Kenya of Goan ancestry from India.  She told me that her Muslim neighbor offered to give her a lift to church.  But she was a bit nervous, saying that there weren't any cars on the road and she didn't want Fr. Correa to give a sermon.  To his credit he was finished in 20 minutes!

     This morning it rained heavily, 41mm or about 2 inches.  One of the Muslim truck drivers for the family downstairs says they haven't had any work all week because of the slow down in business and people fear to go out very much.  But he is confident that the presidential vote will be decided in this round and that there will peace. He also told me that if I ever need help with my car (I've had several punctures lately) he will always help me and he doesn't want me to pay him anything because we are neighbors.  (I do pass along our old newspapers to him.)  All this just goes to show you that we live together quite happily and look out for one another.

   Meanwhile the manual counting continues and the two candidates are still close together with Uhuru in the lead.  The presidential tally must be announced by Monday.  There were more people out and about today when I went to Mass at 1pm.  The priest didn't mention anything about International Women's Day which is celebrated today.  Kenya has a little bit about women in the paper but it's overshadowed by all of the politics.

     Yesterday I heard Bishop Paride Taban on the BBC.  He received an award from the UN for his peace village in Kuron and his life long quest to bring peace to what is now South Sudan.  I was grateful to be able to work in his diocese and hope that peace will prevail in Kenya no matter who is elected president.

07 March 3pm

Have been in touch with Judy and Coralis and they are in their dispensaries carrying on as usual.  They are really remarkable women.  I've been around town and it's about the same as yesterday...some tension and some shops open but not as many as usual.  A couple of hours ago Musyoka, the VP for Raila, held a press conference, alleged there was rigging and called for the counting to stop.  The returns up to that point were still showing Uhuru ahead by about the same amount as yesterday.  I'll go to Mass in the evening and see if anything has changed.

06 March 3pm

Have just returned from Mass at the Cathedral.  Not many people were there and while there were some people on the streets and shops open it is less than normal.  The voting returns in the presidential election have slowed down and people are wondering why.  There is more tension and more talk that the process is not proceeding properly.  Coralis is fine in the clinic in Kikambala.  Judy went to the clinic in Bangala and only one other staff, the clinical officer, came to work. They have seen 16 sick patients but decided not to do the vaccination clinic because of short staffing.  I am working on my financial reports for last year...very boring but necessary to account for all the money we received and spent.

05 March 2pm

     Our neighborhood is very quiet.  The polling was extended last night to allow anyone in the polling station at 5pm to vote.  Bangala finished voting at 9pm by gas lights.  People waited for hours in the scorching sun...this one of the hottest months in Mombasa.  Sr. Pauline left her house at 5:45am and didn't get home until 3pm.  There were problems with electronic voting as some places the batteries ran out and if the station didn't have power and a cord to hook up to it they had to use manual procedures.  Women with babies were allowed to move up in line but when some women started 'borrowing' babies to take advantage of the perk the officials required the women to breast feed their baby.
     The trouble in Mombasa on Sunday night was a very serious coordinated attack in three places (Likoni, Miritini and Kilifi) to disrupt the voting process.  The Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) has been accused of trying to stop people from voting.  They want the coast to secede from Kenya.  There was a huge number of people (hundreds) who overwhelmed the police who were trying to distribute voting material the night before the elections.  Some very senior police officials were killed.  We know a woman who lives in Miritini and she heard the shooting at night time.  But she got up at 5am to vote and her home has been peaceful since then.
     I am so impressed with the committment and peacefulness of the people who voted.  The questions now are two:
1. Will someone win in the first round of voting?
2. If someone wins will it be accepted peacefully?

     Judy and I are at home today and Coralis is in the clinic at Kikambala.  We are all fine.

04 March 9pm

All is quiet in our neighborhood.  Those who were still in the polling stations at 5pm will be allowed to vote.  Bangala still has 2-300 people to vote by gas lamps but all is calm there.  Our electricity has been off and on three times today but it seems it's a problem with a transformer next door that has occurred before.  At the moment we have lights and all is well.

04 March 2pm

     The voting has started but many stations were late in opening.  We went to Mass at 7am and our neighborhood is quiet.  There has been a report by the Chief of Police in Kenya that an ambush occurred in Mombasa killing 6 police officers, one of whom was the OCPD (Officer in Charge of the Police Department) and 6 attackers.  They have flown re-inforcments to Mombasa.
     It is not clear exactly where the attack occurred or who caused the attack.  There are many rumors.
     One of the parishes, St. Patrick's in Bangaladesh slum where Judy works in the clinic, reports that the voting started late, 10:30am, because of these problems.  It is taking people about 5 minutes to vote and they can have about 96 people per hour vote according to the lines they have set up. There are 3000 registered voters in Bangala so that would require 31 hours for everyone to be able to vote.  People were standing in lines from 5am and the sun is very hot.  The stations are suppose to close at 5:30pm.
     Judy and I are at home and our neighborhood is quiet.

03 March 2013

     Greetings on this last 'normal' day before the Kenyan elections.  Things will certainly change no matter what happens.  One good thing is that President Kibaki will still be the president even if the elections are contested by the candidates. In 2007 it was unclear who the president really was and that caused lots of problems.  Also, Kenya has new Chief Justice and many people see him as a person of integrity who will be able to address legal questions that arise.
     "Kenya remains the anchor state and the geopolitical pivot of the East African Community" according to a well known economist.  It means that whatever happens in Kenya will have repercussions in the surrounding countries, especially those like S. Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, who depend on the port in Mombasa for commerce.
     "The elections will just be the beginning of a long and difficult process for Kenyans".  The country will be instituting a new form of government which will devolve power from the center to the 47 counties.  This will require financing without undermining national development.  It could be that people with ancestral inheritance in these counties will want to control all the government and development and exclude ethnic migrants.  It could lead to increased negative ethnicity and weaken national cohesion.
     One statistic that has really surprised me is the number of women in the parliaments of these countries.  Rwanda leads with 56%, then Tanzania 36%, then Uganda 35%, then Burundi 30% and lastly Kenya with only 9.8%.  
     In order to win a candidate has to get 50% +1 of the popular vote and 25% of the votes in 24 of 47 counties.  It is unlikely that will happen tomorrow which would mean that campaigning will continue with the two top candidates until a run off election on April 11th.  For the moment all is calm here in Mombasa and we hope and pray it stays that way!!!

1st March

All is quiet here except for the blaring music that continues to travel around on the vehicles for the politicians. Mary and the Kluegs went to Nairobi on the train last night and had a good trip arriving safely this morning.  The country seems pretty divided and this is what I am hearing:
1. The elections will take time since there are 6 ballots to fill out and many people aren't well versed in how to do it.  Some one just told me that the Constitution says that the only person who can extend the elections is the chairman of the Independent Board of the Electoral Commission and voting can't extend for more than one day
2. People are saying that they want this over with in one vote because it is disrupting schools, business and life in general.  So people are advising others to vote for one of the two top candidates and hope that one of them wins outright.
3. Most people think there will be peace for the most part and that where there is trouble will be in small pockets, maybe not having anything to do with the elections.  There are always those that want to take advantage of the situation.

A friend just sent me a message saying that this is Women's World Day of Prayer and his calender says, "When sleeping women awake mountains will move".  With men like that I think we could really make the world a better place!