Kenyan Trip Part 2

After our arrival in Kenya, we relaxed and caught up with everyone for a few days. The kids I left ten years ago were now men yet my sisters and brothers didn't seem to have aged much.

The next several days we toured the city. We drove into town, left the car at All Saints Cathedral, Anglican Church, and walked to the city center.

(my sister, daughter and me)

(The memorial park where many died after the terrorists bombed a building in Nairobi)

(J.M. and my daughter inside All Saints Cathedral )

J.M is one of the priests (he runs the youth ministry and is an amazing preacher) so he gave us a tour. We met some of his students, colleagues then we grabbed our camcorder and still camera and headed downtown.



(inside All Saints Cathedral)

We passed Nyayo Monument on our way to the city center.

(Nyayo Monument )

We also visited Naku Matt, a chain of super-supermarkets found in all the major cities in Kenya. Typical writer, I headed to the bookstore to see what was on their shelves, especially the romance section. While growing in Kenya, I read lots of romance novels by British and American authors, (Janet Dailey, Johanna Lindsey...). I couldn't wait to see what they were carrying now.

The romance section was dominated by....guess who? Nora Roberts. A few Sandra Browns and Danielle Steeles here and there. I was green with envy and indignation. Why, you may ask.

(Keyatta International Conference Center(KICC) )


My books weren't there, doggone it. Granted I have only three books to my name but come on people, there are other black romance writers out there churning two books a year for the last ten or so years. My sisters and in-laws, cousins and nieces would love to get their hands on books by Brenda Jackson and Monica Jackson, Gwyneth Bolton and Francis Ray, Beverly Clark and Lynn Emery? (lol just mentioning some of my favorite authors)

(At the entrance of KICC)

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Ms. Roberts and her fame but come on, Kenyan women deserve to be exposed to works by women of color too. It's only fair. My daughter rolled her eyes, my sister and brother watched me wide-eyed as I ranted and raved. As you can imagine, I hunted down a sale rep.

(At the heli-pad on top of the KICC (it's an amazing view, took lots of pictures)

Actually I was rather polite when I explained to the young lady that I was a writer, Kenyan to boot, and it saddened me they didn't carry my books (so the last one was published in 2005 but who cares, I had a point to make). Then I went on and on about lack of romance books by black authors, talked the poor woman's ears off.

(village market (a mall with one story, house-like stores, banks, grocery stores, movie theaters, and a water park) food court in the background

(village market, Nairobi)


Of course she was thrilled to meet me, uncelebrated author that I am, and was happy to give me the purchasing officer's name and number. Unfortunately the woman was at a different mall. I called her anyway, set up a meeting, had copies of books I had carried to read, including two of mine. Ladies, I was ready to wheel and deal, beg or even brow-beat that lady into carrying my books.

(My brother and my baby at the water park, Village Market)

I was supposed to meet her the week before we left but elections happened and the rest is history. At least I have her number for when things return to normal but I also left instructions with my sister to talk to her and show her my books...marketing. Any author out there interested in seeing their books reach all corners of the African continent, e-mail me. There's a big market in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria...don't know about the other countries...can't wait to go there for a booksigning gig.

More on Saturday.

Bella

auth

Kenyan Trip Part1

All the kids in the kitchen

I promised I'd share pictures and interesting tidbits from my Kenyan trip . Sorry, I haven't been in the right frame of mind to write because of the mess going on there. Things are still bad, as most of you know, but I'm desperate to blog and clear my mind, maybe remind myself just how wonderful the trip was before the mayhem.

me and my last two

How many of you ever ask themselves the "What if?" question before they travel and leave their loved ones behind? I do. Yeah, I know, I'm soooo anal. I did it before I went to deliver every last one of my kids via C-section. The first time, I was younger, cocky and too excited I was going to have a baby to read much before I signed the forms. For the subsequent ones, you bet I read every doggone article and knew just how wrong things could go in an OR, so I got into the habit of writing letters to DH and the children, making a tape of myself telling them this and that... you know, just in case.

my boy, me and DH

Needless to say, before we left for Kenya, I did the same(You probably noticed the pictures above are a bit out of focus...kids took them). What if something happened while we were flying or while there? So I made sure we took lots of pictures and once again, left letters for all the remaining four kids (even the 3 year old) and DH of course...you know, just in case. Am I paranoid or what?

Anyway, we had to leave home for the airport at five-thirty in the morning just so we could make the two-hours-before-departure security check time. Luckily, we had fully recharged the iPod so my daughter spend the two hours watching Corey in the House, Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana...the episodes I'd downloaded the week before.

From SLC, we flew to Minneapolis and had four hour layover. It was interesting to watch passengers hurry to hook up their laptops to airport outlets as soon as they checked in. We hooked our iPod docking station/recharger so as not to waste battery and while my daughter watched movies, I tried to work on chapter ten of my WIP..tough luck.

The flight to Amsterdam was long...nine hours . Luckily, we had personal TVs and movies galore. Needless to say, my daughter spent those hours watching one movie after another. Thank goodness they had quite a bit of children movies. As for me, after I had a glass of red wine with my dinner, I went out like a light. Didn't wake up until we were about to land in Amsterdam.

Another four hour layover, then nine hours flight to Kenya and family members waiting at the airport to welcome us.

I'll stop here and will write more on Wednesday.

I'm back

Happy New Year, friends.

Thank God, my daughter and I made it back!!! The trip was wonderful (photos later) until two days before our departure.

I've never cared much for politics or politicians but after I saw the wonderful changes in Kenya, my people's determination to improve our country, the stride they've made since the former president and dictator was ousted--free press, entrepeneurs in media and businesses, I was blown away.

mega supermarkets and 6-storey malls with escalators (my daughter couldn't believe her eyes)

I sat with my brothers and sisters and watched the five T.V. stations covering the elections live, didn't sleep. People were lining up at four in the morning waiting for polling stations to open at six so they could cast their votes. The turnout was amazing( over 10 million of 14 million voters). Then came the delay in presidential results, media blackout, fear that someone was about to hijack the presidency via election rigging...Kenyan's worst nightmare.

Concerned, I called KLM offices the morning of the 31st, was told yes the flight was on schedule. My brother drove me into town even though the radios mentioned rioters in the slums of Kenya. Surprisingly, downtown Nairobi was safe, the police kept rioters from the city center. I mean there were abslutely no pedestrians.

But along the way, we saw people hurdled in groups outside their apartments, along the road, waiting and worried.

Smart shoppers hurried to supermarkets to replenish their supplies

soon shelves were empty.

Meanwhile, more riots broke out all over the country...people looting (can't find a good picture), burning of people seeking refuge in a church, gangs targeting people from other tribes.

My own brother was beaten and cut up by a mob. He'd left to go shopping at seven in the morning and this was the day before electoral commission of Kenya (ECK) announced the presidential results. Unfortunately, he teaches at a college in the middle of Kikuyu land...Kikuyus are the majority in Kenya and the present president is from this tribe. In fact, Nairobi is surrounded by Kikuyu land. The mob took one look at him and decided he wasn't from their tribe.

They took all the money he'd withdrawn, his ID and ATM card (unfortunately the withdrawal slip with his PIN numer in his pocket too) the food he'd bought, tanks of gas for cooking, everything including the radio in his car, beat him up and cut his arm...at least they didn't carjack his car or kill him. He barely had enough gas to make it back to his place, couldn't go see a doctor and ended up by stitched by a nearby butcher (a Kikuyu who knew him). The same butcher also gave him pounds of beef on credit...

I was crying so hard before I even saw him. I wasn't at his house when all this took place but at another brother's (a preacher who lives in the outskirts of Nairobi, also right in the middle of Kikuyu land but is married to a Kikuyu woman). This mess goes beyong tribal loyalties.

Nairobi burning!!!!

For the first time in the Kenyan history, we're having a civil war, the stability we've enjoyed for years down the toilet, the demons we saw loose in Rwanda are awakening in my own country. You may ask why the craziness, the senseless killings and mayhem?

Emphasis on the right to vote and the empowerment of the voter has been a major thing in Kenyan politics these past five years. Kenyans believed they had the power to shape their destiny, choose their leadership, the very thing their forefathers fought for and one they've strived for all these years. They did exactly this in the 2002 elections and kicked out Moi who'd ruled the country for over twenty years. This time, they turned out in colossal numbers to vote (better than in 2002), believing they had a voice that would be listened to. What they saw was betrayal, the ballot didn't matter, their voice silenced.

They don't believe the judicial system will work to resolve this, not when the present president appointed several judges to the bench before elections. Beside, the Chief justice and the Attorney General were grinning like a wel-fed cats during the shot-gun inauguration of the president.

What do Kenyans have now? They believe they have only one voice left — protest.

I left Kenya with a heavy heart, crying and worried about the rest of my family. I hear now that there are refugees from Nairobi in Nairobi, Kenyans fleeing their own country, a first in the history of the country...now I know what Alan Paton meant by the title of his work...Cry, The Beloved Country.

God-willing, things will calm down and we'll be back on the right path, the path to better the country nd the lives of all Kenyans.

Pictures courtesy of Thinkersroom, a wonderful Kenyan blogger.

Other bloggers include Kenyanpundit

Bella

Happy to be home yet sad and worried.