Whew!

Three days of demonstrations have ended… we think. Yesterday, Saturday, I raced over to the grocery early, before the lines formed to top up on fresh foods. After 3 days of being sequestered in the house going to the grocery was actually exciting! Most people seem to be getting back to their normal routines but we will see what Monday brings in terms of disruptions. I hope we can compile some of the stories of the last few weeks into something readable. There are some amazing events witnessed. I would love to write more personally here about some of this but because of the public nature of blogs it’s probably wiser not to.

On Friday one of the most prominent ex-pat families made the announcement at school that they have decided to permanently leave Kisumu on Sunday (today). They were going to leave in July anyway; we all had our head around that idea until Friday. They have 4 boys, one of which has become one of Max’s very best friends. The news totally shocked and saddened us. Though I can understand their concern as they were one of the families that stayed in Kisumu during the worst part of the riots and they are justifiably anxious. So far, Max has show remarkable resilience while many of his good friends have gone back to the states never to return. It may be that his parents have a harder time with all these comings and goings than he does!

Meanwhile, our internet connection remains sketchy. The Blackberries were not configured correctly from the mobile phone provider (figures!) but we do now have a very cool VSAT about 10” square in size that accesses a satellite directly. So we get internet if we need it and even has a phone hook up (which needs testing) so we can make voice calls if needed too.

We have decided to tell Gladys, our cook/housekeeper that she can return to Kisumu. She traveled to her home for the Christmas holidays and has been there, safe, since then. Gladys is a member of the Kikuyu tribe. Kisumu is primarily a Luo tribal area. They really hate each other for various reasons and much of the violence after the election was Luo’s targeting Kikuyus, teetering on the cusp of being called ethnic cleansing. Gladys doesn’t want to risk loosing her job so she is willing to risk her life to return but we are telling her we will help her find a job in a safer area if she wants to go. She is due to arrive Monday so we’ll see….