Habari,
I’m writing you from the comfort of my apartment in Nairobi,
Kenya after a long, hard day at work.
The day was chaotic, not because of the recent terrorist activity in and
around Nairobi, but because Master Pu returned to the office after several
weeks away in the U.S. Now I’m sure many
of you have heard the news about the growing military activity by Kenya against
Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Al-Shabaab is a terrorist group of militants fighting to overthrow the government of Somalia. We have been operating under high
alert since Saturday, but the alerts started coming out last week.
This all began with the kidnapping of two Spanish aid workers
who were captured in Kenya and carried over the Somali border. Now, my hat is always off to the thousands of
people who travel into these conflict zones to help their fellow man, but there
have alerts for a while now telling foreigners to stay away from the
Kenya-Somalia border. I know everyone
has a calling, but my calling would have been delayed a bit until Al-Shabaab
lost interest in snatching people up and dragging them into Somalia.
This isn’t the first time people have been kidnapped in the
same vicinity. These people made the
third kidnapping in a month’s time.
SMH. Nairobi is pretty far from
the Somali border, we’re talking hundreds of miles away and I’m not planning to
travel there any time soon, so please no worries.
If I were back in the States watching this conflict unfold
on CNN, I would be wondering why those crazy Americans were living and working
in a war zone. But, I must say being
here, in the midst of things, this is the most inactive conflict I’ve ever been
a witness to. I have witnessed more
activity when the Philadelphia Police Department executes a drug bust in North
Philly.
I can understand how ex-pats can get a false sense of
security in this type of environment. I’m
not saying that nothing will happen, clearly plenty has already occurred
(bombing of a night club, bombing at the bus station), but there are no sirens
or alarms going off anywhere. People are
going to and from work like there’s nothing happening. There’s more noise and activity on the floor
of my apartment building with the bad ass kids who live next door. LOL.
I must say, the US Embassy does a great job of alerting
their citizens of dangerous situations and informing them of where NOT to go,
like a night club. I’ve sent out notifications
to the IBMers in Nairobi, telling them not to go to high profile locations and
to put off treks to remote locations (these folks love to hike something). SMH. All in all, we are being careful, besides, I’m
leaving for London in two days.
Yes, I’m going to London to celebrate my birthday. My friend Carole has so graciously invited me
to come spend a long weekend with her. I
cannot wait because I’ve never been to the Queen’s hometown. I’m feeling a little run down and home sick
so I’m looking forward to the change in scenery. So, join me here next week when I’ll give you
the 411 on my London adventure. A
western society may seem boring to me after being in the third world for four
months. LOL. See you soon.
Asante sana,
Della Rochelle
Copyright © 2011 by Della Rochelle Williams
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