Its Been a Long Time

Habari, 

I know it has been a very long time since I submitted a blog entry and many of you have reached out to find out what’s going on.  Well, in July of last year my mother became very ill, which required the attention of myself, my brothers and members of our extended family.  Those of you who know me well, know that my mom is the most important person in my life.  As ornery and cranky as she is, she’s still mine.  Her illness took my focus off of many things and being halfway around the world from her didn’t help the situation. 

I’ve gone back and forth home much more than I intended over this nine month period.  Also during this time, I’ve lost my grandfather, Irving Stokes, my cousin Annie Williams and my great-uncle Lucian Ellis, Sr. Needless to say, it has been a trying situation, but my mother is back on the road to recovery.  She has regained most of her independence and is working hard at obtaining the rest.  Hallelujah! 

Now my desire to continue telling the story of my journey in Africa has returned, although it may be coming to an end soon.  I’m hoping I will be able to extend my stay on the Continent for another year.  Yes, I am enjoying the journey that much.  This is a good time to be here, particularly in Kenya.  So much has happened in the last 9 months.  I will try to hit the highlights for you.

As you all know, Kenya held its first presidential elections under their new constitution this year.  As a result of the widespread violence in the 2007 elections, all of the expats in the country were extremely tense about this issue.  This was a very eye opening experience for me.  As the Shared Services Manager, it was my responsibility to coordinate efforts in the event of any violence.  Without going into much detail, it became clear that most organizations followed the lead of the US Embassy. 

Many of us still cling to images of masses of people being evacuated from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.  During a trip to the home of the American Ambassador for a briefing on the election situation, that myth was destroyed.  One of the first things the speaker said to the crowd of American citizens was, “There are 8 marines guarding the embassy and they are not coming to get you.” LOL. 

What became very clear to me was that the American Embassies around the world are ‘Ride or Die.’ Their level of tolerance for violence is quite high.  You do remember Benghazi, don’t you?  I knew that my safety was my own responsibility and I remember being told that several times.  That’s why it was surprising for me to hear that I was considered an essential employee and needed to stay in Kenya.  HA!  I had to explain to folks that I was the youngest and only female child of one Rosalie Godfrey and there was no way in hell I was going to jeopardize my life to prove a point.  As sick as she was, she would have burned down the capital of Nairobi if something happened to her baby girl.  Needless to say, my ticket home had already been purchased as I helped with the coordination efforts for the others.  I may be accused of being crazy, but I ain’t stupid.

The good news is that the Kenyan people stood tall and carried out their elections in a dignified manner and virtually without incident.  It was a far cry from over 1200 killed and 600,000 displaced in 2007.   I believe the Kenyan people realize their potential as well.  Now they just need to pray that their new president, Uhuru Kenyatta isn’t convicted for crimes against humanity at the Hague.  Yes, the International Criminal Court has indicted Kenya’s new president for the crimes committed during the election violence of 2007.  The real crazy thing is that the indictment came long before the elections.  LOL.  One thing I have learned is that you can’t look at things here, or most places in the world, with a Western eye. 

In the US, a person indicted for crimes against humanity couldn’t even get on the ballot.  The Kenyan people see this differently.  Many of them believe Kenyatta wasn’t the one who should have been indicted.  They feel the top runners in the 2007 election should be on trial, not their deputies.  The disputes in the Kenyan elections stem from the tribal divisions in the communities as well as the history between Kenyatta and Odinga.  Kenyatta is Kikuyu and Odinga is Luo (same as Obama’s father).  In the past, there has been a winner take all mentality in these elections.  In other words, they may not win the race, but they will certainly win the fight.  LOL.  Anyway, I’m thrilled that things went off without a hitch.

Shortly after I returned to Kenya after the holidays, I learned that Master Pu was going to be abandoning me at the end of the first quarter.  This added to my frustration because I didn’t come here to break in another manager.  SMH.  Let’s just say it has been an interesting transition.  I wish I could say more, but I can’t.

I also found time to go to the beautiful island country of Mauritius for a little rest and relaxation.  Now let me begin this story by saying I have a lot of respect for men. I grew up with an army of brothers, so there's very little that surprises me, but while in Mauritius I experienced something that made me want to say, "Men ain't s*#!" Now bare with me for a second while I set this up.

During my stay in Mauritius, I had been using the same taxi driver, because once you find a good one you want to stick with him. Usually he would take me for a one or two hour trip, but one day we were exploring the southern part of the island. That's an all-day trip. When he came two pick me up there was a woman in the car. I didn't mind because his first language was French and his English was very broken. I didn't want to spend the whole trip with us trying to figure each other out. This way he could enjoy a conversation with her and I could just enjoy the sites. We worked it out and had a great day.

At the end of the day, we dropped her off n the downtown area and preceded back to my villa. Before I could comment on how nice his wife was, he started laughing sheepishly and announced that the woman wasn't really his wife. He said she just likes it when he calls her that. I shook my head and laughed, but then he proceeded to say, I need to go pick up my wife now. WTF! You could have bought me for a nickel.

Before I could protest, we were slowing down near an office building and this other woman got in the car. She introduced herself in almost perfect English, but she was fluent in French as well. Now he clearly told her about me since we had been driving together all week. She immediately asked me how was our day. I got a headache from rolling my eyes at him. I could barely look at this woman and he couldn't look at me. WTF was I supposed to say to her?

I spent the whole day with him and his trick, joking, laughing, taking pics, and breaking bread. And, it made me question why he felt so comfortable putting me in the middle of his BS. If I wasn't in a foreign country that I hadn't travelled to before, alone, and if I didn't need him to take me to the airport the next morning, I would have busted his ass! Ain't that a hot mess?!!

Well, I’m going to cut this short.  I will continue the saga next week.  I’m gonna try to do my posting on Saturdays now.  Stay tuned!  It’s good to be back.

Asante Sana,

Della Rochelle

Copyright © 2013 by Della Rochelle Williams