We’re home!
January 24, 2008
With lots of stories and photos (and hopefully no diseases) to share!
An interesting story about the violence in Kenya is over at the BBC (click here to read the article). It underscores that the violence is not at its root about ethnic or tribal factionalism, but that the ethnic labels are being USED to advance other political and economic agendas. Unfortunately, it fails to extend this observation to the Rwandan genocide, mentioning that violence as an example of tribalism, when really the ‘racial’ divisions were just as much exploited for political goals.
Our trip was affected by the Kenyan protests in two main ways: gas prices in Uganda and Rwanda (who import gas through the port at Mombasa, at least until they develop their own reserves) were very high; our return flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam was detoured through Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where we stopped to pick up new airline stewards since KLM is no longer housing its flight attendants overnight in Nairobi. Others on the trip were affected more, through family living in Kenya. But we are blessed that the greatest inconveniences we experienced were small loses of money and time – and not life.
