Kenya Update 2

• 1/4/08- last night I was woken up by gunshots. Despite being in a house that has four guards wandering around the gate community, surrounded by a cement wall with shards of glass on top, with three rings of barbed-wire on top of that and three lines of electric fence on that containing two of the highest trained human security from England's Delta Force who could kill people with a finger but happened to have G3s with them, I was nervous. Not too nervous, but when they got loud I slept on the floor. Today was much quieter. It sounds like Raila and Kibaki are going to talk! Still, we took a drive around the city and there were still lots of police and guards. We saw a steady stream of refugees leaving Kibera and other areas of the city with what little possessions they had. They carried them in suitcases, trunks or simply cardboard boxes. I stopped to talk to a few and they told me their homes were burned down and they had been sleeping outside. They had nowhere to put their stuff. They had no idea where they were going but were praying it would be better than where they have been. I was speechless.
• 1/5/08- I know things are crazy up country, but Nairobi seemed normal today.
• 1/6/07- Today was a day of national prayer. They broadcasted prayer on all the TV and radio stations. The media has been doing a great job of banding together and encouraging peace. This might be a little extreme to say, but I think of Rwanda and how the genocide was really instigated and perpetuated by the media. Who is to say what could have happened if the media hadn't reacted the way they did here in Kenya? There were prayer vigils all over the city. I found a group of refugees and was able to give them my blanket, I know that is nothing but it was good to do something tiny.
• 1/7/07- Things are normal but still tense. A tire blew on a bus and every single one of us in the vicinity hit the floor. We will see what happens with Raila's rallies scheduled for tomorrow. Things seem calm but at a stalemate. Kibaki is not going to step down and Raila is not going to stop fighting. Kenyans, for their part, seem to just want peace.