Masai Mara was magnificent - truly a magical place. Photos above!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Masai Mara
Our group is headed to Masai Mara for 3 days, back on Tuesday.
I promise to post photos and an update soon!
Hope you are having a great weekend!
I promise to post photos and an update soon!
Hope you are having a great weekend!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
A Little Inspiration
what you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. it will decide what gets you out of bed in the mornings, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you. fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
- pedro arrupe
Masai Mara
This weekend our group is headed to Masai Mara.
After a peaceful referendum, people here are overjoyed. It looks like the new consitution will be voted in. At the moment 65% of the votes are pointing to YES!
Our group is working intently on our human rights project. We are coalescing all of the various interviews and research we completed in Loitokitok and will then work out what action we might take. It is looking as though issues such as food security, safety, and access to resources and information might take precedence over the boarding school. But, it is too early to predict the outcome of uor human rights project. In my opinion, the process here is just as important as the outcome because one of the main foci of this course is on approaching human rights in an ethical, thoughtful manner. Therefore, it is less important to rush into a "solution" and more important to proceed ethically and thoughtfully, all the while focused on what may be an effective, viable, sustainable outcome that does benefit and further the human rights of the local community. This must be done in strong partnership, or accompaniment, and not "imposed" by us as outsiders! That is what I appreciate most about this project - the opportunity to learn in a hands-on manner all of the development and human rights theory I have been studying for the past 2 years.
Have a great end of the week. I will post photos of the safari upon our return.
After a peaceful referendum, people here are overjoyed. It looks like the new consitution will be voted in. At the moment 65% of the votes are pointing to YES!
Our group is working intently on our human rights project. We are coalescing all of the various interviews and research we completed in Loitokitok and will then work out what action we might take. It is looking as though issues such as food security, safety, and access to resources and information might take precedence over the boarding school. But, it is too early to predict the outcome of uor human rights project. In my opinion, the process here is just as important as the outcome because one of the main foci of this course is on approaching human rights in an ethical, thoughtful manner. Therefore, it is less important to rush into a "solution" and more important to proceed ethically and thoughtfully, all the while focused on what may be an effective, viable, sustainable outcome that does benefit and further the human rights of the local community. This must be done in strong partnership, or accompaniment, and not "imposed" by us as outsiders! That is what I appreciate most about this project - the opportunity to learn in a hands-on manner all of the development and human rights theory I have been studying for the past 2 years.
Have a great end of the week. I will post photos of the safari upon our return.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Referendum Calm and Peaceful
Today's referendum proved to be calm and peaceful, free of violence and unrest. While the results are as of yet unclear, the process itself seems to have been a success. I just want to reassure family and friends of the situation here, as the media has portrayed stories of heightened tension and possible unrest.
We are all doing great! In fact, I am so excited for the people of Kenya as the new constitution affords them much greater rights, freedoms, and accountability of their government. While of course the document is not perfect, it is a positive step forward.
We are all doing great! In fact, I am so excited for the people of Kenya as the new constitution affords them much greater rights, freedoms, and accountability of their government. While of course the document is not perfect, it is a positive step forward.
Referendum Day
PHOTOS:
Above, I have included some photos from around where we live. You can see the contrast of our pool with the tall walls and barbed wire enclosing us in our apartment buildings vs. the outside environment. It is an interesting paradox to live in, and being more restricted in terms of mobility makes you appreciate the freedom and access at home.
REFERENDUM DAY:
Today is quiet. We are not allowed to leave our apartment compound due to the referendum taking place. (While all indications point to a very peaceful process, the University of Washington is cautious about such matters and thus have imposed these restrictions.)
I talked to the security guard this morning about his perspective on the constitutional vote. He was so excited to vote! I saw 2 other Kenyans as well around our complex and they were absolutely enthused to cast their vote! The polls are marking voters pinky fingers with indelible purple ink so that they may not vote more than once.
I have been watching the news as well and it appears to be a peaceful and orderly process. The referendum was on the front page of the New York Times yesterday. It is truly a monumental event for Kenya – as I mentioned, my coworker at Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) feels it is more important even than independence from Britain in 1963!
So today is a quiet day for us. I am mainly catching up on schoolwork. Tomorrow hopefully we will know the results of the election (but the outcome may be delayed as it often takes time to tally the votes and due to long travel distances, sometimes the voting process here can take days). If the outcome is a YES for the new constitution, my colleagues at KHRC plan to celebrate! KHRC was deeply involved with the drafting of the new constitution, as has been a top supporter of the legislature.
I will write more soon when there is news!
.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Upcoming Referendum
Hi all! How are you?
Things here in Kenya are great. This coming week is a very important one as on Wednesday, August 4th, and likely on the 5th as well (because often voting here takes more than one day due to long travel times, lines, the time it takes to tally the votes, etc.) are the dates of the referendum which will decided whether the NEW proposed constitution of Kenya is enacted or not. It is quite contentious actually, with heated debates in both the YES and NO camps.
We had a speaker in class last week about the proposed constitution. She really helped us to understand the main issues revolving around the constitution. At the core of the debate are land rights and the influence and jurisdiction of Khadis courts (Muslim courts) and abortion (which is illegal in Kenya.) Interestingly, the new constitution also cuts down on the % of the Kenyan government budget allocated for development – from 30% to 10%. This is probably the biggest drawback of the new constitution, because it would then potentially increase Kenya’s reliance on outside aid.
So this coming week will be one day of KHRC internship, class on Tuesday and then due to the referendum on Wed. and Th. My classmates and I are planning to spend the time beginning our final papers for this course. Friday we have class, on a very interesting topic – the role of human rights and “are human rights part of the problem” – in other words, discussing human rights from a critical perspective. Saturday is free, then on Sunday we head to MASAI MARAA for the SAFARI weekend! I literally cannot wait to see lions, giraffes and elephants in the wild. It may be too much for me!
I hope you are all happy, peaceful and doing well. I send all my love from Kenya!
Things here in Kenya are great. This coming week is a very important one as on Wednesday, August 4th, and likely on the 5th as well (because often voting here takes more than one day due to long travel times, lines, the time it takes to tally the votes, etc.) are the dates of the referendum which will decided whether the NEW proposed constitution of Kenya is enacted or not. It is quite contentious actually, with heated debates in both the YES and NO camps.
We had a speaker in class last week about the proposed constitution. She really helped us to understand the main issues revolving around the constitution. At the core of the debate are land rights and the influence and jurisdiction of Khadis courts (Muslim courts) and abortion (which is illegal in Kenya.) Interestingly, the new constitution also cuts down on the % of the Kenyan government budget allocated for development – from 30% to 10%. This is probably the biggest drawback of the new constitution, because it would then potentially increase Kenya’s reliance on outside aid.
So this coming week will be one day of KHRC internship, class on Tuesday and then due to the referendum on Wed. and Th. My classmates and I are planning to spend the time beginning our final papers for this course. Friday we have class, on a very interesting topic – the role of human rights and “are human rights part of the problem” – in other words, discussing human rights from a critical perspective. Saturday is free, then on Sunday we head to MASAI MARAA for the SAFARI weekend! I literally cannot wait to see lions, giraffes and elephants in the wild. It may be too much for me!
I hope you are all happy, peaceful and doing well. I send all my love from Kenya!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)