This is the Nairobi I want to remember - chaotic but happy.
I was riding home from volunteering at AJP and BLP’s school this morning when I heard Rufus Wainwright’s version of “Across the Universe”. Besides being struck by the beauty of the words, the phrase “nothing’s gonna change my world” kept repeating over and over even after the song ended. I am not a really big fan of the Beatles (I know for many that is heresy) but this song seemed so appropriate at this time.
As the words repeated in my mind, I reviewed the events of
the last few days. It has almost been
surreal. We are no strangers to terrorist
threats where we have lived but it is different when the terror strikes a
normal place visited for enjoyment. The
attack seems all the more heinous and disturbing because the people went to the
mall for lunch with friends, to pick up groceries, or buy African handicrafts.
We have friends that were there when the grenade went off
and the bullets started. They all
managed to leave without being part of the carnage. They report the horror of being inside and
are glad they managed to get out. One
family had children close in age to AJP and BLP. I couldn’t help wondering what would have
happened last Saturday if we had went to the café we liked in Westgate instead
of lunch at another location. Would we
have made it out unhurt like our friends or would we have been among the
casualties?
As I write this, I still hear the Kenyan government planes
going overhead to monitor what is happening.
It is over for all intents and purposes but is it really? The effects of having armed assailants enter
into a place where families go and friends meet to spend time together are
still not known. Now that the siege is
over, I hope the healing can begin.
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