A Contrast in New Years

Famous Tusk Arches of Mombasa

Unlike Weldon, these holidays have been pretty low key for me as far as adventure goes. I haven’t spent much time with family over the past couple years, so I needed to devote some time bouncing around Illinois and Iowa catching up. Christmas was spent up in the Iowa side of the Quad Cities, then Christmas weekend in central Iowa, a few days back in my hometown in Illinois, and then up to Chicago for New Years.

All of this is in strict contrast to the holidays I had last year. At this time last year, I was busy lying low on the Kenyan coast, trying to avoid any confrontations with loose machetes. I was spending my holidays bouncing around the various Kenyan beaches on the Indian Ocean and had just met up with a friend in the region’s main port city, Mombasa, when the rigged presidential election on December 27 sent the country tailspinning into near-civil-war.

The tension built up over a couple days after the election as the national election commission stalled announcing the tainted tallies. The election was always too close to call; we’ll never know who really won. But what did become apparent was that the incumbent president decided it wasn’t worth the risk to find out. When the illegitimate election results were announced, tribal-based violence sprang up all over the nation.

Leading up to the election, I, like most Kenyans and outside observers, had confidence that election would go relatively smooth and fair. I was not expecting to have to scramble back to my cheap hotel room in Mombasa town (actually an island just off the mainland). My friend and I spent the next few days suffering under the equatorial sun and coastal humidity in the non-air-conditioned hotel, never wandering more than a twenty yards outside the hotel for safety reasons. Luckily, there was a small local restaurant in that radius—however, after a few days, cabbage was the only ingredient left on the menu. The country was on lock down.

For New Years, a group of four of us decided we had earned a little change of scenery. Venturing out for the first time in a few days, we ended up on the empty rooftop of some downtown building. I was bringing in the New Year with a packet of miraa (or khat), the mild stimulant plant popular in East Africa that one chews slowly over the period of a few hours. The four of us just sitting and talking quietly, appreciating our cling on life–it was an eerie beginning to 2008.

Despite the eerie beginning, 2008 ended up all right after all, and we all got out of that mess safe and sound. This 2009 is starting much differently; it will be interesting to see what adventures are in store for this year. Happy New Year all!