“Within the span of a week, one of the most developed, promising countries in Africa has turned into a starter kit for disaster. ” (NYT) (Article – Kenya Topples Into Post-Election Chaos)
Our bags are packed, sitting near the door downstairs. We are poised for leaving the country, by road, or by air. All is quiet in Nairobi this morning (Thursday). Today is expected to be a watershed day, as the political opposition is planning a million-strong rally and protest downtown, one that has been declared illegal by those who have all the guns. I flew AIM AIR’s little Cessna 210 yesterday, making several stops in western Kenya. The roads all over the country are apparently too dangerous to travel on. People come to the airstrips with armed police escorts. Many of them have been sleeping in the police stations overnight.
AIM AIR is flying a full day again today, much the same as yesterday – evacuating people whose lives are in danger. I’ll go in to the airport around mid-day in order to have enough duty time to fly well into the night. I’ll be separated from Renee and the kids when going to the hangar (about 5 miles away) but they are part of a small group of missionaries who are hunkered down on the compound here, and very safe in their care if I should not be able to drive home tonight.
For now, we are NOT expecting to leave Kenya. As bad as things are, I am hopeful that the Kenya I know, one full of peaceful and good people, will rise above this. Keep praying with us for that.
(I can hear mobs of people on the streets now. Gunshots. Not quiet anymore.)