22 January 2009

Kenyans Enthusiastic About New American President

African nation with Obama family ties joins in inaugural celebration

Kenyans watch Obama take the oath of office, celebrating him as one of their own.

By Thomas J. Dowling
Special Correspondent

Nairobi, Kenya — On the evening of January 20, Kenyans celebrated the inauguration of their new president. Barack Obama was actually being sworn in as the president of the United States, but you never would know it from the cheering that erupted in impromptu gatherings throughout the country, including at a gathering of 400 students, teachers, artists and journalists who watched the proceedings at the residence of the U.S. Embassy’s public affairs officer.

For the last week, the imminent accession of Kenya’s favorite — if somewhat removed — son to the most visible office in the world had become the news again and, despite some rather interesting local scandals, the only topic on people’s lips for days. Virtually every footstep of Obama’s journey to Washington and events that occurred once he arrived were followed avidly, with days of commentary from young and old alike.

Kenyan schoolchildren dine on American food and watch Obama’s inauguration at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Via the seeming magic of big-screen televisions, the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi managed to add another 400 excited participants to the throngs gathered on the National Mall on January 20. More than 200 students from 10 secondary schools and nine universities joined another 200 education, cultural and civil society contacts in cheering as President Obama took the oath of office and then mentioned in his inaugural address the small village where his father was born.

President Obama's pointed references to dealing with the realities of the economic crisis in the United States and his calls for restoring America's standing in the world were not lost on the Kenyans. In conversation after conversation, Kenyans old and young alike wondered how they could raise new political leaders like “our president.”

In electronic programming, media commentary and personal reactions, Kenyans spoke as one as they focused on how the points of the inaugural address that defined the specific ills America faces and will overcome reflected the economic and political turmoil in Kenya. They wondered where the spirit of Americans — from its founders through its immigrants to its newly awakened youth — could be found among Kenyans to deal with the country’s constitutional reforms and anti-corruption issues. Where, they asked wistfully, were the Kenyan Obamas who could break the chains of tribalism and party politics and the culture of impunity, and institute a regime of law?

The embassy’s inauguration program was the culmination of the programs run to educate Kenyans about the U.S. electoral process. It now serves as the starting point for a new embassy speakers program on peaceful political transition, the realization of the American ideals of equality and the rule of law embodied in the U.S. Constitution and brought to fulfillment through the American civil rights movement.

Thomas J. Dowling is the counselor for public affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.