A Kenyan Inaugural Ball

“He inspires hope to the whole world; He creates hope for children to be whatever they want to be and that these dreams may actually come true.”

-Maurice, a dance instructor at Sarakasi Trust

Last night was the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44^th president of the United States. Our new President has been a figure that has inspired millions of people and provides hope to the whole world. It was an extraordinarily unique feeling for me to watch him as he was sworn in with the same bible as Abraham Lincoln was sworn in with. I kept thinking about the connection that I have with our President and they all came to a collision at that moment. He developed his career and really launched himself from my home state of Illinois; and here he was now being praised by the entire nation in my adopted home of Washington DC in front of millions of people, and here I was watching this in the nation of Kenya, from which he has ancestral roots and a nation that considers him one of their own. Seeing that beautiful city in such an uplifting, festive atmosphere made me a little homesick for Washington DC, but I believe that Nairobi, Kenya’s capitol city, was the second best place to watch this historic event. Watching the inauguration from outside the United States, I clearly got a sense that President Barack Obama is not merely just the President of the United States of America, but he also has transcended borders and is a President for the whole of the world. Speaking with people from my office Sarakasi Trust (Stay tuned for a blogpost on this amazing organization coming soon) both Dutch and Kenyans, they view him as a great hope for people all over the world, and most of all children. Maurice, an employee who was showing me around, was telling me about the stories and images of Barack Obama, when visiting his Grandmother in Kenya in his pre-Senator days, helped her carry fruit to a market and helped sell fruit. He says that this work can inspire kids who are in the same to recognize that they can to achieve greatness.

We watched the event from the University of Nairobi, who had many giant screens positioned all over their quad and projections even on some of the Academic buildings. It was interesting to see reactions when the BBC coverage would show certain people. The crowd cheered for the Clintons and the Bidens and the Obama family of course as they were walking in. What really was interesting to me was their reaction as they showed the outgoing now ex-President George W. Bush in his last few minutes as President. The reaction was not one of boos or harsh criticism, but first cordial, soft applause, followed by many people waving their hands goodbye to him. This really surprised me. As President Obama was sworn in, the whole place erupted into cheers and people jumping for joy, and then again at various points during his speech. There was no louder point than when he spoke of the small village where his father grew up here in Kenya. Other notable points of applause were when Obama said that those leaders who ruled through corruption would be on “the wrong side of history”. This received a warm applause as well as shouts of Kbeki (the largely unpopular president of Kenya who narrowly won a corrupted election last year and has an administration stricken with corruption).

Following his speech fireworks were shot off close to campus (in downtown Nairobi) and performances were given by some of Kenya’s famous recording artists as the crowd of college students danced along and celebrated the new administration. The festivities at the University of Nairobi were sponsored by Google, as some Google representatives from the States were here to celebrate as well. I got to attend an inaugural ball after all, in the way of thousands of Kenyan college students dancing to live performances, and it was an amazing experience that I will remember for years to come.