Don't panic

It seems that news arrive 2-3 days later to Hungary... I am fine, am safe, don't worry!!!

Nairobi was pretty normal today, as I mentioned it earlier. Today we've been out for shopping, for a coffee... Everything seems to be alright here now. Though, I spoke to Phil on the phone and he says Kisumu is still not a nice place and he had to postpone his flight back to Nairobi... But it seems the situation is getting to be a bit better than it was a few days before.

Check it up here: http://www.kbc.co.ke/ .
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Since yesterday I had really interesting discussions with my Kenyan family about tribalism and the deeper issues in society that are in relation with the current situation. I think I've gotta understand now what's really happening here... Some brief information:

Currently there are more than 40 different ethnic group in Kenya. The main groups of tribes are the Bantu who migrated from western Africa, the Nilotic people who originated from Sudan and the Hamitic group, who were mainly pastoral tribes from Ethiopia and Somalia. The main tribes are Kikuyu (21%), Meru (5%), Kalenjin, Luyha, Luo (14%), Kisii, Kamba, Swahili, Masai, Turkana The other large ethnic groups include the Luo, Luhya, Kamba and Kalenjin- There are also some groups of people who form a very small population. This includes the tribe of El Molo.
(from http://www.africaguide.com/country/kenya/culture.htm )

* President Mwai Kibaki is a Kikuyu. His group comes mainly from the central highlands, wields strong economic power, and is solidly behind him for the election.
* Opposition leader Raila Odinga is a Luo, from western Kenya near Lake Victoria on the border with Uganda. Odinga's Nairobi constituency, Langata, includes one of Africa's largest slums where a large Luo population is fanatically behind him.
* Former President Daniel arap Moi comes from the Kalenjin group that has produced most of Kenya's famous long-distance runners.
* The Maasai, Kenya's best-known tribe and favourite on tourism posters, believe their god gave them all the cattle on earth and were entirely dependent on cattle alone for centuries. Many still live on just milk and fresh blood.
* Kenya is lauded internationally for remaining at peace since independence in 1963, while most of its neighbours in the region experienced war and chaos. But it is often criticised too for failing to tackle ingrained tribalism, compared with neighbouring Tanzania, where founding President Julius Nyerere is credited with uniting the whole country against it.
(from http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SIRU-7AG8D6?OpenDocument )

Before the presidence of Moi the tribal origin was not that important, people were brought up being Kenyans simply. But it's said that Moi felt uncomfortable with the given tribal situation and wanted to change it. This, unfortunately, caused serious clashes in the society. Later, after Moi, these tribal clashes seemed to be fading away - but, sadly, some of the current political leaders have started to use the tribal differences in their campaigns. And that is the cause of what's going on these days...

We need to have some initiatives that can take people out from this attitude and hatred towards each other. I believe as a first step education and access to information would help. And of course leaders have the responsibility of showing a good example to their people...

Besides, we need to find an immediate solution for now. There are some pieces of advice and potential solutions given by observers, business leaders, external bodies (today I've heard some really valuable ideas) - lets hope that our politicians are open for the advice and negotiations.