I have to begin with recognizing the amazing achievement that is Barack Obama! This monumental moment in history gives me hope that sometime in the not-so-distant future, the work of organizations like Project Focus will be operating abroad to compliment the positive impact of American foreign policy, and not simply attempting to alleviate aspects of the suffering directly caused by it. I know I'm not the only one with these lofty hopes, as I was fortunate enough to spend the days surrounding the election in Kenya, where the electricity had to rival places like Chicago and New York. As you know, most Kenyans claim Obama as their "son in the White House", and see him as a new source of national pride. The streets were electric with chanting marchers, taxi drivers worked their horns and voices to death with Obama's picture taped to every inch of the vehicles and newspaper salesmen – ten to every corner - proudly wielding the victorious front-page headlines - "Yes We Did". I literally just got off of a 20-plus hour bus ride back to Uganda (15 of which in the back seat, if you know the roads here you feel for me now) and still couldn't wait to get to a computer.
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We missed you here in Chicago, but it sounds like where you were in Kenya was just as electric in response to the election. From the "thieves den" in Lyantonde, to the classrooms that I hang out in on the south side of Chicago, and so many places in between, Obama has restored a lot of peoples' hope in the ability to create a better world. I suggest that you take an afternoon to climb to the highest point in the district and enjoy a bag of war gin as you ponder the possibilities!
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