I am a paleontologist and spent the last three weeks doing field work in western Kenya on two islands in Lake Victoria. I have traveled pretty extensively and it was amazing to be in a country, particularly in the developing/underdeveloped world, in which so many people were happy and excited to meet an American.
We met so many people in Kenya, from Nairobi to the shores of Lake Victoria, who were excited about the election of Obama. We were mostly in Luoland and close to Kisumu, the area from which Obama's father comes, but we got the response from folks everywhere.
Here are just a few incidents to give you the sense...
It started when I arrived in Nairobi. I was chatting with the woman from the taxi company who met me outside customs as we waited for the taxi to arrive. When I said I was from the US, she asked about Obama and told me how excited everyone was. She told me how on the morning of Wednesday, 3 November, the national government declared Thursday, 4 November a national holiday in Kenya in recognition. I think for many people, the holiday actually lasted two days.
A few days later we were returning in one of our vehicles from some field work and meetings with regional and local officials in our field area on Rusinga Island and chatting with Joshua, who worked for the tourist lodge on whose property we were camping. His main message was the America had shown the world how political transition and change should be done. Now, coming from your average American, or a talking head on tv, this would sound like typical pro-America BS. But the violence and chaos that followed the last Kenyan national elections had even occurred in the small nearby town of Mbita, so Joshua was not simply spouting platitudes about the greatness of US electoral democracy.
While doing field work on Rusinga early on, we met up with a young man who had worked for us in previous seasons and would do so again. We discussed how and when he could meet up with the other parts of our field team and at one point, he asked us about Obama and thanked us for giving Kenya a president.
We spent about two weeks on nearby Mfwangano Island collecting fossils and rock samples and looking for old and new collecting sites. Mfwangano is pretty remote. It has several thousand inhabitants, fishermen and farmers, and no electricity unless you have a generator and some fuel. We had a large group of local kids who would hang out and laugh at and with us wazungu as we poked around in the dirt. It was pretty easy to get them to chant "Senator Obama! Senator Obama! Senator Obama!"
One of my collaborators had brought a stack of postcards, each with a picture of Obama with some mizungu (i.e., Biden). He would give these to folks as we hiked around the island looking for fossils and outcrops. At one point, three of us were standing on a small ridge between two gullies with family homes on the far side of each gully. At each compound, the kids shouted "Mizungu! Hibari? How are you?" at me and the other mizungo, as they always do. Eventually, one brave kid from each shamba (farm or family compound) ran over to us. I took their picture, which means you have to show them the image on the camera for them to point at and giggle, and my colleague handed each a postcard of Obama and Biden. When each saw what it was, he shrieked, "Obama!" and sprinted back to his family and friends and showed them as they all shouted Obama also!
On the last day of field work on Mfwangano, we stopped by a local public school with one of the administrators, a local minister. Last year, as this time, our team donated some grain and sugar to the school to support their lunch program, and the administrator wanted us to see the school. One of the staff members, when he heard we were from the US, said "Only six more days now!"
Back in Nairobi, we saw endless t-shirts, kangas, and kikoys with images of Obama and his name emblazoned on a bright African-style textile.
As these few tales indicate, people in Kenya are excited about President Obama. I think some take true hope about the possibility of political change in Kenya from Obama's election. Others are clearly proud of his Kenyan heritage. Others feel that he is a US President for Kenyans. People seemed genuinely happy to meet an American, a reaction the seeming ubiquity of which for me was an unusual feeling in a post-colonial country.
My only concern about all of this is that perhaps Kenyans, and possibly folks in other East African countries and even more broadly, might have too high expectations about what the Obama Administration might do for Kenya and African in general. I would be very surprised for any number of reasons if US policies change to a historically significant degree. I certainly expect changes relative to the Bush Administration, for example in terms of policies regarding aid for reproductive health and rights. But I would be surprised to see a major change in political and economic support outside of historical trends, as sorely needed as that clearly is across Kenya and much of Africa. The problems, political, economic, and social, are huge, but Africa clearly is not much of a priority for American political and economic elites. I expect this will remain true despite Obama's heritage. I hope that does not squander a huge amount of good will and high expectations.
Those sad and depressing thoughts aside, the trip was amazing in all regards. The Kenyan people seem truly energized and I suspect from Tuesday afternoon til late Wednesday morning Kenya time, Kenyans will be celebrating just as much as many Americans will be!