Roses for Kenya

These roses were in the lobby of Hotel La Mada in Nairobi, the place where I visited for the conference of the International Association of Women in Radio was held in September.

Roses are one of the main export crops of the Rift Valley in Kenya. It's almost Valentine's Day. Ordinarily those roses would be headed for Europe. I am posting my picture of these roses for the people of Kenya ... these roses, which were picked by ordinary Kenyans trying to make a living to feed their families. These roses are for you, in hope and in solidarity.

I am listening back to the recordings I made at the awards gala, the high point of the conference which was organized by the Kenya Chapter of the IAWRT. It was a happier time in Kenya, a few weeks before the election call -- the election that scarred the face of Kenya perhaps forever. The theme of the conference was, ironically, Women Making Peace.

The sounds I am hearing are the sounds of music ... drums, lively songs in the local Swahili language. Voices of women .. from all over the world but mostly from Kenya, laughing.

I am hearing speeches which talk of difficult times for Kenyan women, but with an unmistakeable tone of hope that things were getting better. Talk of the upcoming election, the wish and desire for more representation by women in the highest halls of power.

If we had been able to see the future, would there have been all this hope? Good thing we couldn't have seen what was ahead or maybe we wouldn't have even all come to Kenya in the first place.

I am grateful that I had this opportunity to see this country when it was optimistic, when people really believed that things were getting better. And that the upcoming election, only the second free election in the country's young history, would bring even better things.

These roses are for you, women of Kenya. For strength, for resilience as you continue to work for peace in your fractured, bleeding country. See these roses for the beauty that they, and you, are.