Adventures in Africa
Weekend of Eggs and Movies
Published Monday, November 21, 2005 by orange you glad | E-mail this post
I said that I was going to spend this weekend in town to relax and I stuck to my plan. I think I have watched about 12 movies in the past 3 days on my new cable tv channels (everything from Steel Magnolias to a GREAT South African film called the Wooden Camera). To take a break from holing myself up in my apartment I managed to get to 2 parties and the Mau Mau Film Festival which featured films about revolution (I saw a documentary about Malcolm X). Then today, in honour of having the day off (for the referendum) I hosted “Referendum Brunch 2005". We ate lots of eggs, french toast and mimosas while attempting to watch the coverage on the vote today. It was the worst coverage that you could imagine. At one point there was live coverage of former President Moi voting (and you could even see who he voted for). Slightly dry coverage for such a contentious issue.
It has been an interesting weekend here with the preparation for today’s vote. On Saturday there were 2 rallies in Nairobi (the Yes - banana and No - orange camps) that were smartly placed at a reasonable distance from each other and heavily policed. There have been clashes in past rallies where hundreds of people were injured and 7 people killed. Being downtown during this was strange because it was completely deserted. This could have something to do with the fact that the police would arrest you if you were in a “large group” which I heard could be as few as 6 people. Car dealerships and many shops were emptied out and some even boarded up for fear of looting and riots. Surprisingly, nothing has happened - yet. I think sometime tonight they will announce the results. Interesting times here.
It has been an interesting weekend here with the preparation for today’s vote. On Saturday there were 2 rallies in Nairobi (the Yes - banana and No - orange camps) that were smartly placed at a reasonable distance from each other and heavily policed. There have been clashes in past rallies where hundreds of people were injured and 7 people killed. Being downtown during this was strange because it was completely deserted. This could have something to do with the fact that the police would arrest you if you were in a “large group” which I heard could be as few as 6 people. Car dealerships and many shops were emptied out and some even boarded up for fear of looting and riots. Surprisingly, nothing has happened - yet. I think sometime tonight they will announce the results. Interesting times here.
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