{"id":20649,"date":"2022-09-13T17:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T21:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=20649"},"modified":"2022-11-14T18:49:56","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T23:49:56","slug":"i-hope-it-works-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=20649","title":{"rendered":"Grandma Hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Sweetwaters Serena Camp, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya \u2013 <\/em>I was thinking of Elisha as I rested on my tent porch Tuesday afternoon. The gang had set off on another Game Drive after lunch, so I had some \"\"<\/a>quiet time. I was also thinking of events transpiring in Nairobi at that very moment. William Ruto was being inaugurated as the 5th President of Kenya. It was happening in that big stadium we\u2019d passed on our Sunday tours, the Moi International Sports Center, where 60,000 people could gather. Today had been declared a national holiday. The election had been hard fought, I wondered how things were going.<\/p>\n

Do you know anything of Kenyan history? Are you aware that Kenya was colonized by the British in 1895? It was 1902 when those fertile highlands I\u2019ve been riding through the last few days were opened to white settlers (hence Karen Blixen\u2019s 6,000-acre coffee plantation in 1913). Fast forward to 1963, when the volatility of \u201cwhose land is it, anyhow?\u2019(call it a revolution) brought about independence, of a sort, for the folks who lived there first.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Today, Kenya, a small and beautiful multi-ethnic country on the east coast of Africa with 42 tribes and about 60 languages (English and Swahili most prolific) is a \u201cpresidential representative democratic republic.\u201d Over the last 59 years it has altered its constitution many times; political parties have come and gone; and corruption has left its mark.<\/p>\n

Will William Ruto make a difference?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wait, you may be thinking. He is only the 5th<\/sup> president in 59 years? Well yes, here\u2019s the list; fascinating to read about who did the most good, and the most harm, during their long terms. Worth looking them up if you want to dig deeper. From 1963-1964 British rule was winding down with Queen Elizabeth II as monarch; Jomo Kenyatta was Prime Minister.<\/p>\n