Snippets
A friend of mine is in the Peace Corps in Kenya, and this is the blog she posted about the election response there:
"Kenya has succommed to Obama Mania! There are parties going on in Kisumu and Nairobi. People are talking today of nothing but the American election. Thursday Nov. 6 has been declared a public holiday (Obama Day) and there have been, to date, 22 songs written about Obama. It's crazy, people are so excited by his winning. Some are just excited that a descendant of Africa can reach so high. Tumeshindwa (we have lost) is a common phrase here and, to a great extent, describes the way many people think of their prospects in life. Other people, mistakenly, believe that Obama will make access to the U.S. easy for Kenyans. They think he will give Kenya lots of money, favors and aid, as well as get rid of the difficult visa process. I wonder if there will be some sort of disillusionment coming when people realize that life in Kenya wont change much now that Obama is the President Elect. Anyway, disillusionment or no, if I had to be in any other country but the U.S. for the election, it would be Kenya. So I am glad I am here and plan on enjoying my Obama Day off tomorrow to the best of my ability!"
Also, I talked to a Libyan man named Muhammed last night at the college bar as election results were starting to trickle in. He asked whether I thought the US would accept a black man, and I said that I thought clearly they would since they seemed to be voting for him.
Then he asked, "But what about his religion, can they accept that?"
"Um....Obama's a Christian."
"No...."
"Yeah, he really is. He's gone to church regularly for the last 15 years or so. He wrote a book about his minister."
"...."
So, that seemed to dampen his ardor somewhat, but he was still pretty excited about Obama.