I have now officially been out of the United States for 2.5 months, and during this time I have been witness to a major shift in the world’s perception of me and where I come from. It’s incredible to experience the drastic way people’s views changed within a short periods of time, and how my life has been greatly affected by those changes. Even in my conversations with US expatriates and friends back home, many Americans have changed too.
Any American who has traveled or lived abroad in the last 8 years probably knows that being an American overseas is not always the easiest thing. Some of us are constantly and aggressively blamed for our government. I've said I'm from Canada a few times when I could tell the situation would turn ugly if I didn’t. Sometimes it’s been for my safety, and sometimes it was simply because I no longer had the energy to hear about our president anymore.
Regardless of your feelings about our new President, this election has made a visible positive difference in the way we are perceived. To understand my experience, the following article (title is the link) pretty clearly and simply sums it up: Is It Cool to Be American Abroad?. Please please take a moment to read this.
As for the election experience in Kenya, if any of you watched CNN on the night of the election, you were most likely also greeted with the celebrations going on in a village called Kogelo. In this town, hundreds of Luo people, who share a tribal bond with Obama’s father, gathered for the night-long wait to hear the news. And upon victory, danced danced danced the day away. In Kibera, people slaughtered goats in celebration and shared the meat with their friends and neighbors. It was reported as “happy rioting.” I received messages and calls from every Kenyan I know congratulating me with a sincerity you can only find in those who are going through the experience with you. And time and time again people commented on how lucky we are to have a democracy where we can all be part of changing the course of our nation. Although I’m sad I missed all of the excitement at home, I was certainly in the second most exciting place to be for this year’s elections. If you dont believe me, here was a headline from tonight's news (and I'm not making this up): "Women in Kenya celebrated Obama's victory by shaving their hair down there. It was their testament to no more Bush."
