Diani

This will be short: a) because I’m way behind in blog posting and b) it was a wonderfully low-key time at the coast that didn’t engender much drama.

tuk tuk from the airstrip

As a part of my mother-in-law’s visit, we headed back to the coast. It’s become sort of a standard drill to take visitors on safari, usually Amboseli, and then to the Indian Ocean. Often it’s been Diani. There’s a lot to say for the “go with what you know” theory. When you have someone visiting on a once- or twice-in-a-lifetime excursion, you generally want as few surprises as possible. Or when you’re traveling with your children. I remember my brother visiting me in Europe many years ago and he specifically requested to do something new to me rather than show him a slew of my favorite things. It was a way we could both explore together instead of having just one of us seeing new stuff. I get that and that was probably the right thing to do in that situation. But the older you get, the less keen you are on leaving the door open to things unraveling. Especially in a foreign country. Moreover, stuff is going to happen anyway, no matter how well you plan, and my appetite for the unpredictable and inconvenient isn’t what it was when I was in my 20s and 30s. 

So Diani was the natural choice. We’ve been other places but this is the place we know the best. I have to say, the entire coast is beautiful and most places are quite nice. Occasionally I’ll hear about someone having a miserable experience here or there but overall your chances are pretty good of having an amazing time at the beach.

not my thing...

The standard drill is to put on a swimsuit, get wet, eat too much and do the same thing the next day. There are loads of possible activities but the girls are at the age where they sort of dominate the swimming pool from sunrise to sundown. We spent some time on the beach, making sandcastles and so forth, but they seem to prefer the pool.

colobus monkeys munching on flowers

For some reason I didn’t spend much time sitting and relaxing. As I think back on the trip, I’m trying to sort out why. I know that I had quite a bit of work to do so that ate up a big chunk of time. No, it’s not ideal to make a trek to the coast and “waste” a bunch of it on work, but, sadly, it needed to be done and, if you need to do it anyway, there are far worse places to bust out your laptop.

girls pulled into the act

I did spend a considerable amount of time in the pool with the girls, throwing them around and playing various games. They’re tons of fun to hang out with, plus, in the back of my mind I knew I had a few weeks away from them coming on the heels of this trip.

Too soon we would be back in Nairobi. We would have a few days in the city before my mother-in-law and I would return to the airport for her journey home.

Sad Anniversary

Today is the 4^th anniversary of one of the largest terror attacks since 9/11. On October 14, 2017, a truck bomb killed over 500 people and injured hundreds of others. Somalia declared the date a national remembrance day for the victims of terror attacks in the country.

I had been in Mogadishu the week prior to the attack. Though smaller attacks happen rather regularly, there was no indication that such a massive attack was in preparation. Reports that came out in the weeks that followed indicated that it was likely that the truck, laden with explosives, was on its way to another destination, probably some sort of government installation, when it breached a security check and detonated prematurely. The impact flattened an entire neighborhood and caused damage hundreds of meters away. Our office, about a kilometer away, received damage to windows, the entry door and other parts of the building.

In Somalia there are about two degrees of separation. Everyone seems to know everyone, or at least they know someone who knows someone. The attack was a sucker punch for the entire country. One of my staff, who was in a nearby hotel, was killed when the building he was in was razed to the ground.

Once I was given security clearance, I caught the first flight I could to Mogadishu. I think it was about two days after the bombing. I arrived to see a team still stunned by what had happened. People often say that Somalis are a resilient people, and that’s true, but such a statement can be dismissive of the personal toll these repeated attacks have on the human psyche. It wears people down.

In the staff meeting we had soon after I arrived, I did very little talking. I sat and listened to my colleagues express their pain and anger. There was a certain bewilderment that something like this could happen. You try to live in hope that the country is moving in a better direction and then the rug is pulled from underneath you. You need hope – something to hang onto to get you out of bed each morning. Mental health support is limited in Somalia. It does exist but most don’t have access to it. But people seem to find ways to cope.

Since 2017, attacks have continued to happen, though none nearly as massive. Only a few months after the October attack, another one of my staff was injured when a car bomb went off near to where he was crossing a street sending shrapnel into his leg. Two days later he was on an airplane to another one of our offices to carry on his job. It’s both sad and impressive.

I likely will always remember October 14 as the day of this horrendous attack in Mogadishu. It seems to be imprinted into my memory. On this anniversary, my thoughts and prayers go out to those who were affected by the attack. May the madness come to an end.