hope

uganda is 8 hours ahead of the eastern united states, and the american voter polls won’t close in the west until early morning for me.

goma, 200 miles to the west, continues it's descent into chaos.

i drink a dark beer thoughtfully under the stars, in a tiny, forgotten place. trying to grasp some measure of peace in my soul. the sound of continuity. a river flowing through this dark night.

around 6 i wake up and walk out to the vendors selling chipates on the side of the dirt road. i order one with egg, tomato, onion, and avocado, with a small mango juice. a bit of hot sauce. hearty, spicy breakfasts are best. the friendly kid cooks it in front of me, making his living 65 cents at a time.

i walk over to a modest bar which boasts the only television in town. a small group of ex-pats already sits there, watching cnn streaming down from satellites in the outer spaces. smiles on their faces.

“is there hope for my country?” i ask, sliding up a chair.

obama has won soundly. the people have spoken; a historical day. his speech brings sweet pangs of pride to our hearts. tears well up in the eyes of our tiny gathering. even the men.

"And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand."



******



later, in kampala, street vendors, one next to another next to another, are selling 3X5 photographs of obama. many, many people see me, wave, and yell. smiling: “mzungu! obama!”

for the first time in a while, i am bursting with pride for being born in a great country.

in kenya, they declare the next day a national holiday.

people around the world think that obama will do great things in america and for the rest of the planet's abandoned masses. they have hope that he can improve the lives of many, many forgotten humans. but there is something else to this mania; something else that swims below the surface.

obama’s popularity, and the pride it gives to africans, is profound. here, on the most exploited and destitute continent of the world, is a seed of hope. it transcends the parlor game map lines of kenya, tanzania, uganda.

that a man of african heritage, born into hard circumstances and tough beginnings, can rise to become president of the united states.

for these people, that means that anything is possible. it fills them with pride, with hope; that their short, brutal, and impoverished existences are not immutable life sentences.

food and medicine are still badly needed on this continent, and will be for some time, but what is needed more is possibility. opportunity.

the fourth of november has been a potent injection of hope, streaming into the souls and hearts of many africans.

and hope is a good thing....maybe the best of things.