A message from Judy Gordon

Dear Tony -
 
I'm glad I was in a position to be able to make a contribution to openDemocracy and would be happy to let you publish my name with an expression of thanks.  Let me explain how I discovered your site and why I felt a need to support it financially.
 
First - some background.  One year ago I was in Kenya with a group from the Global Fund for Women, a non-profit organization working for justice for women through small direct grants to partner groups throughout the world.  We attended the World Social Forum in Nairobi and visited some of our grantees there and in Kisumu.  At the same time I met with members of the Kihumo Parish, on the outskirts of Nairobi, now in a mission partnership with Third Presbyterian Church here in Rochester, NY.  Six of us were planning a trip in mid-February to further develop the Memorandum of Understanding between the two churches and begin work on a couple of projects.  We struggled at length with the decision as to whether or not it would be wise to go at this time, using information from various sources to better inform us of the situation on the ground. ( We're delaying the trip, but not cancelling it.)
 
 Having been in Nairobi last year, I remembered how impressed I had been with the Daily Nation, so I started checking their website.  Earlier this week they carried a link to your site, via the essay by Gerard Prunier - "Kenya:roots of crisis."   I found  reading it to be extremely helpful as the information was presented in a learned, dispassionate and thoughtful manner, giving credence to the resultant violence.  In spite of the raw poverty I saw when visiting with residents of some of the Nairobi slums last year, I witnessed some powerful work being done, albeit by women, lending hope amidst the daily struggles.  Certainly there was hooliganism, especially among the teenage boys who had nothing better to do with their time, as the government has not provided free secondary education. And yet, I was taken aback that Kenya could explode in the way it has.
 
I'm continuing to read as deeply and broadly as I can on this issue - including the fine article in this week's Economist, and an article in today's Los Angles Times:  "Dark Days in Kenya dim an African beacon."  However, I realize that the historical and ethno-political perspective gained from reading Prunier's essay on your site has provided a strong base for better understanding  This weekend I'll be sending a link to it to a number of my friends with whom I've shared some of my travel memoirs.
 
Re your last point I would like to have you include a link to the Global Fund for Women website next to my entry.  That would be: www.globalfundforwomen.org
 
I'll be following your site in the future.  We certainly do need more open democracy in this world of ours.
 
On the lighter (poignant) side, did you see the comment in the Economist article on Obama that "Luos joke bitterly that America will have a Luo president before Kenya does"?
 
Best wishes to you, too, for the New Year -
 
Judy Gordon