I am the wife of a U.S. diplomat.  Normally that sounds exotic, but really as anyone who has been there knows, it has its pros and cons.   My family and I have had culturally diverse, sometimes difficult postings, such as China during the Tianmen Square massacre.  But I have always been able to cope, find my niche, and enjoy life in these extremely different cultures.  I think now, though, that things have changed in a quantum way and it is increasingly more complicated and difficult to be the wife of a U.S. diplomat living abroad.

This past month I took my little children, Christopher, age 8, and Caroline, age 5, to see the doctor at the American Embassy in Nairobi.  In the best of times I didn't like to take them downtown in Nairobi to the Embassy.  I had fought for moving the medical unit to a safer part of the city, but me and my family's concerns were not the highest priority for the Embassy mission, in considering where to keep the medical unit and I lost that battle.  So once again, very reluctantly, I was taking the kids to get their pre-school physicals.  it happened to be 10:30 on August 7, a very fateful day.   In fact, I was late for the appointment, because the children had hidden the dog in the car and I had to go back and drop her back at home, so it was 10:33 a.m. to be exact.   We arrived at the Embassy and noticed that there were only a few cars.  We parked next to a truck, which I noticed wasn't an Embassy truck, and in fact little did I know, it carried the deadly bomb.  We went to enter the back gate, which led down to the basement where the medical unit was.  The guard at the back gate was acting strange.  He usually was very friendly to my children, laughing and teasing them.   That day, I noticed he was very stressed and quiet and actually seemed not to want to open the gate.  Again, I didn't realize that he was under pressure already from the bombers to open the gate and let that truck drive into the Embassy.  We actually walked right in the middle of their confrontation.  But he let us in and we entered the basement and went to the medical unit.  One minute after we entered, I heard a loud bang and I remarked to the nurse, "that sounds like a bomb."  We both, said it was probably a bus that backfired or something.  But a mere 15 seconds later the whole world went crazy.  The walls shook, plaster fell, chaos hit.  Stunned, I could barely realize what had happened.  I was on the floor and screamed to find my children who were there in the darkness.  We crawled to each other and held each other; they were alright.  I told them, "listen, do exactly what I say and follow me, we are getting out of here."  There was cement dust all over and it was hard to breathe, we got down low and tried in the darkness to figure out where the door to the hallway had been.  I had a mental pattern in my head, but the room and hall had little resemblance to that reality.  I held my children's hands and pushed through the rubble and darkness in the direction I thought to go.  People were crying all around, the walls were down and it was hard to make sense out of it.  I was afraid that I would walk into an electrical wire or that there would be another explosion or that worse, the way out would be completely closed.  I found light and we climbed through a hole into the garage, which was completely obliterated.  People were calling out of the darkness.  We again saw light and followed the light to an opening up a ramp to the outside.  The whole city was on fire, like an inferno and the spot were our car had been was the epicenter.  We ran around the other side of the Embassy and miraculously as we did, we saw my husband who was streaming out the front door of the Embassy at the exact same moment.  My children screamed "Daddy, Daddy" and he pulled through a fence and got hold of them.  I was stuck and it took many people to pull open a steel fence to get me out.  By some miracle all four of us were alive.   We all ran together down the street away from the Embassy.  It was total chaos, as people all ran towards the Embassy.  My husband found a car and shoved us into it and went back to the Embassy to help.  We had a harrowing drive through the craziness to home.  We closed the door and we cried.

The days and weeks, now, that have ensued, have been some of the hardest I have ever had to live.  Many people I know have been killed.  How can I explain this evil to my children and make them feel safe in this world?  The level of fear that has been aroused by the course of events in the last few weeks has been crippling.  The work that must be done to help Kenya is overwhelming.

As I said in the beginning, however, I am the wife of a diplomat, that means, I am a representative of my country.  As the chair of the American Women's Association (AWA), I am playing my part to help those who have been wounded either physically or mentally by this act of terrorism.  People in this city have pulled together to support each other in a beautiful way.  Our family is going to stay here, there is much to be done.  We are trying to re-establish some sense of normalcy and continue our lives.  At the same time, we are going to help those who are less fortunate than we have been.  For those individuals who are concerned or would like to donate to help Kenya, the AWA is collecting funds to help children with their educational needs:

American Women's Association of Kenya Relief Fund

The American Women's Association (AWA) of Kenya is appealing for funds to benefit the Kenyan children who have been injured or who have lost the financial support of one or both parents due to the recent bombing in Nairobi.

The American Women's Association is a non-profit, charitable organization working to promote community services and development throughout Kenya.

The AWA Community Services Committee will assure that candidates are screened and all the funds collected will be used for the education and/or rehabilitation of these children.

To friends and concerned people, please send your contribution in check form payable to AWA of Kenya to:

In the U.S. send (U.S. Dollar checks only) to:

AWA of Kenya

Relief Fund of Kenya

attn:  Maurice Menasche

Citibank N.A.

111 Wall Street

F.L. 19-ZNI

NY, NY 10043

USA

In Kenya send (U.S. Dollar or Kenya Shilling checks only) to:

Donations in Kenya can be hand delivered to any member of the AWA or directly deposited at Citibank in the following accounts:

American Women's Association of Kenya

Relief Fund of Kenya

Citibank N.A.

KSH Acct#:  101855015

US Dollar Account #:  10185507

Thank you for your interest and support.