In Obama's rise, Kenyans see lessons for Africa

[Fleshdancer]

This article made me smile. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0120/p01s01-woaf.html

For Mr. Odhiambo, an accountant who belongs to the same Luo tribe that Obama's father came from, the election of a Kenyan-American marks a turning point in the way he perceives the world.

"It is not only Luos, it is also Kenyans; it is not only Kenyans, but it is other Africans who are excited," says Odhiambo, standing on a street corner in Kibera. "The change that Obama talked about, we believed in it, and finally there was change. Democracy worked. I would urge other African leaders, like Mugabe, to learn from this change, to emulate Obama."

For Africans, the election of a young black man with direct roots in Africa has a resonance that goes far beyond home-town pride. The 2008 election showed that even a nation like the US – with its troubled history of slavery and its lingering attitudes on race – can elect a man who comes from a minority group, but who has promised to represent the nation as a whole.

On a continent like Africa, where people often vote under conditions of intimidation and violence, where leaders serve the interests of themselves and their own ethnic group, Obama's election is a brush-up lesson in what democracy is all about.

"Mr. Obama's leadership should act as a mirror to us and to our leaders," says Enock Aloo Nyagol, an attorney from Nairobi. "He puts to shame our leaders and their untoward ways."