Dear Friends, Greetings from Nairobi on a grey, chilly, damp, overcast Sunday morning. I am trusting that by noon the sun will break through and we will enjoy a nice afternoon like we did yesterday. (Spring, yes, spring cannot come fast enough here; I miss the warm days.) I spent yesterday morning doing some long-awaited weeding and tilling soil in a large patch of roses that I had extensively pruned two weeks ago. The roses are beginning to assert themselves, some more than others, and promise to be fully grown by late September and full of blossoms again. It is such a gift for me to get outside and not look at my computer screen and forget the writing of my next book, which I am almost in the middle of. Writing for me can become compulsive; I wake up thinking about it, I go to bed thinking about it; the desire to finish the book and get out of me onto the computer all that is going on in my mind, heart, and spirit can be all-consuming. This is why working in the dirt with something that will be beautiful, enjoying no pressure nor time constraint, is truly relaxing for me. ............................................................................................................................................... I have waited a full week to write this letter while anticipating sharing with you something of the results of the Kenyan election. Perhaps you know that the loser in the election appealed the election results to the Supreme Court of the nation. Kenya waited two weeks for the seven judges with their many fellow lawyers to decide. Last Friday, at noon, during a Muslim holiday, the judges on a 4-2 vote (one judge was in the hospital) declared the election invalid, that it had not followed the Constitution's directives. (Can you imagine such a reason, such an alleged omission and gaffe??!!) So, another national election must be held in 60 days, on the presidential issue only, not on the other offices. This election, I am told, will be conducted on November 1. What is so exasperating is the waste of time and money, all the money that was spent on the previous election of August 8, the most expensive one in Africa, ever!; and over 1000 foreign observers, on their own money, had come to volunteer as observers and guarantors of the integrity of the election at various polls. By the way, they all said matters were conducted well and from what they saw the process was fine and trustworthy. John Kerry, the former secretary of state, was among these observers.................................................................................................................................................................................................... It seems to me that this outcome is a great embarrassment to the nation to spend all that money and time on a national election and have the presidential part of it declared invalid and has to be repeated. Kenya has had major strikes by nurses, doctors and also, in a separate strike, by teachers demanding the money that the government had promised them for raises. It always seems that the rich and the politically powerful find the money for what they really want, but so many others are denied. I find this situation something that leaves many, and myself, so weary. It reminds me of the very long process of campaigning, primaries, and finally an election in the USA. The two political parties, here in Kenya and also in the States, spend far too much time wrangling and focused critically on each other, and do not do enough real governing. Will the American citizens ever get a real choice, a choice that they are enthusiastic about? The USA did not get such a choice at the last national election. Will the election in 2020 be any different??!! ................................................................................................................................................. I marked four years in East Africa last August 23...................................................................................................................................... Underneath the various discouraging signs in the Kenyan economy and social structures, I experience the awesomeness of God's presence and power active in the lives and stories of the retreatants I am privileged to listen to and guide. I am deeply impressed with what I hear. For the three who are making the 30-day retreat--one from Kenya, one from Zambia, the other from Burundi-- I sense God saying, "no matter what the inequities in economics and social structures, I am with you through it all, and for those who are interested in a deep friendship with me, I will pour out my best gifts." In the midst of it all, God is singularly good to me, especially in my daily morning contemplations. At times it so moves me at how God supports me and is close. It is so awesome. .......................................................................................................................................... I must go now. With the Labor Day weekend over, the rhythm of the nation changes, children return to school, summer for the northern hemisphere is over, etc. God bless all of you. Bernie Owens