Sometimes the hoopla surrounding Presidential elections feels circus-like to me. I’m already tired of candidates sitting in diners among the common folk and trying to figuratively out-shout each other. And it’s only January.

But I’m exceedingly glad to have the right to vote, and to know that I won’t end up burned out of my home because of political violence after dubious election results.

In Kenya, the recent disputed Presidential election results – putting the incumbent Mwai Kibaki back in power – have left these horrors in their wake:

More than 300 people killed.

100,000 people displaced from their homes.

A mob setting fire to a church; the Red Cross reported it pulled 17 bodies from the burnt church.

Thousands of people fleeing to Uganda.

The United Nations diverting food from Somali refugees to new Kenyan refugees.

Here’s a link to a story on NPR about the crisis:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17970228