Media coverage of post-election violence in Kenya has exaggerated the situation and oversimplified the conflict, according to AU students currently studying in the country.
All students who had planned to study abroad in Nairobi, Kenya, this semester are now on-site. The directors delayed the program by one week to start Jan. 10 to assess the security situation, according to Tina Murray, the associate director of AU Abroad.
Contested elections last month led to widespread violence and ethnic killings, leaving more than 600 dead and 250,000 displaced, according to a CNN.com article published yesterday. However, violence is limited to certain pockets, which do not include the neighborhood where AU students are living, Kelly Jo Bahry, resident director in Kenya, said in an e-mail.
Amanda Park, a junior in the School of International Service who is in the Kenya program, said she thought the media attention was exaggerated.
"The media really hypes up what's going on over here," Parker said. "While it is incredibly sad and tragic for some, it is not an accurate representation of what's actually occurring throughout the country."
Some students were initially concerned about their safety before flying to Kenya, but Bahry sent e-mails to ease their fears.
"I began writing daily e-mails to former and current students to counteract all the completely unbalanced media coverage and to let them know that Kenyans are practicing peace and stability every day," Bahry said.
However, Bahry's efforts failed to ease concerns from some parents.
"My parents almost lost their minds," Molly Canty, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs who is in the Kenya program, said in an e-mail. "My mother was actually vomiting."
Despite her parents' concerns, Canty boarded the plane as scheduled.
"I trusted the judgment of Kelly Jo Bahry and got on my flight just as excited as I had been before the election violence," she said.
Mike Onyiego, a junior at Georgetown University who is participating in the AU Abroad program this semester, said in an e-mail he was not worried because his father is Kenyan and understood the situation.
"He was the first one to tell me to be skeptical about the CNN/BBC reports because they tend to focus on the sensational sides of the stories," he said.
The media mostly pits the conflict between de-facto President Mwai Kibaki, who is backed by the Kikuyu tribe, and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who is backed by the Luo tribe. However, the situation is a lot more complex than that, according to Onyiego.
"Many Kenyans will tell you that they are neighbors to Luo and Kikuyu and Luhya and Kisii and Kamba and no one notices," Onyiego said in an e-mail. "[The candidates] are demagogues who manipulate the people on the ground and incite the hatred."
Liz Wallis, a junior in SIS, said in an e-mail that while the media portrays the situation as a tribal conflict, the actual situation is more complex.
"All tribes and people are affected," she said.
Wallis has been studying in Kenya since the fall semester and is continuing her studies into the spring. She stayed in the country through December, when the elections took place.
"[Kenyans] are peaceful, wonderful people, and everyone is tired and wants to go back to their daily lives," she said in an e-mail.
Bahry said she is making adjustments to the Nairobi program as issues arise.
"Some externship placements might not be available because of localized insecurity in some slums in Nairobi where they are placed," she said.
Students are also avoiding public transportation and slums where violence is more likely. Rallies scheduled yesterday through Friday will limit students' movement as well, Bahry said.
