10 years on

In a couple of hours it will mark the 10th anniversary of the bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam. One high school friend was driving along the road that runs past the location of where the US embassy in Nairobi was when the bomb went off. 6 months pregnant at the time, she abandoned her car and made her escape on her foot. Another high school friend was a doctor at Nairobi Hospital and when I finally managed to get through to her the following day, she told me how all of Nairobi's medical personnel had put their hands to the pump in order to treat the scores of injured that came flooding through the hospital doors. Doctors and nurses who were on leave returned to lend a hand and by the time the American medical team arrived on Saturday, there was very little left for them to do.

The bomber tried to drive the pick-up truck into the underground car park of the US embassy in Nairobi and when the security guard refused to raise the barrier to the car park, the bomber exchanged gunfire with the security guard. The sound of gunfire drew office workers to the windows of the glass buildings that surrounded the US embassy so that when the bomb was detonated, those by the windows bore the brunt of the explosion as the glass shattered, the shards were propelled inward at extremely high velocity and a large number of the injuries sustained were sight related.

The Israelis had warned the US about threats to its African embassies in January 1998 and in the aftermath of the bombings in August 1998, the US went after OBL, who was living in Sudan at the time, by launching cruise missiles at, what turned out to be, a medicine factory. OBL moved on to Afghanistan and then September 11 happened.

The events of 7th August 1998 were superseded by what happened on 11th September 2001, but for the families and friends of the victims of these misguided faith based initiatives, those dates are indelible reminders of the day their lives changed forever.

Hold on to the memories
of those who have gone
because while the grief is still raw,
that's all one has to live on.

Their smile, conversation or simply their presence,
are sorely missed, along with their effervescence.
So until we meet up again in the afterlife,
we'll cherish their memories as we try to get by.