Yes we can! Yes we can!

... Is what we chanted as I marched through the streets of Kisumu at 9am this morning.

I woke up this morning at 4am to find out that Pennsylvania had gone to Obama. Shortly after, he got Virginia and other key states. It was clear he would win! CNN annouced their projection that Obama had been elected President of the United States of America!!! We immediately starting celebrating.

We all called our families in the US and Nairobi, then yelled Obama from the window as we clapped and toasted. Then, we patiently watched McCain's gracious and respectful concession speech, and Obama's moving victory speech. Finally, the parade started!

We heard chanting and honking and music, so we ran out of the house in our pajamas. Most of us we grubby and nasty, but as quick as we could we got on the streets. We chanted, we danced. I probably hugged half the city. Kenyans and Americans walked hand in hand through the streets in victory. Kenyan's certainly see it as their victory; they said "we're going to the white house!" and even staged some mock voting events here in Kenya.

Tomorrow was declared a public holiday by President Kibaki, so no work for me! And there's another parade that we'll definitely join in on. Funny that I am celebrating more in Kenya then in the US for the American elections... Americans have got to learn to party!