A former south Wales journalist now working in Kenya has talked of the country’s troubles and civil unrest.
Sarah Elderkin worked for the Cardiff-based papers Western Mail and the South Wales Echo during the 1990s.
She is now a personal assistant to Raila Odinga – leader of the opposition to Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki.
The country is currently experiencing huge levels of political violence after disputed presidential elections just after Christmas.
Sarah, (59), has to brave the threat of violence every day as she attempts to go about her daily life and work.
She told the Echo: “I live very near the route from Kibera slum to the city centre, where our supporters have been trying to hold rallies for the past few days.
“We’ve had a lot of shooting and destruction near here. I have to drive round boulders strewn all over the roads.”
Sarah said that streets were covered in broken glass, mounds of smouldering tyres and burnt out cars and bus shelters.
She first moved to Kenya in 1968 but relocated to south Wales in 1994.
She returned to Africa 18 months ago since when she has been ghost writing Raila Odinga’s autobiography and campaigning in the run-up to the election.
Sarah Russell has been putting round-the-clock updates online as fire and riots ravage the county torn apart by politics.
She works for the United Nations website which has become a vital link around the world.
In an e-mail to the Chronicle she wrote: “Where people lived and worked side by side, Kenya has been ripped apart by tribal differences; killing each other, burning houses, shops and businesses and committing acts of genocide.”
Sarah, (32), was a reporter at the Chronicle from 1999 to 2002. When she moved to Kenya, she worked as a radio news presenter in the capital, and has lived in Nairobi ever since. She is now a sub-editor for the United Nations humanitarian news service IRIN.
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