Father of three, Darren Flowers, has been forced to leave his Kenyan-born wife Anne and their children in Africa while he drives taxis to raise money to fund their return to Australia. |
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Driver, wearing music ear- phones,
ignored screaming
passengers and hooting train to attempt
crossing railway,
to escape from a police officer who had
flagged him down.
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| Gilbert Deya |
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Excerpted from THE PRESIDENT’S DEVOTIONAL: The Daily Readings That Inspired President Obama, by Joshua DuBois by arrangement with HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins. Copyright © Joshua DuBois 2013.
The White House is not supposed to be a place for brokenness. Sheer, shattered, brokenness. But that’s what we experienced on the weekend of December 14, 2012.
I was sitting at my desk around midday on Friday the 14th when I saw the images flash on CNN: A school. A gunman. Children fleeing, crying.
It’s sad that we’ve grown so accustomed to these types of scenes that my first thought was I hope there are no deaths, just injuries. I thought, Maybe it’s your run-of-the-mill scare.
And then the news from Sandy Hook Elementary School, a small school in the tiny hamlet of Newtown, Connecticut, began pouring in. The public details were horrific enough: Twenty children murdered. Six staff. Parents searching a gymnasium for signs of their kids.
But the private facts we received in the White House from the FBI were even worse. How the gunman treated the children like criminals, lining them up to shoot them down. How so many bullets penetrated them that many were left unrecognizable. How the killer went from one classroom to another and would have gone farther if his rifle would’ve let him.
That news began a weekend of prayer and numbness, which I awoke from on Saturday only to receive the word that the president would like me to accompany him to Newtown. He wanted to meet with the families of the victims and then offer words of comfort to the country at an interfaith memorial service.
I left early to help the advance team—the hardworking folks who handle logistics for every event—set things up, and I arrived at the local high school where the meetings and memorial service would take place. We prepared seven or eight classrooms for the families of the slain children and teachers, two or three families to a classroom, placing water and tissues and snacks in each one. Honestly, we didn’t know how to prepare; it was the best we could think of.
The families came in and gathered together, room by room. Many struggled to offer a weak smile when we whispered, “The president will be here soon.” A few were visibly angry—so understandable that it barely needs to be said—and were looking for someone, anyone, to blame. Mostly they sat in silence.
I went downstairs to greet President Obama when he arrived, and I provided an overview of the situation. “Two families per classroom . . . The first is . . . and their child was . . . The second is . . . and their child was . . . We’ll tell you the rest as you go.”
The president took a deep breath and steeled himself, and went into the first classroom. And what happened next I’ll never forget.
Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. He’d say, “Tell me about your son. . . . Tell me about your daughter,” and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed away—many of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it all—the president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&M’s, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break.
And then the entire scene would repeat—for hours. Over and over and over again, through well over a hundred relatives of the fallen, each one equally broken, wrecked by the loss. After each classroom, we would go back into those fluorescent hallways and walk through the names of the coming families, and then the president would dive back in, like a soldier returning to a tour of duty in a worthy but wearing war. We spent what felt like a lifetime in those classrooms, and every single person received the same tender treatment. The same hugs. The same looks, directly in their eyes. The same sincere offer of support and prayer.
The staff did the preparation work, but the comfort and healing were all on President Obama. I remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. And of course, even a president’s comfort was woefully inadequate for these families in the face of this particularly unspeakable loss. But it became some small measure of love, on a weekend when evil reigned.
And the funny thing is—President Obama has never spoken about these meetings. Yes, he addressed the shooting in Newtown and gun violence in general in a subsequent speech, but he did not speak of those private gatherings. In fact, he was nearly silent on Air Force One as we rode back to Washington, and has said very little about his time with these families since. It must have been one of the defining moments of his presidency, quiet hours in solemn classrooms, extending as much healing as was in his power to extend. But he kept it to himself—never seeking to teach a lesson based on those mournful conversations, or opening them up to public view.
Jesus teaches us that some things—the holiest things, the most painful and important and cherished things—we are to do in secret. Not for public consumption and display, but as acts of service to others, and worship to God. For then, “your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you,” perhaps not now, but certainly in eternity. We learned many lessons in Newtown that day; this is one I’ve kept closely at heart.
Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” —Luke 22:52–53 (nkjv)
“But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” Darkness will, in fact, have its hour. We saw hours of darkness in Auschwitz and Treblinka, Newtown and antebellum Mississippi. No one less than Christ affirmed that there are moments when evil moves mightily in the world. The questions become: Do we have confidence in the coming light? Will the darkness overwhelm us, which is always its goal, or will we hold on to the promise of the morning?
Jesus held on to that promise, and in his resurrection and ascension was crowned victorious, in a mantle of light. His confidence is an indicator of how we should meet our own times of darkness, those moments when evil temporarily seems to reign.
Dear God, in the nighttime, remind me of the day. In the darkness, remind me of your light. I have confidence in the coming morning, and until then I will stand strong. Amen.
A top State official told Capital FM News on condition of anonymity that a decision had been reached within high levels of government to cancel the police orders.
Capital FM News had earlier learnt that lawyers acting for the three had agreed to present them for questioning on Monday since Shollei is away.
The summonses were delivered to the Standard Group offices on Mombasa Road Thursday afternoon by detectives, a day after Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo said he wanted them questioned over issues in their story that was “grossly misinforming and inciting.”
Earlier in the day, the civil society and journalists’ groups had slammed the directive saying it was an affront to media freedom.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights chairperson Anne Ngugi condemned the threats by the Police Chief saying,” journalists and the media have a right to inform the public and the public the right to receive information.”
Ngugi added, “Until these rights are protected the government will only be paying lip-service to human rights which they should rid themselves of.”
The Kenya Editors’ Guild also raised concern saying, “This is an affront on media freedom and an attempt to gag the free flow of information which is enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya.”
“We challenge the Inspector General of Police to prove his allegations of incitement and clarify why his officers are harassing journalists in the course of their duty,” their statement read.
“We remind the Kenya Police that it is the cardinal duty of media to access to information share it with their audiences. This is a duty the media has largely carried out professionally with integrity and a high sense of responsibility. As it stands the Media in Kenya is self regulating and there are clear sections of the law that address those aggrieved by media reportage.”
“There is a Complaints Commission within the Media Council of Kenya where the Inspector General or aggrieved parties can file their complaints for determination,” they advised.
On his part, the Law Society of Kenya Chairman Eric Mutua said the journalists only gave answers to the unanswered questions brought by the confusion seen between the security forces.
“The Inspector General seems to be the only stranger in Jerusalem. All and sundry know that the Westgate operation was bungled and the various statements issued by security forces were non- factual,” he added.
In a statement, Mutua added that the findings by the investigative journalists should be clarified and not seen as a chance to threaten the media.
“When persons charged with such responsibility fail to show leadership and provide answers the media and public will provide alternative answers. Whether right or wrong, these answers were a necessity,” explained Mutua.
He advised that instead of issuing threats to the media what should be happening is resignation of those who failed and formulation of an independent commission to probe the Westgate fiasco.
James Mwamu of the East Africa Law Society also disapproved of the actions of the Police boss, advising him to hand over the matter to the media council for investigation before arresting the said journalists.
“We would rather believe on what comes from the media than what comes from the police; we were told that some mattresses were burning only to discover it was a bomb explosion,” he said. Tom Rhodes of the Committee to Protect Journalists added to the growing concern saying, “It appears we are entering a downward spiral in terms of media freedoms in Kenya following Kimaiyo’s summonses to John-Allan Namu and Mohamed Ali over their Westgate mall coverage.”
“Kenya has a statutory Media Council designed to handle media disputes.
“The Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo should follow his nation’s procedures and settle any concerns through the council, not threaten with incitement.”
“Kenya’s robust press should not be targeted simply for airing the truth. Instead, the Kenyan police should be investigating the real criminals at Westgate, not the messengers,” said Rhodes.
Kimaiyo had said “it is very clear that there is limit” to media freedom.
“We are looking within the law very closely for those individuals who in one way or another might have committed crimes… that soon they would be apprehended and appear before the court, and face the consequences of this,” he said.
However, Kenya’s military chief Julius Karangi on Tuesday insisted officers did not loot, and took drinks from the supermarket only “to quench their thirst”.
Explaining the other goods taken, Karangi called it “sanitisation to ensure their safety”.
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East Africa’s ambitious plan to boost its
oil supply infrastructure
enters a critical phase this week as
Kenya and Uganda float a
design tender, while South Sudan decides
whether to build a
pipeline through Kenya or Djibouti. TEA
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Safari Rally legend Joginder Singh died aged 81| By David Evans |
MISSING |
| Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho |
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| Mr Robert Simiyu with his wife Lucy in Houston, Texas. |
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From left:
ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda,
Deputy
President William Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
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| Ms Jendayi Frazer |
October 26, 2013 · |
| Women are glad to be called babymamas |
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PHOTO |
FILE Tullow Oil engineers work
at the oil
rig at Ngamia One Well in Turkana
County in
2012. The discovery of oil in the
arid region
has raised the locals’ expectations
and its is
prudent for the government to manage
them
early. NATION MEDIA GROUP
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Nigerian
writer Chimamanda Adichie.
The past
weekend saw the London Premiere
of
Adichie’s Half Of A Yellow Sun at the
BFI London
Film Festival.
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| Mr Malcolm Bell |
By WANJIRU MACHARI The prank was thought up by notorious American joker Tom Mabe who used the remote-controlled skeleton to frighten the life out of joggers, dog walkers and children alike.
He filmed the winged version of Death, which he calls the Flying Reaper, looming overhead and swooping down on people below as they run away.
Scroll down for videos
It's behind you! A comedian frightens the life out of two joggers with his remote-controlled Grim Reaper
Halloween horror: The joggers run off with comedian Tom Mabe's Flying Reaper in hot pursuit
Mr Mabe has made a name for himself by thinking outside the box and his latest prank is no disappointment.
His YouTube clip now has more than 150,000 views since being posted just 24 hours ago.
Mr Mabe, 44, said: 'We have had a lot of fun making this. It's taken some work to make it happen, but it's great fun.
'It flies with the help of a remote control helicopter but you rig it up in a really brilliant way. It has to be quiet so people don't hear it.
'Wherever there are people, we will go. We have since managed to make its eyes glow red and we are going to go out at night and scare people.
Scared stiff: The Flying Reaper creeps up behind teenagers at a play park
Hot on their heels: Children run screaming as the cloaked skeleton chases them
Having a blast: A video of the prank has been watched more than 100,000 times
'The best bit is when you sneak up on people. We fly it about 200 feet in the air and then drop it down so it's right behind them.
Mr Mabe, a self-confessed 'crazy dad' from Louisville, Kentucky, added: 'There's been a lot of trial and error but we think we've got it just right, in time for Halloween.
'We're going to take it to a street where there are always lots of trick-or-treaters and are going to set a camera up from inside the Reaper's face to capture the children's reactions.
'I have always wanted to do this, it's such a laugh.'
Well-timed stunt: Mr Mabe has been pulling off the pranks a week before Halloween
Prankster: Mr Mabe has made a name for himself by thinking outside the box with his practical jokes
Mr Mabe, from Louisville, Kentucky, have been hailed a 'comic superhero' in the past for playing pranks on telemarketers to the point where they hang up.
He once pretended to be a detective investigating a crime scene and threatened to make the telemarketer a suspect in the case.
Another caller looking to sell him a cemetery plot was told that he had been thinking about killing himself and the call must be a sign to carry it out.
A place he knows well: The Grim Reaper soars over a cemetery
Spooky: The Grim Reaper rises high in the sky before swooping down on unsuspecting victims
The summonses were delivered to the Standard Group offices on Mombasa Road Thursday afternoon by detectives/FILE
