Where were you?

Where were you when you heard the news of the buildings that once stood here?

I was in Kijabe, Kenya...in this gymnasium.

It was sometime after 4pm in Kenya and I was watching a high school basketball game at Rift Valley Academy where I was working as a "dorm mom."

I remember hearing a high school student rush in the gym and say, "they are flying planes into buildings in New York City." At first I thought he was kidding...but he didn't look like he was kidding.  I went immediately to my fellow dorm mom's apartment where I was having dinner later that evening, because she had a TV.  She already had the television turned on to KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) who was patching in BBC.  I stood there speechless, with the rest of those in the room, and we watched and listened in silence.  And then the buildings were gone. We watched it unfold live from the other side of the planet. And then there was news of the Pentagon.  And a field in PA.

We prayed. What else could we possibly do?

It was such a strange and surreal experience to be separated from my country during this tragedy. There was extremely limited media exposure, we had no Internet on campus, and even email and phone communication was difficult and expensive. I missed a lot about Sept 11th...the coverage, the stories of heroes, the efforts of so many to help with clean-up and recovery, the displays of patriotism. Maybe that is why I have been so drawn to watching media coverage of the 10th anniversary this weekend.

But one thing I did get to experience were the gestures of support and empathy from people a world, or two, away from ground zero. Kenyans would constantly tell us Americans how sorry they were for our country and that they were praying for us. People who were living in poverty were feeling pain for our loss and were praying for us.  It was humbling and remarkable to experience third world support and prayers for America in September 2001.

We had some minutes of remembrance and prayer for 9/11 at church this morning.  And then we came upon this display at a local park where we took the kids after church. A simple act of remembrance, very well done. I think it is really important to remember.

Where were you that day when you heard the news?  
What did you do today to remember?