Web Letters: Obama's Ruined Homeland

I'm disappointed with this article because it only shows one side of the story. Did the writer even try to contact Mr. Burges? Did the writer even try to contact the local employees of Dominion Farm Kenya? Those who spoke with the employees said that they were very grateful for the industrialization. They said that those in the region who opposed Dominion Farm do so because they don't like the shift away from tradition. The writer also failed to mention all that Dominion Farm does in the region, including school development and handing out mosquito nets to a malaria-devastated region.

Jeri Arnold Lucia

Tulsa, OK

It's terrible to hear of the disaster caused by this corporation in Western Kenya. However, I spotted a factual error in Laura Flanders's article. 45,000 kenya shillings would currently be about $617 US, not $60, and this is after the kenya shilling has been dropping due to the post-election violence. When I was there in December, the exchange rate was 60 shillings to a dollar, or $750 us for 45,000 shillings. That doesn't mean it was just for the corporation to ruin these people's homes, but your article was greatly weakened by a blatant factual error. $60 US would have gotten me 3,600 shillings, not 45,000 shillings, while I was in Kenya over the New Year.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you, Nation, for otherwise covering the Kenyan situation so well. I have especially enjoyed the writings of Tavia Nyang'o on the election.

Rebecca Harshbarger

New York, NY