Kwaheri to Smith Hempstone, Friend of Kenya

Submitted by Sandy Seppala on Tue, 2006-11-21 02:37.

Smith Hempstone, who served as U.S. ambassador to Kenya from 1989 to 1993, died on Nov. 19 in Bethesda, Md., of complications of diabetes. As ambassador, Mr. Hempstone became an effective, aggressively undiplomatic critic of the country's president, Daniel arap Moi.

Mr. Hempstone and his wife, Kitty, participated in the activities of the Friends of Kenya, continuing their interest in the people and affairs of Kenya.

The Friends of Kenya board and its members express their condolences to Kitty, their daughter and grandson.

A full obituary can be found in the Washington Post.

I served in Nandi District du
Submitted by Inella '90 - '92 (not verified) on Fri, 2006-11-24 06:52.

I served in Nandi District during the time just leading up to the '92 elections and can attest to the impact that he had in our area (which was Moi's home area).

When we saw that Smith had passed away, my husband (a former Kenyan) and I remembered how "Brother Smith" made it clear that he wasn't in Kenya to attend cocktail parties. He did so much to help get Kenya back into multi-party democracy and to get Section 2(a) of the constitution repealed.

We were sad to see the change in US government that led to Smith leaving the post. Even my in-laws who weren't all that thrilled about Americans loved Smith. He was truly a working man's ambassador.

Is there any way to pass on condolences directly to the family?

Rest in peace Smith. You touched many, many lives and we were so much the better for it. If only more ambassadors were like you.

Safiri salama na tutoanana inshallah.

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Just wanted to say that the p
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2006-11-22 20:07.

Just wanted to say that the place where the former embassy was is still referred to as 'kwa Hempstone' (Hempstone's place) by matatu drivers dropping passengers off at that junction. May he rest in peace.

- Kenyan

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