Jan Schalkwijk is a Portfolio Manager with Africa Capital Group, an asset management firm that specializes in African stocks. The following is an account of his recent trip to Kenya and Burundi.

As the plane began its descent into Nairobi the evening of March 5th, I struck up a conversation with the KLM flight attendant. I always enjoy the opportunity to speak a little Dutch, which is not a daily occurrence for me these days.

As part of the usual small talk, I asked her where in Nairobi the flight crew was staying. She replied that KLM security had advised them to stay at the airport this time in light of security concerns surrounding the elections that had been held the day prior.

It was then that I mentally connected the news articles I had been reading about the Kenyan elections with the reality of being there, at ground zero of what could either be a repeat of the 2007 election violence or something more hopeful: a watershed moment for Kenya — a peaceful transition of power.