Hijack attacks revive Kenya memories

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Nairobi is thousands of miles from America, but in this corner of Africa, the news of terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. brought back painful memories for many Kenyans.

In 1998, terrorist attacks on the American embassies here and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania killed 231 people and injured thousands. A park was built where the rubble once lay and reconstruction continues.

VIDEO CNN's Catherine Bond says the World Trade Center bombings remind Kenyans of the 1998 tragedy in Nairobi (September 14) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Kenyans joined Americans in mourning at a special prayer service, and warned that the emotional recovery can take "a lifetime." Charles Abiud, a Kenyan computer manager, said he once went to the top of the World Trade Center, and "I was proud to see the world on top of that building, and now when I found it was collapsing, I got shocked. I personally felt I was sinking down with it, the way I was up there."

Abiud's has advice for victims of the American attacks. Professional counseling he says, didn't help victims of the Nairobi bombing, as much as sharing their feelings with a group of people who traveled to Kenya to talk to them, a group of Americans affected by the Oklahoma bombing.