Ushahidi was initially set up to mainly document incidents of violence, looting etc. during the post-election crisis in Kenya. Over time the website began document peace efforts and ways to help.

The impetus behind the website was a belief that the number of deaths being reported by the government, police, and media is grossly underreported. We also were of the view that we don't have a true picture of what is really happened/is happening- reports that all have us have heard from family and friends in affected areas suggests that things are were worse than what we have heard in the media. Beyond trying to present are fuller picture of what happened based on citizen reported information, we also want to create an archive of events that occured after the election results were announced.

Once we are done with the mapping of incidents, we also hope that we can begin to put names and faces to the people who have lost their lives and create a memorial of sorts.

What’s the point of all this you might ask?

Well, Kenyans have demonstrated their capacity for selective amnesia time and time again. When this crisis comes to an end, we don’t want what happened to be swept under the rug in the name of “moving forward” - for us to truly move forward, the full story of what happened needs to be told - Ushahidiis our small way of contributing to that.

Ushahidi will change in the world in the following ways:

1. There will be more awareness about incidents of violence of looting in post-election Kenya, these incidents may not have neccessarily been covered by mainstream media. There will also be a visual timeline of the events post Dec 27, allowing people to track points of escalation and cooling down.
2. More information about efforts to promote peace by Kenyan citizens on the ground and information on how people can help.
3. There will be a digital archive or "memorial" of sorts for the events that have happened in Kenya so that we can never forget.
4. There will be a documentation of information that can be used in any future peace and reconciliation efforts.
5. There will be an opportunity of the hitherto unnamed and unseen victims of the violence to tell their stories.
6. There will be a model that can be replicated in other future crisis events.