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Obama’s African Grandmother to Attend Inauguration

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Above: President-elect Barack Obama, then Senator, meets
his grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama at his father’s house in
Nyongoma Kogelo village, western Kenya, Saturday, Aug. 26,
2006. (AP Photo)

By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2009

New York (Tadias) – Barack Obama’s Kenyan grandmother will soon arrive in America for her grandson’s inauguration next week, according to press reports.

The AFP says Sara Obama will bring with her some gifts for the new president, including a three-legged stool and a traditional Luo oxtail fly whisk.

She had also hoped to bring a traditional spear and shield from her Luo tribe:

“But I have been told that due to security reasons I will not be allowed to board a plane with it,” she was quoted as saying in the Standard newspaper.

“The day I was waiting for has finally come… I cannot hide my joy,” she said. “I am going to be Kenya’s ambassador during the occasion and I will live up to the expectations.”

According to AP, Sarah will attend an unofficial inauguration ball with representatives from the Kenyan government.

Sara Obama is the stepmother of President-elect Obama’s Kenyan father.


Barack Obama with his grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, in Africa.
(Courtesy of the Obama Family)


Obama’s African Family: (bottom row, from left) half-sister
Auma, her mother Kezia Obama, Obama’s step-grandmother Sarah
Hussein Onyango Obama and unknown; (top row, from left) unknown,
Barack Obama, half-brother Abongo (Roy) Obama, and three unknowns.
(Courtesy)


Barack Obama Sr. poses with his son in the Honolulu airport during
his only visit to see his son while he was growing up in Hawaii.
Young Barack was in the 5th grade when the photo was taken.
(Courtesy of the Obama Family)


Obama Sr. traveled to the United States on a scholarship to
pursue his education at the University of Hawaii, where he met the
President-elect’s mother. Obama’s father eventually went to Harvard,
where he received his Ph.D. and later returned to Kenya, where he
worked as a government economist until he died in a car crash in 1982.

7 thoughts on “Obama’s African Grandmother to Attend Inauguration”

  1. This is so great. We had hoped that his Kenyan Granny cound/would attend her Grandsons History making envent. Now, by Granny attending her Grandson’s Presidental Inaugration adds to the occasion.

  2. Obama is truly down to earth human being as he had no qualms in recognizing his roots. I hope he makes contact with is half American sisters who are in Kenya with their mother. This lady was the second white American woman to marry Obama Senior and followed him from USA to Kenya.

    Obama is not the first person to stand for a political office in North America with African origin. I was the first person from Kenya and African countries to run for a polical provincial legislative body in Kenya. I was born in Kisumu and went to schooling in Eldoret and law schools in England.

  3. Is grandma Sara already in America? It would be great as a sign of acknowledgement of his African root.

  6. “So they went quickly and made him come out; and when he took his place among the people, he was taller by a head than any of the people.” (1 Samuel, 10, 23)!!

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