KENYA: Prayers in his ancestral village for Barack Obama as he bids for the U.S. presidency, and for his grandmother who's died

Record ID: 360791

  • Title: KENYA: Prayers in his ancestral village for Barack Obama as he bids for the U.S. presidency, and for his grandmother who's died
  • Date: 5th November 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Kiswahili) PETER OTIENO, KOGELO RESIDENT, SAYING: "These prayers will help because we have to put God first, so that he can show us the way. We don't want this election to turn out like the previous ones." KOGELO RESIDENTS PRAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Luo) UNIDENTIFIED BISHOP SAYING: "May God forgive him for all the wrongs he may have done abroad. Because of J.F. Ken
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVACWIEHQWOWYKYMAG6M21XXK3JS
  • Story Text: Kenyans in Kogelo, Barack Obama's ancestral home, held prayers on Tuesday (November 4) in the hope that the Illinois senator will make history and become the next U.S. president.
    Much of Kenya is in a state of high excitement as the country's favourite adopted son - Obama's father hailed from Kogelo - enters the last leg of his race for the White House.
    Peter Otieno, a Kogelo resident, said the prayers would help "because we have to put God first."

    "We don' want this election to turn out like the previous ones," he added.
    Police have increased security as family, friends, well-wishers and hordes of journalists continue to descend on Kogelo, where Obama's paternal grandmother, Sarah Obama still lives. If he wins, the Obama family plans to roast a bull.
    Sarah's home is currently under 24-hours police guard, and the media is not allowed access to her. Journalists jostled to take photographs of the 87-year-old grandmother when she showed up for prayers.
    Since 2004, when Obama was running for the Senate in Illinois, the Harvard-trained lawyer and civil rights activist has had rock star status in the east African nation.
    Born in Hawaii to a white American mother and a Kenyan father, he is idolised by many the way the Irish idolised former U.S. President John F.
    Kennedy in the 1960s -- as one of their own who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
    President Kennedy helped many African youth further their studies in the U.S. through a government education sponsorship program. Among them was Obama's father.
    Many Africans hope Obama's victory would mean an improvement in living conditions on the world's poorest continent.
    But analysts warn he'll be able to do little to bring tangible benefits to Africa, saying he does not have a very strong track record of interest in Africa.
    But this won't dampen the spirits of people in Kogelo; all they want is to see their son make it to the White House.
    Kogelo residents also prayed for Obama's family following the death of his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, from cancer, in Hawaii.
    The candidate's step-brother, Malik Obama, told reporters she would be missed.
    On the election he said they were looking forward to "a great result" and they were staying up to watch the results come in.
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