KENYA: Newborns in Kisumu named after U.S. President elect, Barack Obama

Record ID: 361131

  • Title: KENYA: Newborns in Kisumu named after U.S. President elect, Barack Obama
  • Date: 6th November 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Swahili) NEW MOTHER NANCY OTIENO, SAYING: "I would like that by the time he is in his forties he becomes the president of this country and I think he will be even brighter."
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA86M9CFCGDC91KHOFO2OW76EGW
  • Story Text: At least two Kenyan mothers in Kisumu, western Kenya, have named their newborn babies after the U.S President-elect, Barack Obama.
    Another has named her baby girl after Obama's wife, Michelle.
    The babies were born on Wednesday (November 5) at the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital, in Kisumu, Kenya.
    The mothers each said they wanted their babies to grow up to have the same success traits as Obama, with one wanting her baby one to be President of Kenya one day.
    Since 2004, when Obama was running for the Senate in Illinois, the Harvard-trained lawyer and civil rights activist has enjoyed rock star status in the east African nation.
    Born in Hawaii to a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, he is idolised by many the way the Irish saw U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s: as one of their own who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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