- Title: KENYA: Barack Obama's Kenya relatives keep close eye on US presidential race
- Date: 6th February 2008
- Summary: PEOPLE IN SARAH OBAMA'S HOUSE GRAVE OF BARRACK OBAMA'S FATHER HEADSTONE READING "BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, BORN 1936 - DIED 1982" TWO COWS OUTSIDE OBAMA HOUSE
- Embargoed: 21st February 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAE45NWUGM4JWTQTUH5TL5SWHCU
- Story Text: Support for U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama, whose first name means "blessed" in east Africa's Swahili language, runs across Kenya's tribes but especially in his ancestral village.
The 2008 U.S. presidential election is being watched closely by millions around the world but in the Kenyan village of Kogelo, relatives of Democratic hopeful Barack Obama are watching every step of his race.
In Obama's ancestral village of Kogelo in western Kenya, relatives and friends crowded around television sets on Wednesday (February 6) to watch the results of nominating contests across 24 U.S. states thousands of miles away.
"No one can feel bad when something good happens," said Obama's grandmother Sarah Anyango Obama.
"Obama is American but also Kenyan. If he wins I would want him to help Kenya as well, not just me and not just the village but the whole country and the entire world," she added.
Born in Hawaii to a white American mother and Kenyan father, Obama is revered by many Kenyans the way the Irish idolised U.S. President John F.
Kennedy in the 1960s -- as one of their own who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Barack Obama, 46, has worked as a civil rights lawyer and law professor. He has said he is "deeply troubled" by violence that has killed 500 people since Kenya's disputed Dec. 27 polls.
Obama's Kenyan family hail from the Luo tribe of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who accuses Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki of stealing re-election in a poll that has triggered ethnic bloodshed, especially between the Luo and Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.
Obama and Hillary Clinton battled to a draw on "Super Tuesday" (February 5) across 24 U.S. states. In their hard-fought duel, Obama won 13 states but Clinton's eight included the key prizes of California and New York on the biggest day of U.S. presidential voting before the Nov. 4 election.
On the Republican side, John McCain won nine states but failed to knock out rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.
A new round of contests in a half-dozen states are scheduled within the next week. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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