KENYA / POLITICS: US election: Obama family in Kenya request privacy while local students express support

Record ID: 362068

  • Title: KENYA / POLITICS: US election: Obama family in Kenya request privacy while local students express support
  • Date: 3rd November 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF STUDENTS ON THEIR BREAK
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: People
  • Reuters ID: LVAEOLKUYGCRZCQCGCHL2NCSLEHD
  • Story Text: Kenyan family members of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama asked journalists for privacy on Monday (November 3 2008) as they watch developments of the race in the sleepy village of Kogelo, western Kenya.
    Obama's stepbrother Malik Obama held a news conference at his homestead on the eve of the elections and asked the media to allow them to follow the race with minimal disturbance.

    "I am trying to stress right now is that it is sort of like a private affair and you know, I think you will understand that because you have a family too so we want to keep it at that level. And so on that night it will just be us the family, you know watching the results," said Malice.
    Kogelo has made headlines since 2006 when Senator Obama last visited his grandmother, Sarah Obama.
    Sarah's home in currently under 24 hour police guard and the media will not be accessible until Wednesday (November 5).
    But celebrations are already being prepared as Obama's family predict victory.

    "We are Africans right, so we are going to at least have slaughtered a bull. How about that and we are just going to hang out. Have friends come over or just whoever we invite to Kogelo," said Malik.

    "And we are here looking forward to celebrating a great day on the fifth," he added.
    The Kenyan government is upgrading the dusty road leading to Kogelo village which is expected to receive many visitors during the voting period.
    Many Kenyans, including students at a local Kogelo school, hope they will see Obama become the 44th president of United States.

    "We love him because he is one of us, and we love him because he wants to be president of America," said Auma Anyango, a student at the Senator Obama School in Kogelo.

    "They believe that blood is thicker than water, so this is their own, their son, so even the community expects a lot from him because he comes from here," added Charles Obare, a teacher at the school.
    Obama, the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father, has had babies -- and even beer -- named after him in Kenya.
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