KENYA: U.S President Obama's ancestral village hopeful for another term for their "son".

Record ID: 362446

  • Title: KENYA: U.S President Obama's ancestral village hopeful for another term for their "son".
  • Date: 5th November 2012
  • Summary: ===NOTE TO EDITOR: EDIT CONTAINS SOME 4:3 MATERIAL === KOGELO, KENYA (NOVEMBER 05, 2012) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF KOGELO SHOPPING CENTER MOTORCYCLE REPAIR SHOP BANNER WITH OBAMA'S PICTURE READING 'KOGELO VILLAGE RESORT' WOMAN HAWKING AT THE SHOPPING CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (Swahili) KOGELO RESIDENT, VICTOR ONYANGO, SAYING: "We only hear of him on the radio, we watch him on
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4OOFINRR5IRWZ2TH72IJD1WK1
  • Story Text: Hours before the US goes to polls that could see president Barack Obama win another term in office, residents of his Kenyan ancestral village hope he regains his seat, so that this time, he can visit them and improve their lives.
    US presidential elections are hours away but far from the polling stations and swing states, supporters of the incumbent, Barack Obama living in western Kenya, hope a second term will be good news for them.
    In the tiny Kenyan village of Kogelo, Obama's ancestral homeland, and where his grandmother still lives, some express hurt that their son has never visited since he took office four years ago.
    In 2008 thousands celebrated with noisy gusto when Obama, whose father came from Kogelo, became the first African-American to be elected president of the United States.
    Obama fever has cooled over the years but people here would like to see him take another term, hoping this time, he will make more of a difference in their lives.
    "We only hear of him on the radio, we watch him on tv and we also see him working there but since he became president he has never come back here but we will be very happy if he won because he might still come back to our village," said Victor Onyango, a Kogelo resident.
    Obama, who hailed his "African blood within me", only visited sub-Saharan Africa once in his four years - a stopover of less than a day in Ghana in between summits elsewhere.
    But despite the disappointment many think Obama is still the best man for the job and expect good things to come their way if he returns to the White House.
    "We need to pray as Kenyans especially those from Kogelo and those in his country as we are not voting for him but we are hopeful our prayers will get answered and he wins because if he wins we will see a lot of development in our village and the world at large," said Steven Otieno.
    Sub-Saharan Africa has gone virtually unnoticed as a topic in the U.S. presidential election campaign, focused heavily as it has been on pressing domestic issues such as the lack of jobs and how to prod America's stuttering economy to faster growth.
    ENDS
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register