Kenya. Barack Obama visits the village of his African ancestors



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Barack Obama visited the village of Kogelo, where his father was born and is buried, during a two-day stay in Kenya. The former President of the United States took advantage of his visit to inaugurate a youth center designed by his half-sister. Barack Obama's last visit to Kogelo was in 2006. He was not yet president.

A pilgrimage to the sources for Barack Obama in Kenya. The former president of the United States traveled to Kogelo on Monday in the west of the country, the village where his father was born and where he is buried. He inaugurated a youth center designed by his older half-sister.

This is Barack Obama's first trip to Africa since he left office in January 2017. In 2015, he made an official trip in Kenya. But he had not been to the family village of Kogelo where his last visit was in 2006, when he was still a senator.

"C is a great joy to be back with so many people who are family for me, and as many who claim to be family. Everybody is a cousin " he joked during his visit to Kogelo, triggering the laughter of the audience.

The memories of his first trip to Kenya

Barack Obama paid a visit to the Obama family matriarch in Kenya, Sarah, whom the ex-president calls "grandmother" even though they do not have blood ties.

He then ginned memories of his first trip to Kenya when he was 27 years old. From Nairobi, he first took "a very slow train" then a bus with "chickens on my knees and sweet potatoes sinking into my ribs". [19659003] Then he had to cram into a "matatu" (minibus), "even more crowded than the bus" before walking to Sarah's house. He remembered having to catch a chicken for dinner that he did not have the heart to kill himself, or visiting his father's grave and sunbathing.

"And I looked at the stars and […] it gave me a feeling of wholeness that no five-star hotel has ever given me" he added.

Tribute to Mandela in South Africa

M. Obama was speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of the Sauti Kuu youth center ( "strong voices" in Swahili), founded by his half-sister Auma Obama. He explained that in recalling all these memories, he could not be "more proud of what his sister built" .

This one explained that this ultra -modern would allow young people in the region to have access to books, the Internet and sports activities. For his part, Barack Obama believed that the center would empower and educate local youth so that it can hold the political clbad accountable and make "remarkable things, which change the world" .

The former US president arrived in Kenya on Sunday and met in the afternoon with President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

It's always a great pleasure meeting with one of Kenya's most famous sounds, President @BarackObama . He spoke very pbadionately about his foundation and particularly the empowerment of the youth and I commendable him @AumaObama for the commendable job pic.twitter.com/plb7zazi4g

– Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) July 15, 2018

At the end of his stay in Kenya, Barack Obama has to go to South Africa. On Tuesday, July 17, he will deliver a much anticipated speech in Johannesburg on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela

A Kenyan Father Barely Known

Born 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barack Obama is the son of Barack Hussein Obama, an economist working for the Kenyan Ministry of Finance, and an American, Ann Dunham. Barack Obama's parents divorced in 1964 and his father returned to Kenya

Born in 1936, Barack Hussein Obama died of a road accident on November 24, 1982. His son only saw him once, at 10 years old, during a stay in Hawaii. The former American president made it the hero of his book "Dreams from My Father". Barack Hussein Obama married three times and had eight children. Auma is one of four children he had from his first marriage.

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