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Former President Barack Obama’s mother-in-law died around 4 a.m. local time on Monday in Kenya’s third largest city, Kisumu.
Known as the family matriarch, Sarah Obama was at least 99 years old and promoted the education of girls and orphans in her rural village of Kogelo.
Relatives and officials confirmed his death on Monday. According to a family spokesperson, the former president had been informed of the death and sent his condolences.
The former president also tweeted a tribute, saying his family is mourning his loss. “My family and I mourn the loss of our beloved grandmother, Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama, affectionately known to many as ‘Mama Sarah’ but known as ‘Dani’ or Granny,” at -he declares.
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“We will miss her dearly, but we will celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life.”
In a separate statement, he reflected on his influence on his family’s lives.
“Although not her biological mother, Granny would raise my father as hers, and it was partly because of her love and encouragement that he was able to defy all expectations and do well enough in school to. get a scholarship to attend an American university., “he said.
“When our family struggled, her farm was a refuge for her children and grandchildren, and her presence was a constant and stabilizing force. When I first visited Kenya to learn more about my heritage and my father, who passed away at that time, it was Granny who served as a bridge to the past, and it was her stories that helped to fill a void in my heart. “
“Over the course of her life, Granny has witnessed epic changes all over the world: the world war, the liberation movements, the moon landings and the advent of the computer age. , and see one of his grandsons elected to the presidency of the United States. And yet his essential spirit – strong, proud, hardworking, unimpressed by conventional marks of status, and full of common sense and good humor – has never changed. “
Her foundation, the Mama Sara Obama Foundation, has helped provide food and education for children who have lost their parents – by providing school supplies, uniforms, basic medical care, and school fees. The United Nations honored her in 2014 with the inaugural Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Education Pioneer Award.
FILE – On this Wednesday, November 7, 2012, file photo, Sarah Obama, President Barack Obama’s step-grandmother, speaks to the media about her reaction to Obama’s re-election, in the garden of her home in the village of Kogelo, in western Kenya. (AP Photo / Ben Curtis, file)
(AP Photo / Ben Curtis, file)
Sarah Obama, affectionately known as Mama Sarah, was treated at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu, according to her daughter Marsat Onyango.
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The matriarch is expected to be buried before noon on Tuesday and the funeral will take place under Islamic rites.
“Mama Sarah’s passing is a blow to our nation. We have lost a strong and virtuous woman, a matriarch who united the Obama family and was an icon of family values,” said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Associated Press and Lillian LeCroy of Fox News contributed to this report.
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