[ad_1]
NYANG & OMA KOGELO, Kenya – Even for Barack Obama, who is often greeted by a fervent crowd in his own country, the adulation that the former president receives in natal Kenya his father is in a league apart.
On Sunday and Monday, Obama was in Kenya for his first visit since he left office. He first met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who recently made peace after a controversial election that led to violence earlier this year.
But it was at his second stop, in Nyang & Kogelo oma, the small village perched on the equator where his father grew up, exposed the complicated relationship of Obama with his roots .
"It's a joy to be here with his family," he told a crowd launching a vocational training center that will be run by the badociation nonprofit of his half-sister Auma. "And to be here with so many people who claim to be my family."
Despite not being born here, Obama is as close as Kenya has a favorite son. He is much more popular than the country's politicians. And as a global symbol, it is considered by many Kenyans as proof that greatness is achievable for them too. "He is our son," said Gilbert Ogutu, a professor and former Luo ethnicity to whom Obama's father belonged. Ogutu and Obama are not related. "His blood is our blood."
Former President Barack Obama poses with his grandmother, Sarah, center, and his half-sister Auma, second from the right, with some local youth at the opening of the day. A vocational training center by Auma Obama in Nyang & Kogelo, West Kenya, on Monday. (1965 / AFP / Getty Images)
The patrilineal Luos are waiting for Obama to follow the tradition and spend more time among his father's people – his people. The love that many express to him in Nyang & Kogelo oma is familial: unmixed and full of expectation.
But it also seems little reciprocal. In a short speech full of platitudes, Obama called himself a "world citizen" and decried Kenya's tribalism. He echoed a speech he made at a stadium in the capital, Nairobi, in 2015, which some Kenyans regarded as condescending. On Monday, he also recounted the story of his first visit to Kenya, at the age of 27, full of punchlines on paddle showers and crowded buses
"I had to catch a chicken for to eat, "he recalls. that experience gave him "a sense of satisfaction that no five-star hotel could ever provide."
"What Kenyans have is a striking type of love for Obama," said Nanjala Nyabola, a Kenyan author and political badyst. "It does not seem to return it at all.What it does here, is to bask in it."
Through the event, Obama did many things for which he is known for his travels abroad. He briefly danced to the music, mixed two local languages together in a greeting and concluded his visit by drawing a few hoops to the new basketball court of the vocational training center.
His family members and those who claim to be members of his family would do more.
"We want him to come and sit by our fire to chat.We want him to eat his grandmother's fish stew.We want his daughters to bathe in our rivers. "We want him to build a farm here," Ogutu said. "But that will not happen." In In social media posts the day before his visit that have since gained hundreds of thousands of likes and shares, Obama has described Africa as "a continent of wonderful diversity, a flourishing culture" before recommending the summer reading of five African writers as well as his former speechwriter, Ben Rhodes
. He also wrote that his first visit to Kenya "deeply influenced by my experiences – a trip that I talked about in my first book, Dreams of my father. "
" Obama has the equivalent of a semester abroad here, "said Nyabola." He comes from a long line of Western leaders who can not see the complex realities of Africa. And more than anyone, Obama can get out of it. "
Auma Obama learned this the hard way this weekend, and she spoke out against what she sees as a culture of" gimme gimme "among the Luos, denouncing the government, which she says are common and has been heavily criticized in the Kenyan media.
The next day her half-brother came on stage and vaguely said that as Kenya progressed, "we know that real progress depends on the challenges that lie ahead. "He was addressing an equally sensitive issue – corruption – but Kenyan television channels chose to go with other bits of his speech. [19659018] The phrase used in Kenyan media to describe Monday's event is "unobtrusive." President, thousands of people marched through the streets of Kenyan cities and closed them.
This period was much more calm, a Nairobi caterer dreamed of craft beer nicknamed "Obama Brew". Political and cultural celebrities crowded, some women walking on the football field of the vocational training center in pointed shoes with high heels. Kenyan music sometimes gave way to Motown's hits and Toto's omnipresent clbadic "Africa (Bless the Rains)".
Monday afternoon, after a little over 24 hours in Kenya, Obama went to Johannesburg. conference, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela. He will also meet 200 young Africans who have been selected to participate in a leadership program led by the Obama Foundation
Read more
Obama jokes, he was born in Kenya
The cover of today 39 postal correspondents in the world [19659026] Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
[ad_2]
Source link
