Alego, Kenya (PANA) – The residents of K’Ogelo (the ancestral home of the Obama family) in Alego village of Siaya Country in Western Kenya, who gained worldwide fame following the election of Barack Obama as US President, hardly hide their joy and pride.
Their famous son, who once carried a sack on his back to a market in Nyang’oma – a shopping centre within K’Ogelo – tagging alongside his grandmother Sarah Obama, will make a historic three-day visit to Kenya 24-26 July 2015, the first ever by a sitting US President to the East African nation.
However, the residents are not happy that President Obama will not be visiting the village where his father was born.
Despite this, a proud resident of the village went down memory lane to show how close he is to the now famous Obama clan.
“Our village has a name. We are very proud of this name. It is something that will stay like this for more years to come,” said James Otieno Rajula, age mate of Barack Obama Sr., father of President Obama, who remembered sharing beer with the Kenyan economist before his fateful death in a road accident.
“He took six bottles of beer on the night of his death. I was with him. I had five beers. There was no foul play in his accidental death. His car hit a tree and he died of the accident,” Rajula said at Nyang’oma, where everyone is waiting for the US President to “bring the crown home”.
“We welcome President Obama home. He is our son and he has shown to the whole world that he is our son by proclaiming his Kenyan parenthood. We are very proud of him to this moment,” Rajula, 67, said.
Even though there is no indication that President Obama will visit the village, every resident is on the lookout for any signs that he may indeed come there during his Kenyan visit that is part of a two-nation African swing.
Last Saturday, the 94-year-old Sarah Obama, the woman who raised Obama Sr., launched the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation, a US$12 million initiative to enhance education for the children of the village.
The Foundation is building an Early Childhood Educational Centre and a youth vocational training centre in K’Ogelo.
Analysts say President Obama’s visit will inspire more international interest in Kenya, beyond the athletics prowess for which Kenya is world famous, and help set a new US foreign policy favourable to Kenya when the next US administration takes over.
Since the election of President Obama, K’Ogelo’s convention centre, Nyang’oma, the village square, has grown from a six-block market into an expansive development centre.
The rate at which new facilities are coming up at Nyang’oma far outstrips the demands of the local villagers.
A new tennis court being bankrolled by the Sweden-based sister of President Obama is under construction in the outskirts of the village.
“The US government has helped to mobilize organisations that have helped to transform livelihoods of our people,” Rajula said.
Putting a good face to the fact that Obama may not visit K’Ogelo, however, William Ombul Okune, a childhood friend of Onyango Hussein, President Obama’s grandfather, said he understood that the US President had responsibilities as head of state, which may have informed the decision to cancel his visit to the village.
