Barack Obama's step-grandmother passed away at the age of 99. Living in Kenya, she was the one who raised the father of the former US president.
This Monday, March 29, Kenya is weeping for one of its symbols. Sarah Obama died at the age of 99 in the west of the country. Barack Obama, former President of the United States, considered this woman to be his grandmother. "Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama, whom many people affectionately referred to as 'Mama Sarah', was to us 'Dani' or 'Granny'," the former White House resident wrote in a statement.
In 2006, then Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama visited the homelands of his father, an economist who had worked for the Kenyan Ministry of Finance. When his mother left in 1945, Barack Obama Sr. was raised by his father Hussein Onyango Obama's third wife, Sarah Ogwel. Two years after his visit to what he affectionately calls "Granny", Barack Obama Junior had become the 44th President of the United States.
Celebrity in Kenya
After this visit, "Mama Sarah" became a celebrity in Kenya. The former President of the United States recalled that his grandmother had witnessed "spectacular changes across the world" and had been proud to see "one of her grandsons become President of the United States ". Barack Obama describes a woman "strong, proud, hardworking", but also "full of humor and common sense".
In 2009, the Kenyan government declared Kogelo a protected national heritage. It was in this village that the old lady lived. After a stint in 2006, Barack Obama took advantage of a presidential trip in 2015 to see his grandmother again, in Nairobi, then in 2018 in the native village of "Granny".
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta paid tribute to the memory of "a strong and virtuous woman, a matriarch who united the Obama family and was an icon of family values." Sarah Obama worked for international NGOs, she was notably the ambassador of the Camp Maradona association, named after the Argentinian footballer.