When we first heard about coming to Siaya, I don’t think any of us knew that we would be only 8km away from President Barrack Obama’s Grandmother Sarah. But through a chain of events, we were able to visit her on her farming compound yesterday. Turkeys, maize, and banana trees dotted the area, and despite a high, chain-linked fence and guard houses surrounding the compound, Dr. Sarah Obama herself walked out of a simple, modest home.
I had known very little about President Obama’s relationship with the Siaya community. Apparently, he commissioned a school in Kogelo while he was still serving as one of Illinois’s State Senators. There are also several other stores in the area claiming to be related to the Obama family, which I suppose is possible, considering the fact that Dr. Sarah Obama has so many children and grandchildren (biological and foster) who live in the community. While we were waiting to meet Dr. Sarah, we sat under a tree-lined lawn with several other young men, who said they were Dr. Obama’s grandsons.
Dr. Sarah Obama speaks Luo, the local dialect, so we could only communicate through a translator and smiles. We asked several questions about what she does (she has a home for orphans, and she runs a small farm), and a little bit about her life, but the translator seemed to already know the answers to most of our questions and didn’t even ask her directly. It was a bit of an awkward interview, but at the end, she let us take a picture with her and then pray over her. Dr. Sarah is a devout Muslim, but she was very gracious and willing to receive our prayers over her before we left.
As if our visit wasn’t memorable enough, the rest of our day turned into quite the adventure…Here’s what happened next…
