Obama's Zanzibari (Tanzanian) roots

Barack Hussein Obama Jnr. is an American of Kenyan origin. His father was a Luo from Kenya. He went to America on a scholarship and whilst there he married an American (white) girl from Kansas and Obama Jnr. was born in Hawaii.

When Obama Jnr. became of age where did he go to search for his roots? Kenya, of course! He didn't go to Zanzibar or Rorya. Does anybody know why?

Any other source of his roots would be far-fetched and false. Let the Kenyans in particular and the Africans in general celebrate Obama Jnr's success and wish him luck in his endeavor.

...all said and done,it is still good to know.

Obama kuwa Mtanzania au Mzazibari si hoja. Tunamjua Obama wa kweli? Ngojeni aanze kufanya kazi au kutangaza sera zake kwa undani ndipo tutajua kama ni mtu wa kujivunia au la. Obama ni rais wa Marekani. Sidhani kama atatenda tofauti sana na imani, jadi, utamaduni na maslahi ya Marekani. Hata kama angekuwa na asili ya Tanzania watu watavutiwa kuja kutazama nini? Nyumba yake? Kaburi la babu yake? Nini?

Antony said:

Obama ni mmarekani mwenye asili ya Africa basi, hii ikubalike kwani tunajua kuwa makabila mengi ya Africa kusini ya jangwa la Sahara ni muingiliano wa watu kutoka sehemu mbalimbali za Africa ila sema tu roots za Obama zikajizatiti Mashariki ya Africa.

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Nakumbuka mlisema Waziri Masha alilelewa au ana uraia wa Marekani so sio kiongozi anayetufaa KABISA, sasa Obama mwamkumbatia, Haitawasaidia hata mkisema ni mjomba wenu, besides asili yake anaijua mwenyewe na maishaitembelea, kaeni mkivutana tuuuuuu.

Kandambilimbili said:

Nakumbuka mlisema Waziri Masha alilelewa au ana uraia wa Marekani so sio kiongozi anayetufaa KABISA, sasa Obama mwamkumbatia, Haitawasaidia hata mkisema ni mjomba wenu, besides asili yake anaijua mwenyewe na maishaitembelea, kaeni mkivutana tuuuuuu.

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Obama atajenga ma sky scraper na madaraja na mabarabara na ma super market kama Kroger na Publix, atajenga Walmart, Target...Atatusaidia sana Obama sisi Waafrika kwa vile hatuna uwezo wa aina yoyote ile.

Hata kama angekuwa na asili ya Tanzania watu watavutiwa kuja kutazama nini? Nyumba yake? Kaburi la babu yake? Nini?

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...mpaka leo pale mitaa ya shangani unguja watu wanakula bingo la kutembeza wazungu kuonyesha nyumba alozaliwa Farrokh Bulsara. Freddie Mercury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

...Wa-naija nao wanasema Obama ni mutu ya kwao; THISDAY ONLINE / Nigeria news / African views on global news

King Kegan Igbanigbo Will-Braide, informed his chiefs that the African-American has his roots in Obama Kingdom in Rivers State.

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...yada-yada na blah blah nyiiiingi, wamemsahau Zinjanthroppus wa Olduvai Gorge!

Kandambilimbili said:

Nakumbuka mlisema Waziri Masha alilelewa au ana uraia wa Marekani so sio kiongozi anayetufaa KABISA, sasa Obama mwamkumbatia, Haitawasaidia hata mkisema ni mjomba wenu, besides asili yake anaijua mwenyewe na maishaitembelea, kaeni mkivutana tuuuuuu.

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Na Salim Ahmed Salim hakuwa mtanzania wa kutosha kuwa Rais...Mwalabu..nadhani wengi humu inabidi kutumia hili tukio la urais wa Obama kujitambua....

Tanzanianjema

The Standard | Online Edition :: Obama’s father and the origin of Muslim name


Obama's father and the origin of Muslim name


Published on 04/11/2008
By Joe Ombuor

Barack Obama Senior, an economist at the Treasury in the late 1960s, rubbed officials of Kenyatta's Government the wrong way when he angrily demanded an explanation on Tom Mboya's death, moments after the Minister for Economic Planning and Development was assassinated.

"I was with Tom only last week. Can the Government tell me where he is?" a distraught Obama Senior fulminated as he abandoned work in protest. An incensed official immediately handed him a sack.

US airlifts

Obama was emotionally attached to Mboya who made it possible for him to further his education in the US. "It was courtesy of Mboya's famous airlifts that Obama landed at the University of Hawaii," says Mr Hezron Ogembo, who like Obama Snr's father, Onyango Obama, is a native of Kanyadhiang near Kendu Bay, Rachuonyo District.

Ogembo says Obama Snr was a close friend. "We met at social places. Barack loved his whisky. We often drank together".

After his sacking, Obama Snr worked with Shell/BP as a senior accountant until after Mzee Kenyatta's death in 1978 when his long time friend, Mwai Kibaki, who was then Finance minister returned him to the Treasury.

Ogembo says the friendship between Kibaki, now President, and Obama Snr started at the treasury where they worked together.

He clarifies that although Obama Snr was buried in Alego Kogelo following his sudden death in a car crash in Nairobi, he was not born there.

"His father, Onyango Obama who was also buried in Kogelo, moved with his family to this village in Alego, Siaya, when Obama Snr was a small boy after he was persuaded to do so by his brothers," says Ogembo.

He says Onyango Obama was the second born son of Obama Opiyo's eight sons. "He was the only one from the family recruited to fight in the Second World War. He came back a Muslim - Onyango Hussein Obama - after having married his first wife Helima during his service in Zanzibar.

Explaining the Obama family link to Kogelo that today is associated with Senator Obama's Kenyan roots, Ogembo says Obama Snr's grandfather was born and brought up in the sleepy village in Siaya that has found itself in international news.

Twin brother

"Opiyo, the grandfather to Obama Senior grew up in Alego Kogelo. He had a twin sister called Jalang'o," narrates Ogembo. "Jalang'o in her turn got married to a man in Karachuonyo, Kanyadhiang near Kendu Bay. Due to her love for her twin brother, she invited Opiyo to join her there because land was in plenty at the time.

"Opiyo got married to a woman from Kendu Bay and among his sons was Obama Opiyo, the grandfather to Obama Snr.

"As fate would have it, Obama Opiyo's second born son, Onyango Obama was exposed to the world by his experiences in the second world war and returned a a controversial figure who did not agree with the highly respected chief and Chairman of the Luo Council of Elders at the time, Paul Mbuya Akoko.

To save Onyango from trouble with the chief, his brothers advised him to migrate to their ancestral land in Alego, Kogelo near Siaya in then Central Nyanza District and secure it for posterity.

Ogembo says by the time of his migration from Karachuonyo, Onyango Obama had already lost his wife, Akumu Nyanjoga, the mother to Barack Obama Snr and married Sarah Ogwel - the now famous grandmother.

Two mothers

Recalls Ogembo: "Obama Sr was fond of invoking the names of his two mothers whenever he was with his friends in social places, reminding them that he was the proud son of two mothers - Akumu Nyanjoga and Sarah Ogwel. An wuod Akumu Nyanjoga kod Sarah Ogwel (I am the son of Akumu Nyanjoga and Sarah Ogwel) was his characteristic vaunt in social places

"Obama Snr had his early education at Gendia Primary School near Kendu Bay and joined Ng'iya Intermediate School when the family moved to Alego Kogelo bfore proceeding to Maseno.

Before Obama Snr's airlift to America, he was already married to his elder wife, Keziah. Ann Dunham, the mother of Sen. Barack Obama whom he met at college in Hawaii, was his second wife.

Brilliant scholar

Ogembo says Obama Snr returned to Kenya after his PhD at Harvard without Ann, but with another white woman, Ruth with whom he did not live with for long, either. Ruth remarried and still lives in Kenya. "I remember Obama Snr as a brilliant scholar, immensely proud of his academic achievements," says Ogembo.

"He respected Kibaki's academic prowess, but never hesitated to point out that Kibaki at no time beat him in academics.

"Obama Snr fondly talked about his son in the US, the boy who would grow up to be the Democratic US presidential candidate.

"He was an immensely proud and ambitious man who had little respect for non-achievers," recalls Ogembo.

Nancy Burton: Obama's Other Grandmother
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 01/19/2009 - 2:28pm. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Nancy Burton

Granny Sarah, Barack Obama's step-grandmother on his father's side, familiar to readers of his best-selling Dreams from My Father, will be the face of Africa at the inauguration. With her vibrant tribal gowns and matching head scarves, big earthy smile and appealing exoticism, Sarah Onyango Obama, 87 has already achieved affectionate celebrity on the world stage since publication of Dreams in 1995.

But I've been dreaming of Habiba Akumu, Obama's real paternal grandmother, haunted by her arresting image on the book cover of the American edition holding Obama's father, then a child of perhaps 5, on her lap in a strong, protective grip.

Projecting pride and defiance, her posture stiffly straight in the tradition of African women who carry baskets on their heads from the fields, Akumu exudes a cool confidence and competence. Akumu's "smoldering eyes" - as described by Obama - belong to a woman on fire. Yet despite Obama's writerly skills and investigations into his African roots, Akumu remains a woman of mystery.


From Granny Sarah's account to Obama, we learn that Obama's paternal grandfather, Onyango, a prosperous landowner, was in search of a woman to father his children at a time in the 1920s before villagers in rural Kenya had ever set eyes on the white man. Attracted to Akumu's beauty and youth, Onyango began his brief courtship. Although Akumu was betrothed to another, Onyango had his minions stalk Akumu like a gazelle and drag her to his hut. Onyango had topped his rival's dowry offer of 12 cattle (6 already delivered with 6 more to be given in the future) with 15 cattle "on the spot."

How soon the anguished Akumu emerged from Onyango's hut and in what condition are matters left to the reader's imagination. The match between the nearly 40-year-old Onyango, with a reputation for cruelty (he once slashed off the head of a goat when its owner couldn't keep it from nibbling his grass) and wife-beating, and the fiery young girl was not made in heaven.

Twice, after the birth of Obama's father and his sister, Akumu escaped from Onyanga's clutches and fled to her village. Each time, Onyango pursued her and her family had her returned. But one night when Obama's father was 9 years old, Akumu secured her newborn third child to her back and fled into the night, whispering to Sarah to follow her when the time was right. Akuma's two children soon made an attempt to join her, but they became lost and were starving after spending two weeks walking in the bush. They were returned to Onyango. Forever afterward, Obama's father would consider that his mother, Akumu, abandoned him.

From Granny Sarah's telling, Akumu had defied tribal custom: "If one is a fish, one does not try to fly -- one swims with other fish." After the third escape, Akumu's family refused to surrender her to Onyango. They approved her remarriage to another man, perhaps her first betrothed, and she left Kenya for Tanganyika, today's Tanzania. What became of Akumu from that point is not told in Dreams.

The what-ifs of Akumu's fate are unavoidable fodder for thought. What if Akumu had not liberated herself, had not abandoned Obama's father at age 9? Would he have been less inclined to abandon his own son, Barack Obama, now the President-elect, at age 2? Would the President-to-be have been spared the intense emotional torment about his origins which he wrestles with so painfully in Dreams? Would he have strived so hard to fly rather than swim with the other fish?

Let us not overlook Habiba Akumu and her flight into the dark African night as we celebrate the Obama inauguration.

Nancy Burton is a former reporter for The Associated Press in New York City. She lives in Connecticut.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

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Nancy Burton: Obama's Other Grandmother | BuzzFlash.org

‘Obama’s grandpa was born in Uganda’Angelo Izama

Kampala

An organisation speaking for the Luo Community has said President-elect Barack Obama’s grandfather was born in Uganda.
They also urged the governments of the East African Community [including Burundi] to designate the day of his inauguration today as the first black president of America- a national holiday.

The statement signed by Nelson Umah Tete and sent to media houses yesterday said the facts about Obama’s ancestry are discussed in a book titled “The Luo” by George William Alenyo.
The book will also be launched today to coincide with Mr Obama’s inauguration.

The organisation, Luo Community [Ugandan Chapter], is however an unregistered entity whose real membership remains unknown.
“By 1926 when Obama’s grandfather Onyango Obama was born in Nyanza province [it] was still part of the Uganda protectorate whose boundary extended up to the Rift Valley in Nakuru” the statement said, adding that the boundaries were only altered in 1926.

Since his campaign for the White House began, Mr Obama’s East African roots have been a source of excitement in the region.
A beer has been named after him, in Kenya where his father was born and worked, as have been children born on the day he won the Presidency. DVD’s with his speeches are selling like blockbusters and his acceptance speech has been turned into a cellular phone ringtone.

While ‘Obamania’ has shown no signs of ebbing, it holds a special significance to ethnic Luo group.
The Luo, whose author is a Ugandan lawyer, will add to this controversial mix of aspects of Mr Obama’s life and history which have been mined by all and sundry for relevance.

The book’s main focus is to trace the origin of the Luo to Sudan and Egypt and profile the commonality between the Luo and the Jews of later- day Israel.

Interpreted liberally, the author is saying Barack Obama is a “black Jew” with origins in East Africa with its messianic connotations.

“To date, traditional religious practices of the Luo are judiac and jewish in origin” the author claims, adding that Luo names like Barak “spelt “Barack” means “blessed” in Hebrew.

Organisers say the book will be launched at the National Theatre Auditorium at midday today, just hours before Obama takes his oath as the 44th President of the United States of America.

Source: Monitor Online | News | ‘Obama’s grandpa was born in Uganda’

wakenya wataua mtu hapa.

Majita said:

Obama babu ni Mnyaturu wa Singida.Wakati baba yake anatoka Kenya kwenda Zenji walipitia Singida gari likaharibikia pale na akalala na dada mmoja akwamwacha na mimba ya Obama sr.Wakamfukuza huyo dada ili ampeleke mtoto wake kwa baba yake.Ndo akapelekwa Kenya lakini alipofika Musoma akalala na jamaa mmoja akapata mimba.So Obama sr ana kaka yake Musoma kama sikosei ni tajiri tajiri pale Musoma,ndo baadae Obama akaenda kusoma huko Marekani.

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duh he he heeee,yaani nimecheka leo mpaka basi,mmeishia wapi nyie watu na fix zenu za obama?

Skills4Ever said:

Hahhah twamgombea obama....vipi osama akisema anatokea mkuranga au kilwa??hahahakazi kweli kweli....

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faiza foxy na MS wamchukue