A new U.S. Senator wins Kenyan hearts in a landslide: a Kenyan village follows the rise of Barack Obama to the Senate--and maybe beyond.When the people of Nyang'oma, Kenya, speak of good fortune coming their way now that Barack Obama has won a seat in the U.S. Senate, it is a feeling of extended family: Those who make it help those left behind. Born to a Kenyan father and an American mother, the Democratic Senator from Illinois Illinois, river, United States Illinois, river, 273 mi (439 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, NE Ill., and flowing SW to the Mississippi at Grafton, Ill. It is an important commercial and recreational waterway. (who is already being talked about as a future presidential contender) traces his ancestral ANCESTRAL. What relates to or has, been done by one's ancestors; as homage ancestral, and the like. roots to this tiny farming community in western Kenya. His father is buried bur·y tr.v. bur·ied, bur·y·ing, bur·ies 1. To place in the ground: bury a bone. 2. a. To place (a corpse) in a grave, a tomb, or the sea; inter. b. here, in the yard of a home, and his grandfather's grave is a few feet away. Inside the tin-roofed residence, the walls are lined with family photographs--some of which feature Obama's two visits to Kenya. "I'm so proud," says grandmother Sarah Ogwel Onyango, smiling over a sack of snapshots and newspaper clippings. A VILLAGE'S WISH LIST Obama, 43, may never have lived in Nyang'oma, or anywhere in Kenya for that matter. But he is one of them, relatives say, and surely he will want to share his great success with his kin. "We know he's got his constituency there in America, the people who elect him," says Said Obama, 38, an uncle. "But we're another constituency. He won't want to see us suffering." Among the items on their wish list, Obama's relatives and other residents would like to see their dirt roads dirt road n (US) → camino sin firme dirt road n → chemin non macadamisé or non revêtu dirt road dirt n paved pave tr.v. paved, pav·ing, paves 1. To cover with a pavement. 2. To cover uniformly, as if with pavement. 3. To be or compose the pavement of. and their houses equipped with electricity and running water. Nelson Okello, 27, a villager who sells used clothes, is not exactly sure where the money will come from to improve life in Nyang'oma. But he thinks a man with Obama's power and prestige will figure that out. Whatever bonds Obama may form with Nyang'oma in the coming years, his legacy is already secure. Local people say that numerous baby boys have been named Barack in recent months, a tribute to the village's favorite son. Marc Lacey lac·ey adj. Variant of lacy. , The Times's Nairobi bureau chief, reported this article from Nyang'oma. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion