{"id":198,"date":"2009-01-22T00:22:41","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T00:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/celebrating-obama-in-kenya.html"},"modified":"2009-01-22T00:22:41","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T00:22:41","slug":"celebrating-obama-in-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/01\/celebrating-obama-in-kenya.html","title":{"rendered":"celebrating Obama in Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"trpar2368102.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Having just returned from my trip to Kenya, I saw firsthand how Obama’s Kenyan roots are a matter of national pride there. Obama’s face graced the papers almost every other day, and our taxi driver proudly told us he was of the Luo tribe<\/a> and came from the village adjacent to Obama’s ancestral hamlet. Hearing him talk about how Obama inspired him was a moment of genuine patriotic pride for me – people worldwide are looking at America and saying, truly, it is the land of opportunity – and they are inspired, not to go there, but to bring America home and change their own nations by our example. Consider the opinion of students in Nairobi<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Like many young Kenyans, they said they identify more with Obama
\nthan with their own political elders, whom they hoped Obama would shake
\nup by example.<\/p>\n

\n“His election has already offered a great challenge to leaders here, through his values,” said Maranga, 27.\n<\/p>\n

\nIn particular, students said they hoped Obama would shame politicians into rising above tribalism. <\/p>\n

“When people speak of Obama, we don’t say he’s Luo Obama,” said Ogega,
\n27, referring to Obama’s Kenyan ethnic group. “We say he’s Kenyan. We
\nhope he will help us see each other as Kenyans instead of certain
\ntribes.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The “Obama fever” isn’t limited to Nairobi<\/a>, either:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the lakeside town of Kisumu in western
\nKenya, the birthplace of President Obama’s father Barack Hussein Obama
\nSenior, a three-day “Obama Speaking” competition reached a climax with
\nyouth who took part in the competition declaring the incoming US
\npresident “Obama Tosha” – Kiswahili for “Obama Only.”<\/p>\n

Never
\nbefore has the US presidential election been the subject of intense
\ninterest in the East Africa nation, which Obama regularly visited
\nbefore he became an Illinois senator in 2004.<\/p>\n

Kenyan
\ntelevision stations interrupted normal programming to focus on history
\nin the making, as the man billed by Kenyans as one of their own reached
\nthe climax of long and tortuous journey to the most coveted perch in
\nglobal politics.<\/p>\n

Traders in Nairobi lined up Obama
\nmemorabilia, while entertainment spots have lined up events to
\ncelebrate the elevation of the first black man to the highest office in
\nthe US.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s another report in the Kenya Standard<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

In Kogelo, villagers and visitors from all walks of life thronged the Kogelo Primary School grounds and danced the night away.<\/p>\n

Others had their eyes glued to a giant TV screen mounted by Kenya’s premier television station, KTN.<\/p>\n

The screen brought home images of ‘their son’s’ big day, thousands of miles away at Washington DC.<\/p>\n

The compound bustled with activity all day, but suddenly went quiet as images of Obama being sworn-in as President rolled on the screen at dusk.<\/p>\n

“Ling’uru Obama osechako wuoyo” (Be quiet, Obama is already talking), a male voice boomed from a loud speaker.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Photo caption: Kenyans gather to celebrate the inauguration of US president Barack
\nObama on January 20, 2009 in Kisumu. Excitement continues to mount in
\nKisumu the headquarter of Kenya’s Western province as the “Son of
\nKenya,” a term increasingly used to refer to Obama due to his Kenyan
\nfather, as Obama is about to be sworn in 44th US president and the
\nfirst black one. In his inaugural address, Obama said : “we have chosen
\nhope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord,”. AFP
\nPHOTO\/ SIMON MAINA<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having just returned from my trip to Kenya, I saw firsthand how Obama’s Kenyan roots are a matter of national pride there. Obama’s face graced the papers almost every other day, and our taxi driver proudly told us he was of the Luo tribe and came from the village adjacent to Obama’s ancestral hamlet. 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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}