John McCain used Obama’s background as a negative argument towards his opponent during the campaigns, leading to the topicality of the question ‘Who is Obama?’.
In response, Obama sportingly joked that he comes from Krypton, the planet where Superman was born.
But where is Obama from? Who are his family? Every day the new president seems to have a new step-grandmother or unknown uncle popping up all over Kenya and America.
Family is incredibly important to Obama and it is a known fact that whilst he was senate, he always made an effort to be back at home with his wife and children from Thursday to Sunday each week.
Obama referred to his family in his election victory speech, and said that he loved his children ‘more than they could ever know’. He also made a loving dedication to his wife during the same speech:
"And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years … the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady … Michelle Obama."
The family behind Barack Obama
Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961. Obama and his wife have two children between them, Malia, 10 and Sasha, 7. Below is an interview with the Obamas - I defy you not to like them!
The President was born in Hawaii to Barack Hussein Obama from Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white American from Kansas. His parents met while studying together at the University of Hawaii, and married in 1961 and divorced in 1964, when Obama was two years old.
Obama’s father only saw his son once more on a return to Kenya before dying in a motorbike accident in 1982.
Obama was mostly brought up by his maternal grandparents. His grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died on the eve of the Presidential election.
Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother, died of ovarian cancer in 1995.
The extended family
In an interview in 2006, Obama talked about his numerous relatives, “Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it’s like a little mini-United Nations… I’ve got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I’ve got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher.”
In Obama’s outer-immediate family, he has seven half-siblings from Kenya, all from his father’s side. Six of them are living. He also has a half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. Maya is his mother’s daughter.
Obama’s paternal step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, lives in a Kenyan Nyang’oma Kogelo village near his other relatives. The village is 30 miles away from Kenya’s main town, Kisumu, which is next to Lake Victoria.
Sarah Obama is a member of the Luo, the third largest ethnic group in Kenya. Many of Obama’s other paternal relations are also members of this group.
Obama’s grandmother Sarah was the third wife of Obama’s grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama (1895-1979). Barack Obama has been known to call his grandmother ‘Granny Sarah’, although she is not a blood relation.
Sarah Obama speaks mostly Luo and communicates with her step-grandson with the help of an interpreter.
In response, Obama sportingly joked that he comes from Krypton, the planet where Superman was born.
But where is Obama from? Who are his family? Every day the new president seems to have a new step-grandmother or unknown uncle popping up all over Kenya and America.
Family is incredibly important to Obama and it is a known fact that whilst he was senate, he always made an effort to be back at home with his wife and children from Thursday to Sunday each week.
Obama referred to his family in his election victory speech, and said that he loved his children ‘more than they could ever know’. He also made a loving dedication to his wife during the same speech:
"And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years … the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady … Michelle Obama."
The family behind Barack Obama
Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961. Obama and his wife have two children between them, Malia, 10 and Sasha, 7. Below is an interview with the Obamas - I defy you not to like them!
The President was born in Hawaii to Barack Hussein Obama from Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white American from Kansas. His parents met while studying together at the University of Hawaii, and married in 1961 and divorced in 1964, when Obama was two years old.
Obama’s father only saw his son once more on a return to Kenya before dying in a motorbike accident in 1982.
Obama was mostly brought up by his maternal grandparents. His grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died on the eve of the Presidential election.
Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother, died of ovarian cancer in 1995.
The extended family
In an interview in 2006, Obama talked about his numerous relatives, “Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it’s like a little mini-United Nations… I’ve got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I’ve got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher.”
In Obama’s outer-immediate family, he has seven half-siblings from Kenya, all from his father’s side. Six of them are living. He also has a half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. Maya is his mother’s daughter.
Obama’s paternal step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, lives in a Kenyan Nyang’oma Kogelo village near his other relatives. The village is 30 miles away from Kenya’s main town, Kisumu, which is next to Lake Victoria.
Sarah Obama is a member of the Luo, the third largest ethnic group in Kenya. Many of Obama’s other paternal relations are also members of this group.
Obama’s grandmother Sarah was the third wife of Obama’s grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama (1895-1979). Barack Obama has been known to call his grandmother ‘Granny Sarah’, although she is not a blood relation.
Sarah Obama speaks mostly Luo and communicates with her step-grandson with the help of an interpreter.
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