“He lives in America, and he’s a king,” the 7-year-old said after a long pause. It’s easy to understand why the young Barack would think so. He attends Senator Barack Obama Primary School, a stop on the Barack Obama Safari Tour, near a hotel that offers a Barack Obama Suite.
For as long as Barack has been alive, his village has been peppered with tributes to his namesake, the American president whose father was born here in 1936. Thousands of tourists have come to see the village the president described in his memoir — writing that his life’s trajectory “was connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away.” After Obama was elected, electricity arrived in Kogelo. The only road to the village was paved. A Kenyan security detail was dispatched.
Next month, Obama will make his first trip to Kenya as president. If he returns to Kogelo, he’ll find a village lifted by its association with the world’s most powerful man, but still wrestling with disease and poverty. He’ll find people proud enough to name their boys Barack Obama but disappointed that he waited until the seventh year of his presidency to return to his father’s homeland.
“When he comes, we will present our problems,” said Edwin Okoth, Barack Obama Okoth’s father, his hands on his son’s shoulders.
It’s not only people in Kogelo who remain unsatisfied. Given the president’s familial connection to East Africa, many expected Obama to transform America’s relationship with the region. That hasn’t happened. The White House has launched an initiative to expand access to electricity across the continent, and funding for public health and counterterrorism programs has increased, but by most measures, Africa has remained on the periphery of Obama’s foreign policy agenda.
“As a country, we expected more,” said Augustus Muluvi, head of foreign policy at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, one of the country’s top think tanks. “We expected him to come earlier and we expected him to come with specific programs for Kenya and East Africa. This hasn’t been the case.”
Edwin Okoth remembers when Obama visited Kogelo in 2006 as a senator. When Obama walked through the village’s open-air market, a crowd gathered. Okoth got as close as he could and waved. It amazed him that a man just one generation removed from Kogelo could become so important. When Okoth’s wife became pregnant the next year, he knew they would name the baby Barack Obama.
“Maybe the spirit of the man will follow the boy,” he remembers thinking.
The small hospital where Barack Obama Okoth was born is also where hundreds of the village’s HIV/AIDS patients are treated. Nearly 18 percent of Siaya County, where Kogelo is located, is HIV positive, according to Kenya’s National AIDS control council, nearly three times the national average. In 2006, Obama took an HIV test here, an effort to remove the stigma from the exam. But since then, the fight against the disease has run up against cultural barriers to prevention and a lack of public health funding.
“We have been waiting for assistance from outside,” said the clinic’s doctor, George Musa.
Also in 2006, Obama visited the village’s primary and secondary schools, where his father attended. The schools were promptly renamed after him. And although some aid funds arrived when Obama became president, mostly from individual donors, the schools remain largely unchanged. The roofs leak. Many students drop out before high school because the fees are too expensive for their families.
In Barack Obama Okoth’s first-grade classroom last week, there were 84 students in one room.
“What’s seven plus three?” the teacher asked. She paused before choosing who to call on.
“Obama,” she said.
There was a brief moment of confusion — the class had two Barack Obamas.
Barack Obama Okoth stood up, but his nerves caught up with him. He froze in place before opening his mouth.
“Nine?” he said.
“Anyone else?” the teacher asked.
The boy sat back down. His mother had sewn the word “Obama” on his backpack, and he wore it everywhere, even now that he was sitting down in class. His father had explained what it meant to carry the name, the expectations that came along with it. It’s a sentiment repeated across Kenya.
Huenda akawa Obama,” croons the group Sauti Sol in Swahili in one of Kenya’s most popular songs. “Maybe you will be Obama.”
Edwin Okoth is proud of his job as a motorcycle taxi driver. The income is reliable, and it keeps him from descending into alcoholism, like so many others in Kogelo. But he wanted more for his son. Barack Obama Okoth would learn English, he said. He would go to college.
“I’m going to be a doctor,” said Barack Obama Okoth, standing outside Kogelo’s market. His father smiled.
Obama’s visit to Kenya will focus on the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, where the president will probably emphasize the economic potential and innovation in East Africa, now home to dozens of small tech start-ups. Perhaps most famously, a mobile banking system, called Mpesa, has revolutionized the way Kenyans do business.
For its part, though, Kogelo has remained mostly untouched by the kinds of innovation visible in places such as Nairobi. If he does end up going to college, Barack Obama Okoth would be a rare exception.
Last week, a group of French donors was scheduled to visit Barack Obama Secondary School, where they were expected to offer funds for renovations. But at the last minute, the donors learned that the school didn’t possess a deed for the land on which it was built, another sign of Kogelo’s undeveloped economy. They canceled their trip.
“It’s a big inconvenience,” said the principal, Henry Odongo, as the children waited to perform a dance planned in honor of the now-canceled visit.
But that visit paled in comparison to the one Kogelo was really waiting for. A local radio program had announced that Obama would “visit Kogelo for three hours” as a part of his Kenya trip. Though the White House hasn’t confirmed that report, it was enough to send a shock of excitement through the village.
Would his helicopter land on a farm? Would he finally pledge financial assistance? Would he dine with his grandmother, Sarah Obama, who still lives in Kogelo, in a small house with a red roof? Residents guessed at the details.
“We need to be ready,” he said, standing in front of the hotel restaurant called the White House.
Edwin Okoth was getting ready, too. This time, he would get closer to the president. He would bring his son forward and make the introduction.
“I will tell him, ‘This is my son, Barack Obama.’ ”
FRENCH VERSION
Car tant que Barack a été vivant, son village a été parseméd’hommages à son homonyme, le Président américain dont lepère est né ici en 1936. Des milliers de touristes sont venus pourvoir le village, le Président a décrit dans ses mémoires, écrit quetrajectoire de sa vie « était liée à ce petit lopin de terre un océanloin. » Lorsque Obama a été élu, électricité arrive à Kogelo. Laseule route du village a été ouvert. Un détail de sécurité kenyanea été envoyé.
Le mois prochain, Obama fera son premier voyage au Kenya en tant que président. S’il retourne à Kogelo, il y trouverez unvillage levée par son association avec l’homme le plus puissantdu monde, mais encore aux prises avec la maladie et la pauvreté.Il va trouver des gens assez fiers de nommer leurs garçonsBarack Obama mais déçu qu’il a attendu jusqu’à la septièmeannée de sa présidence à retourner au pays natal de son père.
« Quand il s’agit, nous présenterons nos problèmes, » a déclaréEdwin Okoth, père de Barack Obama ousmane, les mains sur lesépaules de son fils.
Un homme monte sa bicyclette devant le marché à Kogelo.(Kevin Sieff/The Washington Post)
« En tant que pays, nous nous attendions plus, » dit AugustusMuluvi, chef de la politique étrangère à la Kenya Institute forPublic Policy Research and Analysis, un des meilleurs think tanksdu pays. “Nous nous attendions à venir plus tôt et nous nousattendions à venir avec des programmes spécifiques pour leKenya et l’Afrique. Cela n’a pas été le cas. » Edwin Okoth se souvient quand Obama a visité Kogelo en 2006 en tant quesénateur. Quand Obama parcouru de marché en plein air du village, une foule s’est rassemblée. Ousmane a obtenu aussiétroite que possible et “agité”. Il étonné lui qu’un homme justeune génération retirée Kogelo pourrait devenir si important.Lorsque l’épouse d’ousmane est tombée enceinte l’annéesuivante, il savait qu’ils auraient nommer le bébé Barack Obama.
« Peut-être que l’esprit de l’homme suivra le garçon », il se souvient de pensée.
Le petit hôpital où Barack Obama ousmane est né est égalementoù sont traités des centaines de malades du VIH/sida du village.Près de 18 pour cent du comté de Siaya, où se trouve Kogelo, estséropositive, selon le Conseil de contrôle des aides nationales du Kenya, près de trois fois la moyenne nationale. En 2006, Obama a pris un test de séropositivité ici, pour tenter d’effacer la honte del’examen. Mais depuis lors, la lutte contre la maladie a se heurterà des obstacles culturels à la prévention et le manque definancement de la santé publique.
« Nous attendons d’assistance émanant de l’extérieur, » a déclaréle médecin de la clinique, George Musa.
Également en 2006, Obama a visité du village écoles primaires etsecondaires, où son père a assisté. Les écoles ont étépromptement rebaptisés après lui. Et bien que certaines aidesdes fonds est arrivé lorsque Obama est devenu président, pour laplupart des donateurs individuels, les écoles restentpratiquement inchangées. La fuite de toits. Beaucoup d’élèvesabandonnent avant lycée car les frais sont trop chers pour leurfamille.
Un homme se tient en dehors de son intrigue à Kogelo. (KevinSieff/The Washington Post)
“Ce qui est de sept plus trois?” a demandé à l’enseignant. Elles’arrêta avant de choisir à qui faire appel.
« Obama, » dit-elle.
Il y avait un bref moment de confusion — la classe avait deuxBarack Obamas.
Barack Obama ousmane s’est levé, mais ses nerfs pris avec lui. Ila gelé en place avant d’ouvrir sa bouche.
« Nine? » dit-il.
« Quelqu’un d’autre? » demanda le professeur.
Le garçon assis en arrière vers le bas. Sa mère a cousu le mot « Obama » sur son sac à dos, et il le portait partout, mêmemaintenant qu’il était assis en classe. Son père avait expliqué cequ’il entendait à porter le nom, les attentes qui est venu avecelle. C’est un sentiment répété partout au Kenya.