Kenya ready to fete Obama return

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Thursday, 24 August 2006, 10:19 GMT 11:19 UK

Kenya ready to fete Obama return

Kenyans are preparing a hero's welcome for US Senator Barack Obama, who is to make his first visit to his father's homeland since his 2004 election.

The road to his family village of Nyangoma Kogalo in western Kenya has been upgraded and local residents have been busy cutting the grass.

Pupils at a local school have been rehearsing a song to welcome him.

Mr Obama is the only black US Senator and is seen as a rising star of the Democratic party.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5281190.stm

[Kagemusha]

1. As a non black person I am asking this without preconception:

is it right to characterize this as a "return"?

[Judi Lynn]

2. He has been to Africa twice, to visit.

There are photos of his trips available.

This one shows him visiting Nelson Mandela's prison island:



Another:



U.S. Senator, Barack Obama, left, visits a memorial with Antoinette Sitole, the sister of the late Hector Pieterson, at the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, South Africa, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006. The museum commemorates the site where Pieterson was gunned down by police thirty years ago at the start of the Soweto student uprising. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

[Tellurian]

4. Barak is one of the most brilliant, charismatic speakers in politics today

His oratory skills mirror that of the Senior executive, Bill Clinton.
While his style and physical presence continue their maiden voyage, Bill Clinton, is the model he should aspire too. Barak is definitely a would be contender for second position in the WH come 08'

Best wishes to you, Barak, and GodSpeed!

[Heidi]

3. :kick:

:kick:

[Tellurian]

7. ...

[Eurobabe]

5. Let's try again, first post didn't make it

Why in 2006 is Barack the only African-American senator, and why haven't we elected a woman President?

Sheesh.

[Tellurian]

6. double kick!

:kick: :kick:

[deadparrot]

8. Cool.

I seriously believe Sen. Obama will be our commander-in-chief one day. He's got 'it'.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Update: Hundreds Welcome Sen. Obama in Kenya

Hundreds Welcome Sen. Obama in Kenya
By CHRIS WILLS , 08.25.2006, 09:27 AM

Hundreds of U.S. Embassy employees and their families cheered and sang to greet Sen. Barack Obama after he met Friday with President Mwai Kibaki during Obama's first trip to his father's homeland since taking office.

Obama also met survivors of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy and laid a wreath in memory of the 248 people killed, officials said.

"We will not forget what has happened here," Obama said.

Hundreds surrounded the park in central Nairobi, cheering and waving. A bystander was allowed through a security cordon to present Obama with a wood carving.

"Lots of politicians visit, but this is special and meaningful because of Obama's Kenyan background," said survivor George Mimba, a Kenyan who still works at the embassy as a computer manager.
(snip/...)

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/entrelaw/feeds/ap/2006/08/25/ap2973296.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., chatted Wednesday with Antoinette Sitole, sister of Hector Pieterson, during his tour of the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, South Africa. The picture they are looking at shows child protesters gunned down by police 30 years ago in Soweto.

Obama's Kenya trip grabs attention
The U.S. senator and his family are on a six-day visit and will see his grandmother
By Anthony Mitchell
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya » Hawaii native Barack Obama might have only landed yesterday for his latest visit to his father's homeland, but the U.S. senator has already become the country's most prominent "citizen."

People drinking a Kenyan beer called Senator are ordering "Obama" instead. Obama's photograph is popping up on T-shirts, and the once knee-high grass in his ancestral village was cut in advance of his arrival.

As the only African American in the Senate, Obama is seen as an inspiration in this African country where more than half its 33 million people eke out a living on less than $1 a day.

Obama arrived yesterday for a six-day visit, and planned to meet with President Mwai Kibaki and stop at the site where Nairobi's U.S. Embassy was bombed in 1998, killing 248 people.
(snip/...)

http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/25/news/story11.html

[Judi Lynn]

10. Kick.

:kick: :kick: :kick: