<![CDATA[OBAMA’S KENYAN GRANDMOTHER COMES TO AMERICA]]>
9:34am UK, Wednesday January 14, 2009
Mark Stone, Sky News reporter
BARACK OBAMA’S GRANDMOTHER HAS STARTED HER HISTORIC JOURNEY FROM KENYA TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO WITNESS HER GRANDSON’S SWEARING IN AS THE 44TH PRESIDENT
Mama Sarah Obama’s life has begun to change since her grandson was elected
“I am finding out that to be America’s First Grandma is a
full time job,” she said from her home, a small hut on the shores of
Lake Victoria in western
Kenya.
The potholed road to her village has been fixed, a security fence has been constructed around her house and she even has private security.
President-elect Barack Obama
“I love my new bodyguards,” she said through an interpreter. “It is good not only for me but also for the neighbourhood. Now, all my neighbours have a new road and more security.”
Mama Sarah is the third wife of Barack Obama’s paternal grandfather and although not a blood relation, President-elect Obama still calls her “Granny Sarah”.
She says she has high hopes for him: “I am going to ask him to work hard and achieve world peace, to stop all the fighting in many places around the world. I am also going to ask him to work hard for a better economy around the world. We need peace,” she said.
And for her grandson’s predecessor, she has no criticism.
“I would talk to him happily. I have no ill feelings. I will thank him for being the president of the United States and servicing his country and the world. So I have no bad feelings about him,” she explained.
Obama Relatives Celebrate In Kenya
In Washington she hopes to visit all the sights, though she is worried about the cold weather and what to wear for the
inauguration ceremony.
“I have prepared three very colourful dresses. My favourite is yellow. The second one is green. And a third one is a combination of grey and sky blue . But now they tell me that because of the cold weather, I may not be able to use them. So the people there in Washington will pick some clothes for me,” she said.
She revealed too that she is keen to meet Barack Obama’s Secretary of State-to-be,
Hillary Clinton.
Interviewer Daphne Barak
“When we meet, I will thank her for helping Barack to win the election. First of all – I will thank her. Then – I will ask her to continue to help him and work with Barack to ensure that he will not disappoint the people who elected him. I think Hillary and I will get along,” she explained.
She will be in Washington by Friday. But she is not sure if she will be staying in the
White House or not.
“We don’t have final details. I will stay in the White House or at a place nearby, that’s what I was told,” she said.
She is sure of one thing though: “I expect both Barack and Michelle to give me a detailed tour of the White House.”
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