"Being Obama’s Brother" - Obama's Kenyan Brother Tells His Story
George Obama sits in front of his home in a slum in Nairobi, Kenya
In November 2008, I stood in a bar in Kenya watching Barack Obama give his victory speech. From the wild cheering of the crowd on TV, and his repeated appeals to them personally—"You said," "You heard," "You called"—I felt as if the people of America knew this man far better than I, even though we shared the same father. If there was a leading light in the Obama clan, he was it; and if there was a shadowed place that no one liked to talk about, then that, I guess, was me.
Kenya, Africa
After a relatively privileged childhood, I crashed and burned in my teenage years. I had migrated from the plush suburbs of Nairobi, Kenya, to the wild chaos of the ghetto. I lost myself in drink and drugs and became a gun-toting gangster. In my early 20s, I spent a year in a Nairobi prison on robbery charges. My imprisonment included a starvation diet and 24/7 lockdowns in overcrowded, airless cells. But I came out a different man, resolved to turn my life around and find a different path.
Along with some fellow slum dwellers, I set up a youth group for ghetto kids. My passion was football (soccer), which is followed religiously throughout Africa. When we first established the Huruma Centre Football Club, none of our kids had so much as a pair of football boots, let alone any uniform. Some were so hungry when they turned up that they had no energy to play. At other times, the team had to trek for miles to matches because we couldn't afford any transportation. In spite of all that, our players were passionate, and we started winning. Then, as my brother's profile grew in America and around the world, the media came looking for his African relatives.
Eventually the press found me in my slum. My new notoriety was a blessing and a curse. Many people presume I have a direct line to the White House, but I don't. I've only met my big brother twice and have spoken to him just once since the election, to say congratulations. Still, because of our connection, I managed to pull in funds from philanthropists to support the work of the youth group. I raised enough money to buy the team gold and green uniforms—with their own numbers on the back. Last fall, Obama's Champs won the Nairobi Super League—a feat that, just a couple of years back, would have been unthinkable for a team from the slums. With the sponsorship I've attracted because of my last name, we can now afford to take buses all across Kenya for matches.
A slum in Kenya
I still live in one of Africa's biggest slums, along with some 4.5 million others. We have little or no access to health care, no welfare, and no free schooling. The average income is less than $5 a day—and that's for those who find work as servants, taxi drivers, or garbage collectors. For the rest, there is nothing. My brother has risen to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world. In Kenya I hope to be a leader among the poorest, most powerless people on earth—the people of the ghetto.
Hope—it's an idea my brother talked about a lot. But it was only recently that I learned again what it means to feel the true spirit of that word. Here, a little goes a long way.
By George Obama | NEWSWEEK Published Jan 2, 2010 From the magazine issue dated Jan 11, 2010
Obama's memoir, Homeland, was co-written with Damien Lewis. © 2010 source: Newsweek.com
By @Corentin
Comment
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Comment by DeLeon Hughes on January 27, 2010 at 12:46pm - why isn't he lavished up somewhere in the U.S.? c'mon Obama, that's your brother!
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Comment by GunitRIDERZ on January 24, 2010 at 8:59pm - dude said he been to kenya and cant even spell it
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Comment by Jade on January 24, 2010 at 9:26am - Africa would do better without you all, foreign involvement is what is tearing Africa apart..Africa has about 45% of the world mineral resources, but America, Russia, France, UK and China are all here fighting for our resources, why cant you all hypocrites leave us alone? leave Somalian waters, bip ups to the pirates
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Comment by Bea Bruendler on January 24, 2010 at 9:16am -
whoever thinks this is funny or a game:
I've been to Kenia and the slum there is real nothing to joke 'bout...spoilt niggaZ like some posters down should immediately be spotted to a place like that where u can smell the way to the toilet from 100drez of meters & ppl without legs travel on skateboars!
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Comment by Jade on January 24, 2010 at 9:05am
- I read most of the posts in here, Africans commented quite well, but these African-Americans sound a lil stupid and immature
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Comment by jBrizzle on January 16, 2010 at 10:20pm -
To the entity below me. Your a complete doaf! If you dont understand then look it up!
preaching your fake profit like jargon on to others makes you look like a moron.
Your also brainwashed and get over yourself!
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Comment by L.A.V.A.H ENT. on January 11, 2010 at 6:12am - i cant wait to see the look on niggaz faces when they find out the truth about barry/obama,niggaz always getting tricked,you earthlings look @ skin too much........most of you might not know Him,but Yahweh bout to fuck all yall up any second now......yall all on obamas nuts,50 nuts,jay-z nuts,bush nuts,bill gates nuts,mike tyson nuts,lil wayne,lebron,tony montana,steve jobs,michael jackson ect ect.....but the muthafucka who Created all those niggaz & YOU , yall dont give a fuck about HIM!!...until He fuck you or somebody you "love" up.....then you wanna call Him Or address Him,but naw bitch u fairweather groupie ass cocksucker of a human being devil influenced phony it will be too late.....Message & Warning: If you dont know Yahweh b4 you die,you will transported to the Lake of Fire/eternal fire a.s.a.p.........F.Y.I there are absolutly no tough guys in hell......If you desire to know more about your Heavenly Father,get @ me soon,because there may not be later.
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Comment by Kitwana on January 11, 2010 at 5:16am - i saw his brother talk on cnn last year, you missed bef4
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Comment by J-Be on January 10, 2010 at 12:38pm - why are there so many retards on this is 50 he isnt asking for money the media found him not the other way around the funny thing is were he is at there isnt free schooling an over here there is an cats still cant fuckin read
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Comment by J-Be on January 9, 2010 at 3:12pm
- thats a real story whille we talk recession and how are hoods are so bad i live in the most dangerous place in the usa detroit google it kids thats the only award we have if u can call it that but detroit isnt shit compared to the slums over there all u nerds talking shit on this site dont know strugle your mommys and daddys probly pay your way throw life yall preying your daddy buy u the new i phone and these people preying there dady can get them somtin to eat and not get killed in the process change the way you mother fuckers think in the land of the free cuz u dont know how lucky we are and are selfishness is why the rest of the world hate us and the fact that alot of us dont have to work for what we got (not all of us)and still cry like lil bitches!!!!!!!!1111
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Tht is cool, may God leed you both
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