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| Barack Obama's brother on life in the slums of Nairobi | Barack Obama's brother on life in the slums of Nairobi |
| (6 months later) | |
| The man sitting opposite me looks and sounds nothing like his elder half-brother. He did not arrive with a security detail; no journalists politely raise their hands to ask him questions. This is George Obama. | The man sitting opposite me looks and sounds nothing like his elder half-brother. He did not arrive with a security detail; no journalists politely raise their hands to ask him questions. This is George Obama. |
| Given the 20-year age gap between him and Barack (George is the child of their father's last marriage), and the fact that George lives in Nairobi, Kenya, this isn't a tale of fraternal closeness. They've met only twice – Barack documents their meeting in a dusty playground in his memoir, Dreams From My Father ("... he was a handsome, round-headed boy with a wary gaze".) But they do have the same middle name, Hussein, given by the father they share but never got to know; Obama Senior died when George was just a baby. | Given the 20-year age gap between him and Barack (George is the child of their father's last marriage), and the fact that George lives in Nairobi, Kenya, this isn't a tale of fraternal closeness. They've met only twice – Barack documents their meeting in a dusty playground in his memoir, Dreams From My Father ("... he was a handsome, round-headed boy with a wary gaze".) But they do have the same middle name, Hussein, given by the father they share but never got to know; Obama Senior died when George was just a baby. |
| The youngest Obama is in the UK to publicise a new play by Kevin Fegan, Obama – the Mamba (mamba is Swahili for crocodile and was George's street name), based on his 2010 memoir, Homeland. It opens with George carjacking a public-transport vehicle, and takes in his time in jail on robbery charges. But the fact that he's here shows that he has turned his life around. | The youngest Obama is in the UK to publicise a new play by Kevin Fegan, Obama – the Mamba (mamba is Swahili for crocodile and was George's street name), based on his 2010 memoir, Homeland. It opens with George carjacking a public-transport vehicle, and takes in his time in jail on robbery charges. But the fact that he's here shows that he has turned his life around. |
| "Time runs faster in prison," he says. "It's like staying in there for nine years, rather than nine months." His experience in jail helps when he's talking with the young men he mentors in Haruma, the slums of northeast Nairobi. "You have to teach the youth by example," he says. "In Kenya, the police have a 'shoot to kill' policy. So they're not going to be taken to prison, they're going to be killed." He spreads his hands. "Lay out the options: you either stop or you go and die." | "Time runs faster in prison," he says. "It's like staying in there for nine years, rather than nine months." His experience in jail helps when he's talking with the young men he mentors in Haruma, the slums of northeast Nairobi. "You have to teach the youth by example," he says. "In Kenya, the police have a 'shoot to kill' policy. So they're not going to be taken to prison, they're going to be killed." He spreads his hands. "Lay out the options: you either stop or you go and die." |
| These days, George is a community organiser, running youth groups. They do drama, collect rubbish and play football, in a team called Huruma United. | These days, George is a community organiser, running youth groups. They do drama, collect rubbish and play football, in a team called Huruma United. |
| But how does it feel to be the sibling of one of the most famous people in the world? In his quiet voice, he says: "I don't comment on him." Why not? "I think … you know his address, you can go and ask him." He laughs. | But how does it feel to be the sibling of one of the most famous people in the world? In his quiet voice, he says: "I don't comment on him." Why not? "I think … you know his address, you can go and ask him." He laughs. |
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