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| Barack Obama re-election a foregone conclusion for Kenyan village | Barack Obama re-election a foregone conclusion for Kenyan village |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| If Barack Obama's re-election campaign has lacked the magic of four years ago, there is one place where "the audacity of hope" still shines: Kogelo, the blink-and-you'll-miss-it village in western Kenya where his father grew up. | If Barack Obama's re-election campaign has lacked the magic of four years ago, there is one place where "the audacity of hope" still shines: Kogelo, the blink-and-you'll-miss-it village in western Kenya where his father grew up. |
| Here, there is no talk of the US president losing to his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Tuesday. | Here, there is no talk of the US president losing to his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Tuesday. |
| Motorbike taxi drivers, shop workers, and vegetable sellers say they are praying hard. But such is their faith in Kenya's most famous honorary son that many are also already planning the post-election celebrations. "We don't think he will win. We know," says Peter Evans, who drives a motorbike taxi, or boda-boda. | Motorbike taxi drivers, shop workers, and vegetable sellers say they are praying hard. But such is their faith in Kenya's most famous honorary son that many are also already planning the post-election celebrations. "We don't think he will win. We know," says Peter Evans, who drives a motorbike taxi, or boda-boda. |
| George Ochieng, 23, another driver relaxing along with Evans and other men under a tree hung with weaver bird nests in the centre of the village, agrees. "We heard he killed Osama [bin Laden]. That was one thing he did," he says, as another man chimes in: "He promised us that." | George Ochieng, 23, another driver relaxing along with Evans and other men under a tree hung with weaver bird nests in the centre of the village, agrees. "We heard he killed Osama [bin Laden]. That was one thing he did," he says, as another man chimes in: "He promised us that." |
| Sitting on a low wall nearby, Elizabeth Mola Odondo, 60, who says her husband and the president's father, Barack Obama Sr, were cousins, is equally adamant. "I'm not worried at all," she says. "I'm very confident." | Sitting on a low wall nearby, Elizabeth Mola Odondo, 60, who says her husband and the president's father, Barack Obama Sr, were cousins, is equally adamant. "I'm not worried at all," she says. "I'm very confident." |
| And if the unthinkable happened? | And if the unthinkable happened? |
| "It will be a bitter pill to swallow but we are praying day in and day out for him," she says in the local Luo language, adding: "There is a big celebration coming." | "It will be a bitter pill to swallow but we are praying day in and day out for him," she says in the local Luo language, adding: "There is a big celebration coming." |
| Mola Odondo says she knows Obama's stepgrandmother, Mama Sarah, who still lives in Kogelo, and got to shake his hand when he last visited the village as a senator in 2006. She says Mama Sarah had no doubts that Obama would win again. | Mola Odondo says she knows Obama's stepgrandmother, Mama Sarah, who still lives in Kogelo, and got to shake his hand when he last visited the village as a senator in 2006. She says Mama Sarah had no doubts that Obama would win again. |
| Mama Sarah, third wife of Hussein Onyango Obama, raised Obama's father here after his mother left. Obama Sr married Ann Dunham from Kansas while studying in Hawaii. Their son, Barack, was born there, but the couple separated when the child was two. | Mama Sarah, third wife of Hussein Onyango Obama, raised Obama's father here after his mother left. Obama Sr married Ann Dunham from Kansas while studying in Hawaii. Their son, Barack, was born there, but the couple separated when the child was two. |
| In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father, the president tells how he met Mama Sarah when he travelled to Kenya in search of his roots in his 20s, describing her as a large woman with a "smooth and big-boned" face and "sparkling, laughing eyes". | In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father, the president tells how he met Mama Sarah when he travelled to Kenya in search of his roots in his 20s, describing her as a large woman with a "smooth and big-boned" face and "sparkling, laughing eyes". |
| Members of the Obama family said this week that the matriarch, who is now 90, did not plan to speak to the media – a police officer at her still-modest compound said she was sleeping when the Guardian visited. | Members of the Obama family said this week that the matriarch, who is now 90, did not plan to speak to the media – a police officer at her still-modest compound said she was sleeping when the Guardian visited. |
| Inside the green gates, where cows were feeding at a trough under the trees, is the grave of her stepson, who died in a car crash in 1982. | Inside the green gates, where cows were feeding at a trough under the trees, is the grave of her stepson, who died in a car crash in 1982. |
| Said Hussein Obama, Mama Sarah's son and the president's half-uncle, is sure voters would give Barack Obama a second chance. | Said Hussein Obama, Mama Sarah's son and the president's half-uncle, is sure voters would give Barack Obama a second chance. |
| "Among his top achievements," he says in an email, "he has restored the trust in, and dignity of, America among the international community, which were severely damaged by his predecessor." | "Among his top achievements," he says in an email, "he has restored the trust in, and dignity of, America among the international community, which were severely damaged by his predecessor." |
| He says the president has performed well, considering what he has inherited from George W Bush, citing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic slump. | He says the president has performed well, considering what he has inherited from George W Bush, citing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic slump. |
| "[Obama] has brought honour and glory to a once-sleepy village … he has placed Kogelo on the world map," he says. | "[Obama] has brought honour and glory to a once-sleepy village … he has placed Kogelo on the world map," he says. |
| Kogelo residents agree. Beatrice Akoth's hand glides elegantly through the air as the pregnant mother-of-six enumerates the benefits this fame has brought. "There have been big improvements. There is water everywhere in the town. Before, the water was not clean. There's electricity and roads. The children get a good education. Occasionally, they go to Mama Sarah's and she provides maize and other food," she says in Luo. | Kogelo residents agree. Beatrice Akoth's hand glides elegantly through the air as the pregnant mother-of-six enumerates the benefits this fame has brought. "There have been big improvements. There is water everywhere in the town. Before, the water was not clean. There's electricity and roads. The children get a good education. Occasionally, they go to Mama Sarah's and she provides maize and other food," she says in Luo. |
| Said Hussein Obama says schools, a clinic, cultural centre and hotels have been built since his relative was elected. "The ball is now in the court of the residents to make use of these facilities to help them grow." | Said Hussein Obama says schools, a clinic, cultural centre and hotels have been built since his relative was elected. "The ball is now in the court of the residents to make use of these facilities to help them grow." |
| Other benefits are less tangible. In a motor parts shop, Kelvin Otieno Ouma remembers the day in 2006 when Obama came to his school. Otieno Ouma was 14 and head boy. He recalls how Obama ended his speech with erokamano – thank you in Luo. | Other benefits are less tangible. In a motor parts shop, Kelvin Otieno Ouma remembers the day in 2006 when Obama came to his school. Otieno Ouma was 14 and head boy. He recalls how Obama ended his speech with erokamano – thank you in Luo. |
| "When I saw him," he says, "I thought: we can make it. Despite your family background or how poor you are, you can achieve your goals through focus and determination. He made the students of the school work very hard to achieve their goals." | "When I saw him," he says, "I thought: we can make it. Despite your family background or how poor you are, you can achieve your goals through focus and determination. He made the students of the school work very hard to achieve their goals." |
| Otieno Ouma dreams of being an orator and lawyer. He is saving to go to university in the capital, Nairobi, but says he still needs a sponsor. But Kogelo is still waiting for a visit from President Obama. Perhaps that is why nobody has renamed the school from Senator Obama primary. | Otieno Ouma dreams of being an orator and lawyer. He is saving to go to university in the capital, Nairobi, but says he still needs a sponsor. But Kogelo is still waiting for a visit from President Obama. Perhaps that is why nobody has renamed the school from Senator Obama primary. |
| Asked if people were disappointed by this absence, the boda-boda driver Evans is adamant – and pragmatic. | Asked if people were disappointed by this absence, the boda-boda driver Evans is adamant – and pragmatic. |
| "Oh no, no, no," he says. "We haven't been disappointed. He's doing his work. I know he'll come." | "Oh no, no, no," he says. "We haven't been disappointed. He's doing his work. I know he'll come." |
| Evans does not think defeat for Obama, although obviously inconceivable to him, would be the end of Kogelo's fame. | Evans does not think defeat for Obama, although obviously inconceivable to him, would be the end of Kogelo's fame. |
| "That big name has changed lots of things. Business is good … I don't think it will change. (People) will come. History is here." | "That big name has changed lots of things. Business is good … I don't think it will change. (People) will come. History is here." |
| Tuesday's election is not the only vote being talked about in Kenya. The country is due to elect its own president in March, and there are fears the violence that erupted after the last ballot in 2007 could do so again. | Tuesday's election is not the only vote being talked about in Kenya. The country is due to elect its own president in March, and there are fears the violence that erupted after the last ballot in 2007 could do so again. |
| An Obama victory would lift spirits in Kogelo, but in reality, its future depends more on the outcome of the March poll. | An Obama victory would lift spirits in Kogelo, but in reality, its future depends more on the outcome of the March poll. |
| Ochieng hopes Kenya's politicians, widely condemned for corruption and for using tribalism to rally voters, have learned their own Obama lesson. | Ochieng hopes Kenya's politicians, widely condemned for corruption and for using tribalism to rally voters, have learned their own Obama lesson. |
| "If you compare the leadership in Kenya and in the US, [Obama] has made our leaders look up, he has given them an example." | "If you compare the leadership in Kenya and in the US, [Obama] has made our leaders look up, he has given them an example." |
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