Obama's Half Brother

[SayidSomal]

Life is good in my Nairobi slum, says Barack Obama's younger brother

George Obama, half-brother of Barack, hopes to become a car mechanic

 

Rob Crilly in Nairobi

The muddy lanes and rickety shacks of Huruma slum are known for their poverty, disease and outbreaks of gang violence — but for Barack Obama’s half-brother it is the place he calls home.

 

Yesterday, as the Democratic nominee moved ever closer to the White House, George Hussein Onyango Obama, the youngest of his halfsiblings, responded to claims that his family had abandoned him by insisting that he was content with life in a simple wooden hut.

 

“Life in Huruma is good. In other places you must lock yourself in to keep yourself safe,” he told The Times. “Here I am surrounded by friends and family and feel safe and secure.”

 

His home stands beside a dirt road that had turned to mud after a night of rain. Nearby, women fried spicy potato bhajis in vats of bubbling oil as the smell of rubbish wafted through the streets. Not far away six people were hacked to death during the political violence that rocked Kenya earlier this year. George, 26, had been living a quiet life, studying to become a car mechanic until earlier this week when Vanity Fair tracked him down to Huruma, on the edge of Nairobi.

 

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He said that he was furious at subsequent reports that he had been abandoned by the Obama family and that he was filled with shame about living in a slum. “It seems there are people who want to destroy me and my family,” he said.

 

“They say I live on a dollar a month, but this is all lies by people who don’t want my brother to win.” He said that he was supported by his mother, Jael, who now lives in the US, and by a cousin in Huruma.

 

The Obama family in Kenya watched with dismay as the campaign in the US turned increasingly negative. Reporters have tried to prove that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and have tracked down friends of his father, portrayed as a drunk and abusive husband.

 

Now they are worried that a careless comment in Kenya could have repercussions thousands of miles away. George is the youngest of Barack’s seven half-brothers and sisters. He was born to Barack Obama Sr’s fourth partner, six months before his father died in a car crash.

 

Yesterday, over a simple lunch of barbecued goat and fistfuls of thick maize porridge, George admitted that he knew little about his famous half-brother. “People keep asking questions, but I have met him only twice and I can’t speak about what kind of man he is,” he said.

 

“Many people don’t know about my connection,” he continued, dipping a greasy hunk of goat in salt before popping it into his mouth. “If people ask about my name I tell them we are not related. The problem here is that people have expectations and think I would look after them.” Kenyan politics is synonymous with corruption and MPs are expected to shower cash and development projects on their home villages.

 

George said he expected no favours and wanted to work for a living, even though he was confident that his brother would be moving into the White House. “He has already done so many firsts, as black president of the Harvard Law Review and getting the nomination, so we believe he will win,” he said.

 

That means the half-brothers and sisters, and the countless cousins, uncles and aunts that make up the Obama family will have to get used to being in the media spotlight.