KISUMU, Kenya (Halbeeg) – Former US President Barack Obama has arrived in his ancestral village, Kogelo of Kenya’s Siaya county.
The government of Kenya has deployed hundreds of security forces along the road linking Kisumu town and Kogelo village where Obama senior born.
The over 400 Obama delegates have reached at his grandmother’s home in Kogelo after traveling by road from Kisumu airport.
Anxious villagers lining the streets for a glimpse of Obama’s motorcade chanted songs that praising the beloved son of this tiny village.
Mr. Obama and his grandmother Mama Sarah are expected to spend some time together before Obama heads to the launch of Sauti Kuu Foundation, which his half-sister Auma founded.
From Kenya, the former will head to South Africa to deliver the keynote address at the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg.
Mandela, who died in 2013, remains a global icon for his long fight against white-minority rule and for his message of peace and reconciliation when he was released after 27 years in prison.
His birthday on July 18 is marked annually around the world, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation called this year for people to “take action and inspire change” in Mandela’s name.
Obama will set the tone for the celebrations with a speech in Johannesburg on July 17 that aides say will be his most important public address since leaving the White House in 2017.
“It gives him an opportunity to lift up a message of tolerance, inclusivity, and democracy at a time when there are obviously challenges to Mandela’s legacy around the world,” his aide Benjamin Rhodes told the New York Times.
Obama will also host a town hall event on July 18 for 200 young leaders selected from across Africa to attend a five-day training programme.
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