The Other Obamas

Here, the Obamas are admired widely as the richest family in this town of about 2,000, successful farmers who have helped neighbours, and flirted with the political elite when Obama8217;s Harvard-educated father rose to a prominent government post.

The international spotlight has cast the family in an unfamiliar role: as poor relations who8217;ve suddenly hit it big. By US standards many family members are relatively poor, living in mud-brick homes with no running water or, until recently, electricity.

The family boasts a beloved, wise-cracking 8220;Granny,8221; who wears colourful African head scarves and slaughters chickens in the backyard. The 86-year-old Onyango probably will steal the show at Obama8217;s inauguration8212;she8217;s promised to bring homemade chapati that is the US president-elect8217;s favourite.

But their instant celebrity is posing challenges to the family8217;s identity and unity. Most hurtful are depictions of the family as 8220;beggars8221; .8221;We support Barack, but we have no expectations,8221; said half-sister Auma Obama, who has the closest relationship with the president-elect. Onyango, who until the recent flurry of attention still worked in the fields tending her crops, said she hoped life would return to normal. 8220;We don8217;t feel that we should or ought to be treated differently,8221; she said.But like it or not, their lives have changed dramatically. 8220;Let8217;s face it,8221; said security expert Fred Burton of Stratfor, an international consulting company. 8220;The grandmother8217;s life will never be the same.8221;

Until the Obama family in Kenya, no president in recent memory has had so many relatives living outside the US, creating security concerns. Their protection falls to Kenyan police, which has a spotty record. 8220;This is way out of their league,8221; said one Western diplomat.

For the family there have been fringe benefits to their fame. Family members are fielding various offers for jobs, partnerships and endorsement deals. Said Obama, who struggled for more than a decade to find full-time work, admits he probably owes his current job as a mechanic at a factory co-owned by the prime minister8217;s family to his relationship with Obama. 8220;The Obama name is now a powerful key to open doors,8221; he said. 8220;But I don8217;t want to exploit my relationship with Barack.8221;

Meanwhile, Malik Obama, the eldest half-brother, has asked reporters seeking interviews to first make donations to his 8220;Barack H. Obama Foundation,8221; which he said funds school uniforms and community projects.

8220;The children used to be close,8221; said Charles Oluoch, a family cousin. 8220;But with the election, everyone is fighting to be closest to the president.8221;

Oluoch lives with about 200 other Obamas in village Kobama, 100 miles away. They are preserving a mud hut 8220;where the president once slept,8221; he said, as a potential tourist attraction.

Obama8217;s grandfather Hussein Onyango befriended white settlers and served with the British army World War I; he learned English, adopted Western dress and worked as a servant in colonialists8217; homes. He introduced many European customs to the village, such as eating with plates and utensils, planting trees, deep-frying food and maintaining an immaculate home.

Thanks to Onyango8217;s belief in education, his son, Barack Obama Sr., became one of the first Kenyans to study in the US. There he met and married the president-elect8217;s mother who divorced him in 1964. In Kenya, Obama Sr. rose to become a well-respected economist whose friends included Kenya8217;s current president and prime minister.

However, in the early 1970s, his tendency to criticise won him enemies and as a Luo, he found himself the victim of rising tribalism as rival Kikuyus seized control of the government. Old friends abandoned him. In 1982, Obama ran his car off the road after a night of drinking and was killed. He was 46.

Now government officials make the trek down the dirt road toward the Obama compound to pay their respects. Kenya8217;s president declared a national holiday in Obama8217;s honour.

8220;The death was a great blow to the Obamas,8221; Oluoch said. 8220;We had no one else to be proud of. But 26 years later, God gave us another one.8221;