We met Mama Obama!

Since we like to go on some adventure or another each weekend, this past Friday we went to go see no other than the Obama Mama! Now she is actually Obama’s step grandmother, but our name for her is much more fun to say. Jessica, Lauren, and I met up with Aduda, our community liaison person who is also now our friend. We all convened at the mall where the driver that he got for us would be. Before leaving we ran into the grocery store to pick up some things as gifts for Mama Obama. We got sugar, a big box of cookies and bar soap for washing laundry. Once these were all packed up we were on our way. It takes a little over an hour to get to where she lives because she is in a much more rural area than Kisumu. Our driver is part of an NGO I believe and has been to Mama Obama’s before – her name is Sarah so I’m going to refer to her as Mama Sarah now since that is what she is actually goes by – so it was easier to get an appointment to visit her. Yes, she needs appointments. Mama Sarah gets tons of visitors everyday ever since President Obama was elected into office. Sidenote: Mama Sarah used to be able to receive these guests freely. Then so many started coming she needed to regulate it somehow. She had to put up a fence and a guard post where the guests would have to check in first before going. She also doesn’t allow any videos of her place (but she does allow cameras so that could kinda be the same thing, but oh well). There was one incident where a reporter came in, took lots of pictures, and sent it back to his newspaper saying that it’s a disgrace that the president lets his grandmother live like this. Blah blah blah people got angry and upset, and now there are a lot more restrictions to the visits. For one, she does not live in any rackety shack, she is doing quite well in her normal-sized house with people cooking and doing laundry for her. She also has electricity and a satellite dish on her house. I believe she is just fine. Also, as was stated many times while we were there, you can’t change the entire way someone is used to living just because another person in your family becomes famous. She is comfortable with the way she lives and would not want it any other way, which made perfect sense to the rest of us. You will see the house she lives in and the surrounding area in the pictures. Ok that was a long sidenote.

So anyways we walked into her yard and sat in the nicely set up chairs awaiting Mama Sarah’s appearance. There were many chairs set up in a horseshoe shape, and were all made out of nicely carved wood. Mama Sarah’s “assistant” greeted us and explained that he would go into the house to see if she was ready to come out and say hello. We all waited patiently in our chairs for her arrival into the group. It was like we were waiting to meet a famous person or something. Well she finally came out and sat with us. We introduced ourselves, which the assistant translated for her. Mama Sarah doesn’t speak any English. She speaks Luo which is the tribal language of the area, so we had to use the assistant as our middle man. I wasn’t always sure that he translated what we said exactly right, but we tried our best to communicate as we could. Lauren helped campaign for Obama in Pennsylvania and had a picture of her with Obama to give to Mama Sarah. Mama Sarah appreciated this and it seemed like she was even more receptive to us once we told that story. She did assure us that she liked the visitors that came to see her everyday and that it kept her life very busy. We were also impressed by her strength; she is around 86 or 87 years old and is still full of life (average life span in Kenya is up to 60 years). You could tell that she was a no nonsense kind of lady. This was great to see because while we were there many more people started coming onto the grounds to visit her. We were all so thankful that we were the first visitors of the day and didn’t have to deal with a larger crowd because I think it would have gotten more uncomfortable. Also, when we pulled out our gift for her she was very thankful, and the other visitors that had just arrived started whispering to each other presumably asking if they should have brought a gift too. You are right mom, always bring a gift to a house you are visiting - I guess this is the same everywhere. :)

Well we left shortly after, so excited after meeting Mama Sarah – totally going to let Obama know next time I see him :) - and went on to the next leg of our journey for the day. We were driving up to an area called Kakamega. Get all your giggles out now; I know it’s a funny name. I asked if it meant big brother because in Swahili kaka means brother and well, mega means big anywhere right? Yeah, this is not the case, Aduda said there wasn’t a meaning for it, it was just a name. I think my idea is still good, though. So we drove for a little over an hour and grabbed some lunch since we were pretty famished at that point then jumped back in the car to drive another hour to the Kakamega rainforest. We went into what looked like a mini resort area to grab a guide and hike up the mountain. It was already getting late in the day so we just wanted a mini hike, to get to the top of one of the peaks and look out, then come back down. We entered the forest and were surrounded by lots of sounds of birds. It was pretty cool listening to all the different types that lived in the forest. We hiked for a good thirty or forty minutes or so until we reached the top and were able to look out at the expanse of land over the Great Rift Valley. It was beautiful. It seemed to go on and on forever. Definitely check out the pictures of this. This area is so incredible and I feel like I am able to view scenes like this over and over while I am here. It’s pretty amazing to be surrounded by this beauty day in and day out. We stayed up there for a little while, looking out at the sights below.  At one point Lauren thought she saw a big lizard run through a bush and started looking around it, I politely went to the other side and let them search on their own.

We climbed back down the little mountain/large hill, paid the guide, and started on our way back to the flat. We didn’t get home until after dark making for a long, but extraordinary day.  Each week passes by and the people here continue to amaze me with their kindness and strength. Two more weeks until we move back to Eldoret, I can’t believe how fast my time in Kisumu has been.