Sarah Onyango Obama | |
|---|---|
 Obama in 2014 | |
| Born | Sarah Okech 1921 or 1922 |
| Died | March 29, 2021 (aged 98–99) Kisumu, Kenya |
| Known for | Mama Sarah Obama Foundation; U.S. President Barack Obama's step-grandmother |
| Spouse |
Hussein Onyango Obama
(m. 1941; died 1979) |
| Children | 4; including Zeituni Onyango |
Sarah Onyango Obama (1922 – March 29, 2021) was a Kenyan educator and philanthropist. She was the third wife of Hussein Onyango Obama, the paternal grandmother of U.S. president Barack Obama[1] and helped raise his father, Barack Obama Sr.[2][3] She was known by her short name as Sarah Obama and was sometimes referred to as Sarah Ogwel, Sarah Hussein Obama, or Sarah Anyango Obama.[4] She lived in Nyang'oma Kogelo village, 48 km (30 miles) west of western Kenya's main city, Kisumu, on the edge of Lake Victoria.[5][6][7]
As a young woman, Sarah Obama helped raise her stepson Barack Obama Sr. She was a firm believer in quality early education and regularly took him on her bicycle to primary school so that he could get the education she had been denied.[8]
She first met her step grandson, Barack Obama II, the future President of the United States, during his visit to Kenya in 1988.[9] Although she was not a blood relation, Barack Obama called her "Granny Sarah".[4][10] In addition to mentioning her in his memoir Dreams from My Father, he spoke about her in his 2014 speech to the United Nations General Assembly.[3] Sarah, who spoke Luo and only a few words of English, communicated with President Obama through an interpreter.
During the U.S. presidential campaign of 2008, she protested attempts to portray Obama as a foreigner to the United States or as a Muslim, saying that while Obama's grandfather had been a Muslim, "In the world of today, children have different religions from their parents."[11] At one point in her life, she worked as a cook for Christian missionaries,[2] but Sarah Obama was "a strong believer of the Islamic faith", in her words.[12] On July 4, 2008, she attended the United States Independence Day celebrations in Nairobi, hosted by Michael Ranneberger, the U.S. ambassador in Kenya.[13] The following year, she attended Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration.[3]
In 2010, she created the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation to provide food and education to orphans, even sheltering some of them in her home.[3][9]
On the occasion of the inaugural Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (November 19, 2014) at the United Nations, Sarah Obama received the Pioneer Award in Education honoring the work of her foundation.[14][2] Upon her acceptance of the award, she explained, "Our vision is a world where children are nurtured and supported physically, educationally, and emotionally to thrive and succeed in life."[15]
On March 29, 2021 it was announced that Mama Sarah had died at the age of 99,[16] in a hospital in Kisumu, Western Kenya, having suffered with an undisclosed illness a few days earlier.[2] Following her death, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a statement praising her as strong, virtuous, and "an icon of family values".[2]
