Dylan Bettencourt
Barack Obama has lost his 99-year-old grandmother.
Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama died at home in Kenya.
The former president said in a statement: “My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother, affectionately known to many as Mama Sarah but known to us as Dani or Granny.
“We will miss her dearly, but we’ll celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life.”
He said his grandmother helped him cope with his father’s death and to understand his late father’s heritage in rural Kenya.
“When I first travelled to Kenya to learn more about my heritage and my father who had passed away by then, it was Granny who served as a bridge to the past. It was her stories that helped fill a void in my heart.”
Mama Sarah was born in 1922 and was known for her social activism surrounding children and family issues.
She spent several decades as the head of a foundation aimed at educating girls and orphans and spent her free time preparing hot porridge and doughnuts for local school children.
Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, paid his respects to Mama Sarah, saying: “The passing away of Mama Sarah is a big blow to our nation. We’ve lost a strong, virtuous woman. A matriarch who was together with the Obama family and was an icon of family values.”
Image source: @BarackObama
