U.S. Senator Barack Obama arrived in western Kenya on Saturday (August 26) to a welcome from thousands of cheering well-wishers, there to greet the rising political star of the America's Democratic Party as a native son.
Obama flew into Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, on the way to his Kenyan father's village for the highly anticipated climax of his two-week African tour.
Born in Hawaii to a white American mother and a Kenyan father, Obama is revered by many Kenyans in the same Read more

U.S. Senator Barack Obama arrived in western Kenya on Saturday (August 26) to a welcome from thousands of cheering well-wishers, there to greet the rising political star of the America's Democratic Party as a native son.
Obama flew into Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, on the way to his Kenyan father's village for the highly anticipated climax of his two-week African tour.
Born in Hawaii to a white American mother and a Kenyan father, Obama is revered by many Kenyans in the same way as the Irish idolised former U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s -- as a native who succeeded beyond their wildest aspirations.
Since 2004 when the Harvard-trained lawyer and civil rights activist was running for the Senate in Illinois, he has been a star in the east African nation.
Locals have named their children after him, a Kenyan beer named Senator is called Obama and T-shirts saying "Obama for President" have been hawked on the streets.
Talking to the cheering crowd, Obama said, "I am so proud to come back home and see all you people are here."
His arrival in Kisumu, considered the capital of the Luo tribe of his father, was greeted with the reception usually given to heads of state.
Thousands lined the streets and twice nearly stopped his motorcade as it raced from the airport to Nyanza Provincial Hospital flanked by police escorts and local politicians hoping to bask in his reflected glory.
Obama went to a mobile clinic at the hospital to take an AIDS test with his wife Michelle and set an example for the tens of thousands of African men and women who fear the stigma of being tested for the disease ravaging sub-Saharan Africa.
Nyanza has one of the highest HIV infection rates in Kenya.
"He is the first ever Luo to lead Americans and we hope another one will also come," a Kisumu resident told Reuters Television.
"I am here to see our brother who has done so many things and he has bring a very big change in Luo faces, especially the Luo tribe in Kenya," " another resident added.
Thousands of cheering people rushed in past police who could barely contain the throng trampling the dusty grounds. Some waved American flags while others climbed trees for a better view of Obama, flashing his trademark grin.
This was Obama's first visit to Kenya since being elected senator, although he had visited twice before in anonymity in trips to search for his father's roots.
He was due to visit Kogelo, the village where his father Barack Obama Senior tended goats as a boy before becoming a noted economist.
His step grandmother is expected to greet him with an egg, which in Luo tradition is a gift of love a grandmother reserves for her grandchildren. Close