Obama Family Matriarch Dies In Kenyan Hospital At 99
Sarah Obama, step-grandmother to former President Barack Obama has died at a hospital in Kenya at the age of 99, according to multiple reports.
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The news was first announced by Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday from the official StateHouseKenya Twitter account. The tweet read: “The passing away of Mama Sarah is a big blow to our nation🇰🇪. We’ve lost a strong, virtuous woman. A matriarch who held together the Obama family and was an icon of family values.”
As BBC notes, Sarah Obama was the third and youngest wife of Barack Obama’s grandfather. She died early on Monday at a hospital in the western town of Kisumu, her daughter Marsat Onyango told Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper. A family spokesman said Mrs. Obama had been sick for a week but did not have Covid-19.
Mrs. Obama who was affectionately called Granny Sarah by the former president, became a household name, for the hot porridge and doughnuts she served at a local school, AFP reports. She gained massive attention when Mr. Obama visited Kenya in 2006. BBC notes that at the time he was a senator from the state of Illinois, but technically a national celebrity in Kenya.
Barack Obama has yet to release a statement on Sarah Obama’s passing.
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