Chicago Tribune - November 6, 2008
Laurie Goering, lgoering@tribune.com

"Before you knew me as the uncle of Sen. Obama. Now I am the uncle of the president of the United States," said a broadly smiling Said Obama, a soft-spoken step-uncle, as he hugged waiting journalists.

Barack Obama's election, as he noted in his victory speech, was a new chance even for "those who are huddled around radios in forgotten corners of the world." But in an Africa that often seems lacking in hope, Wednesday felt like a new start, and nowhere more so than in Kogelo, the rural Kenyan village that was the traditional home of Obama's father and home still to dozens of members of the extended family.

"I was expecting it but I still just can't believe it," said David Okello, 30, an HIV/AIDS counselor in the village who was among hundreds at an overnight prayer vigil awaiting the election results. "God has rewarded us."

Across many parts of Kenya, Obama's victory-and McCain's gracious speech congratulating him-was seen not only as a dramatic step toward repairing America's tattered international image, but as a model of transparent polling and political civility that Kenyans hoped their own troubled democracy could learn from.

"This was free and fair," said David Abuto, 25, a Kisumu evangelist. In voting, Americans "have shown us democracy and set an example that we as Africans can follow. We're very excited our son is leading America," he said.

Kenya, widely considered one of Africa's most stable nations, plunged into ethnic and class violence in January after the country's incumbent government and its opposition party clashed over who had won national elections. More than 1,000 people died in clashes across the country before a unity government was formed.

"The relatively genteel manner in which the candidates conducted themselves should be a lesson for Africa," said The Nation, one of Kenya's leading newspapers. It urged more political maturity, noting that "true democracy requires tolerance and the ability to give in with grace when we lose a political contest."

The president-elect's 87-year-old step-grandmother, who greeted reporters in a traditional tan-and-black African gown and headdress, said she was "very happy not just for myself but for the whole world."

Asked whether she would attend the inauguration, she broke into a broad smile.

"Do you really think I'm going to be left behind?" said Sarah Onyango Obama.

Auma Obama, the president-elect's Kenyan step-sister, said what she found most moving in Tuesday's vote was not that a black man had been elected president but that "all of America voted for Barack."

Adding an African touch to the celebratory morning, a crew of Kenya's national power company showed up at the gate within 21/2 hours of the announcement of the election results. The workers had orders to install electricity in the village by Thursday, a day declared a national holiday in Kenya.

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