Question time
Auma Obama is the sister of Democrat senator Barack. So what is it like to have a brother who is tipped to be the US's first black president?
Hannah Pool
Thursday November 16, 2006
The Guardian
We'll do the boring things first. Your age?
I don't tell people my age. I think it's so irrelevant, and I would like to know from journalists why they always ask for the age. Is it because journalists need to put something in it to give it a rhythm?
OK ... How exactly are you and Barack related?
He's my brother - his dad and my dad are one. [Auma is the child of Obama Sr's first marriage; Barack of the second.] I grew up in Kenya; Barack lived in Hawaii.
Have you seen the Obamamania?
I haven't witnessed it in America but I've witnessed it in Kenya [where their father came from], and that was amazing.
How did it manifest itself?
There were hundreds of people around him everywhere we travelled - people wanted to touch him, people wanted to talk to him, people wanted to give him projects, let him know about what they were doing, people wanted to be associated with him. And he was totally embraced as a Kenyan as well - he totally overshadowed everything else that was going on during the days that he was there.
How did you find each other?
"Find" is the wrong word because we've known about each all along. My dad never hid his family, and we always knew about Barack being in the United States as we were growing up. After my father died in 82, that's when Barack contacted me. He wrote to me and we just started corresponding. Then, eventually, we agreed it was time to meet up.
What was that first meeting like?
There was a lot of apprehension. There was so much anticipation. I had a plan B in case it didn't work out, but it worked out. We just didn't stop talking when we met - it was absolutely as if we'd lived together all our lives.
He didn't feel like a stranger?
Not to me he didn't, and I don't think I felt like a stranger to him. We just spent the time talking, talking late into the night.
What was the most surprising thing about that meeting?
Barack was a lot like my father - his hand movements, his gestures, how he talks, how he sits. He's got a certain quietness about him and he sits and he concentrates like my father. He can be in a room full of people and he withdraws on his own. And we've all got the Obama hands - the fingers and everything. So it was amazing to watch that, because I was meeting him for the first time but it felt like I knew him.
Do you feel protective towards him?
Yes I do. I'm not surprised he's where he is. He knew he wanted to work with the co mmunity, to work with people, to help people. It's reached the point now where it is actually frightening, because it's become so big, but to me it's still Barack, he's still my brother.
Do you think he could be the first black president of America?
I don't know - that's for the Americans to say.
Do you think he could unite America?
All I know is that my brother talks to everybody. He's able to relate to a lot of different types of people, and make them feel that he's concerned about their needs. Whether that then unites America is another thing.
Have you spoken to him since the Primaries?
I sent an email congratulating him.
Are you political?
I think I was; I'm not political so much now.
Do you worry about people trying to find scandals about him?
Not really because he's written all about himself in his book, so if anybody wants to know about him they can read his book. There's not really much else to add to that except what's happened since. Barack's not hiding anything. Auma Obama works in children's services in Reading, Berkshire.
