Sarah Obama, the grandmother of the family of the former president Obama, passed away on March 29, 2021. She was 99 years old when this happened.
Mama Sarah, better known as the stepgrandmother of the former president, promoted girls’ and orphans’ education in her tiny rural Kogelo village.
According to her daughter Marsat Onyango, she died while undergoing care at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu, the third-largest city in Kenya.
She died this morning, I understand. Onyango told The Associated Press over the phone, “We are devastated.
According to Sheik Musa Ismail, a family spokesman, “Mama was sick with normal diseases; she did not die of Covid-19.” She also had tested negative for the illness. She had been ill for a week, according to him, before being admitted.
President Barack Obama offered his condolences to the family.
The former president posted a picture of himself as a child with his grandmother on Twitter along with the statement: “My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother, Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama, affectionately known to many as “Mama Sarah,” but known to us as “Dani” or Granny. “She will be sorely missed, but we are grateful for her long and remarkable life”.
“Mama Sarah’s passing is a terrible blow to our nation. We’ve lost a matriarch who kept the Obama family together and was a role model for family values. She was a strong, virtuous woman,” Kenyatta continued.
Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o offered his condolences to the residents of Kogelo village for the loss of a matriarch and said she would be remembered for her efforts to promote education and empower orphans.
He explained, “She was a philanthropist who raised money to pay for orphans’ school fees.
Barack Obama, Sr.’s father was raised by Sarah Obama, who was his grandfather’s second wife. The family belongs to Kenya’s Luo ethnic group.
In his autobiography, “Dreams from My Father,” President Obama praised her and called her “Granny” in reference to her. He recalled meeting her on a visit to his father’s hometown in 1988 and how their initial awkwardness as they struggled to communicate developed into a loving relationship.
She was present for his first inauguration as president in 2009. Later, in a speech he delivered to the UN General Assembly in September 2014, Obama brought up his grandmother once more.
Sarah Obama has fostered orphans in her home for a long time. Children who had lost both parents received school supplies, uniforms, basic medical care, and school fees from the Mama Sara Obama Foundation.
She admitted to the Associated Press in 2014 that she couldn’t read letters even as an adult when they would arrive. She declared that she didn’t want her children to grow up without receiving an education. So, she made sure that everyone in her family went to school.
She recalled riding the president’s father’s bicycle six miles each way to school every day from the family’s small town of Kogelo to the bigger town of Ngiya to make sure he received the education she never had.
Sarah Obama said, “I love education,” because it teaches children “how to be self-sufficient,” particularly girls who are frequently denied the chance to go to school.
She claimed that if a woman received education, she would educate not only her family but also the entire village.
In recognition of her efforts to advance education, the United Nations presented her with the first-ever Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Education Pioneer Award in 2014.
