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Barack Obama's Branch-y Family Tree
July 28, 2008 1:58 PM
How many half-siblings do you think Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has?
Two?
Three?
Four?
Would you believe eight?
That's the official count, at any rate, though that number seems approximate.
Here's how it shakes out.
HALF-SIB #1 ONE: MOM'S SIDE -- HALF-SIS MAYA
The one who has been front row and center is Maya Soetoro-Ng, 37, who has campaigned on Obama's behalf.
After Obama's parents divorced, Obama's mother Ann Dunham -- Barack Obama Sr.'s second wife -- married a man named Lolo Soetoro. The whole brood, including Obama and his new little half-sister Maya, lived in Indonesia.
Maya Soetoro-Ng is a Buddhist, holds a Ph.D. in education, has a Chinese-Canadian husband, and teaches at an all-girl's school in Hawaii.
On this video she discusses her relationship with her older half-brother.
We know far less about Obama's half-siblings through his late father's side. Barack Obama Sr. had eight children with four different women. Here's who they are.
HALF-SIBS #2-THROUGH-5 -- DAD'S SIDE -- MALIK, AUMA, ABO & BERNARD
When Obama was in London, The Sun found one of his half-brothers in the UK, Bernard Obama.
Bernard is the youngest child from Barack Obama Sr's first marriage in Kenya to Kezia (who now lives in the UK.) He runs an auto parts firm in Nairobi, Kenya, and converted to Islam.
Their other three kids from the Obama Sr./Kezia marriage are Abongo (Roy) Obama who is also known as Malik, half sister Auma Obama, and Abo Obama.
Malik lives in the Obama family's ancestral home in Kenya, Nyangoma-Kogelo, and runs an electronics store nearby. He and Sen. Obama served as best men for each other's weddings. Readers of this blog might also recall the misinformation spread after Malik spoke to Israeli Army Radio.
Malik converted to Islam and Obama wrote in Dreams From My Father that Malik is "prone to make lengthy pronouncements on the need for the black man to liberate himself from the poisoning influence of European culture, and scolds Auma for what he calls her European ways. The words he speaks are not fully his own, and in his transition he can sometimes sound stilted and dogmatic. but the magic of his laughter remains, and we can disagree without rancor."
Obama met his half-sister Auma after their father died in a car accident in 1982. “I knew at that moment, somehow, that I loved her," Obama wrote in Dreams From My Father. "Even now I can’t explain it; I only know that the love was true, and still is, and I’m grateful for it."
She lives in London, and in 2006 told the Guardian, "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."
The last child from this brood, Abo Obama, doesn't necessarily come across the best in Dreams From My Father.
In 1987, Obama visited Kenya to meet Jok Obama in K'Obama (the people of Obama in the Land of Obama), and Abo wasn't happy that the tape recorder Obama brought him as a gift wasn't a Sony. "I nodded at him, trying not to get angry," the senator wrote. In his half-brother's eyes he saw "something that reminded me of young men back in Chicago. An element of guardedness, perhaps, and calculation. The look of someone who realizes early in life that he has been wronged."
One except from Dreams make it seem less clear whether Bernard is definitely related to Obama.
Obama's Aunt Zeituni, his dad's sister, tells him that after Obama Sr. went off to live with his third wife Ruth Nidesand, "'well, he would go to Kezia sometimes. You must understand that traditionally she was still his wife. It was during such a visit that Kezia became pregnant with Abo…The thing was, Kezia also lived with another man briefly during this time. So when she became pregnant again, with Bernard, no one was sure who --' Zeituni stopped, letting the thought finish itself.
"'Does Bernard know about this?'" Obama asks.
"'Yes, he knows by now. You understand, such things made no difference to your father. He would say that they were all his children.'"
HALF SIBS #6 & 7 -- DAD'S SIDE -- MARK AND DAVID
The London Times also found Obama half-brother Mark Ndesandjo in Shenzhen, China, selling services to help Chinese merchants sell their goods in the U.S.
Mark Ndesandjo is the son of Obama Sr. and his third wife, American Ruth Nidesand, who runs a kindergarten in Nairobi, Kenya. In Dreams From My Father, Obama describes meeting Mark, who said he never thought of settling in Kenya since, “there’s not much work for a physicist, is there, in a country where the average person doesn’t have a telephone...You think that somehow I’m cut off from my roots, that sort of thing. Well, you’re right...At a certain point I made the decision not to think about who my real father was. He was dead to me even when he was still alive. I knew that he was a drunk and showed no concern for his wife and children. That was enough.”
"It made you mad," Obama said.
"Not mad," replied Mark." Just numb."
Obama wrote that when he said goodbye to Mark, “we exchanged addresses and promised to write, with a dishonesty that made my heart ache.”
Mark's brother David Ndesandjo was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Nidesand had another son, Joseph Ndesandjo, owner and president of DHS Security in San Antonio, Texas.
Joseph Ndesandjo may have a resemblance to Obama, but the campaign says they are of no relation, though he is Obama's half brother's half brother.
HALF SIB #8 -- DAD'S SIDE -- GEORGE
Lastly, from Barack Obama Sr.'s last known relationship, is George, whom Obama met during that 1987 visit to Kenya.
"I took comfort in the fact that perhaps one day, when he was older, George, too, might want to know who his father had been, and who his brothers and sisters were, and that if he ever came to me I would be there for him, to tell him the story I knew," Obama wrote.
- jpt
July 28, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (90)
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obama has truly inspired me when he was elected president then i knew that if i put my mind to it. i can be anything i want to in life if i believe. thanks Mr. president
Posted by: Garren | Feb 20, 2009 11:48:31 AM
i dnt get what this has to do with anything. like why are ya'll worried about how many half siblings he has.it's really none of your business how many he has.He's still the greatest african american man i know.
Posted by: Ariana Brickus | Feb 18, 2009 1:14:58 PM
hathis is an amazing story .. id never knew that ... barack obama
Posted by: john madaris | Feb 5, 2009 9:22:01 AM
JOHN, PLEASE WRITE A BOOK ABOUT OUR NEW PRESIDENT... enlighten us!!
P.S. To make a capital letter you use shift key or caps lock.
Posted by: Flavio | Feb 1, 2009 12:19:34 AM
i dont understand how anyone could have voted for obama. he promised change but he never said what kind of change. all of u are blaming bush for the economy...well it might have gotten worse over his term but he inherited from what clinton started and if any of you actually knew what you were talking about you would know that. barack is promising change but its not the kind you're thinking of. the man besides being liberal is taking away what this country was based on and completely throwing away its values. and on top of that all you who voted 4 him bc he's black...well he's not you ignorant people. he's 50% white, 43.75% arab, and only 6.25% black. i've got blonde hair blue eyes and have cherokee in my blood line...if i become president are you going to call me the first cherokee president of the u.s.??? any christian who voted for this man obviously didn't know about his beliefs. he believes in abortion and homosexuality! this is only a little bit on obama...i could seriously write a book on this man and the ridiculous things he's trying to do to this country.
Posted by: john | Jan 28, 2009 12:28:25 PM
i advise you all to go to america because its fun wild and they have the first black preident!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i wish we had him as our president
Posted by: ksjdrfngkwefhkejhgi | Jan 27, 2009 12:16:01 PM
america is a different place now brack obarmas president!!!! i now interact with more people other than white. and now i have loads more friends, i wish i could shake hands with him maybe even friends!!!!!!!!!! or with michelle his wife, or kids!!! soz got to go on a shopping spree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: ehfmbjfh | Jan 27, 2009 12:13:07 PM
i love america its wild and fun and you can go on loads of shopping sprees!!!!!!now barck obama is president gives more rights to black americans, nowing about the past.
Posted by: hjaisl | Jan 27, 2009 12:07:51 PM
4 years and counting...
Posted by: Deena | Jan 25, 2009 12:10:00 PM
Isn't America Wonderful! All the stuff in that tell all article above about Obama makes me proud to be an American.
The strange thing is that if one had only taken the time to read his bio, it was all laid out for everyone to see. Open a book....READ, it's become a lost art under the Republican Administration.
Posted by: Khrish | Dec 15, 2008 5:52:51 AM
Who cares if Obama had a black father and white mother,he's not the only one.Give him a chance to be President---he just might surprise you.
Posted by: johnny | Nov 30, 2008 10:47:02 PM
Born in Hawaii, on American soil, of mixed parentage. He is American, he is of African descent. He will be President on Jan. 20, 2009. All you bigots deal with it. I am a white Southerner and Gay and proud of both and am glad and proud to have voted for Barrack Obama. Enough of the Good Ole White Boy network running our nation into the ground.
Posted by: writesright | Nov 20, 2008 6:57:15 PM
The cream of the crop always rises to the top.
Posted by: Obama Supporter | Nov 10, 2008 3:53:47 PM
For all of you self-righteoushypocrites
who are quick to judge a man,s characyer
I will say to, He who without fault, let
him cast the first stone.Eat your hearts out bigots.
Posted by: frederick Lee sr. | Nov 10, 2008 2:17:07 PM
So many negative comments for no good reason. You people are sick! Get with it he is the president and should be given the same fair chance just as the last one who you still stand behind and he practically sunk the economy of the US which Obama now has to revive!
Posted by: Roxanne | Nov 10, 2008 1:22:44 PM
Well, Obama is President - -Live with it, drop the bigotry and help our new President make this country what we all want it to be. Undivided! The civil war is over...
Sandy
Posted by: Sandy | Nov 6, 2008 1:00:35 PM
Is Obama a natural citizen of the US? No one knows as he will produce the proof. I don't understand why no media outlet is investigating this as it is a serious issue. Where is the so called watch dog media? Is it in the tank for Obama? Come on guys.....
Posted by: Rob | Oct 28, 2008 1:48:50 PM
Is Obama a US citizen? Has he broken the law by becoming a US Senator? Can he run for President of USA? Why don't the "driveby's" check into this?
Check our Rush Limbaugh ...
Posted by: Mark | Oct 25, 2008 8:45:31 AM
The story is a story of a story. Lifetime movies and daytime soaps have less drama. That being said - everyone has a story and their story tells more about their character, their struggles and who they are than the words they use - and in many ways, Obama's background is the precise reason that he is a Presidential Candidate. He's a poster child for being as screwed up as possible in your formative years and still being able to rise to the top - that's pretty much the gist of his book isn't it? (and the general gist of his campaign.) But think about this, would you encourage that kind of upbringing just so the child would have extra struggles to overcome? Goodness knows, life is hard enough with just the regular toil of responsibility. We are to look at everything he has accomplished and be almost in awe that he has accomplished it. Why are we in awe? This is America where millions have traveled to our shores in order to find better lives here. We've been fed the line that America is an evil and hateful place where if you look/talk/act a certain way, you'll never accomplish anything. The truth is that the United States of America has always been and will always be a place where opportunity abounds. That doesn't mean that you won't struggle. Are you kidding? We live in a world where ido Overcoming obstacles and rising above them - so that you now have to power to put obstacles in other people's way so that you can rise higher.
Obama's Audacity is not that he hoped in believed that he could be something - his audacity is that he has believed that the wrong things brought him to that point - the fight against the establishment - God fearing, hardworking, Americans, those evil greedy people that could actually give him a job and real world work experience, and those who saw the best in him because of him - not because of his color or background. Unfortunately, I honestly don't see any thing in his deeds that proves to me that he has risen to this status on his own merit. It's called American opportunity for excellence. His rise to power is not on the bandwagon of American excellence, but on the guilt bandwagon and I dare say it, preferential treatment from well intended individuals trying to define fairness. It's about making others pay for what you could not accomplish and this notion of fairness. Frankly, anyone that has had a sibling, cousin, classmate etc. should've learned in Kindegarten that nothing is guaranteed to be fair - as in fairness of outcome. The best we can do is to do the best WE can do given our own obstacles and struggles.
Posted by: hickfarmgirl | Oct 24, 2008 11:51:55 AM
Living in just 1 dollar a month? Your own brother? How much is a senator yearly salary?...
Can't vote for you Mr. Obama.Show me proof that you did try to help this poor brother of yours... then I might study the issues more...otherwise the choice now is MCCAIN/PAlIN
Posted by: rbdodson | Sep 12, 2008 5:50:06 PM
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