Mysterious Auma Obama

Dr Auma Obama

In 1988, a young woman picked up her younger brother at the airport in Nairobi in a beat–up VW Beetle. In 2015, he visited again, this time, they rode from the same airport in a custom-built limousine. Next week, the brother will visit again. Where will she be? Welcome to the world of Auma Obama. 

Three years ago, on a warm Friday morning in a quint upmarket hotel, I patiently waited for Auma Obama to arrive for our meeting. I was having coffee with a woman who was the sister of arguably the most powerful man in the world, the 44th President of the United States. While I didn’t know what to expect, I had certainly not anticipated meeting a no-frills, down to earth woman. For starters, she did not want to talk about her famous brother, and she explained that she preferred to navigate life without the ‘fakeness’ that the ‘Obama tag’ tended to bring out in many. “I get invited to many things just because of the Obama name. I am proud of him – don’t get me wrong – and I appreciate that people get excited about him, but I don’t want to be reduced to that. I won’t tell his story,” she had said, looking a tad irritated.