B is for Barry

Hey guys :)

I'm approaching my 6th week away from home trying to soak up everything around me. I suppose I will not know just how much I've learnt till I've come home. It always feels like I can learn more... but until then, I wanted to share a story with you all about my host mother, Mama Asiyo (or Honourable Dr Pheobe Asiyo). Mom is a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Kenya (and much more) and was telling me the other night about Mr. Barack Obama. As you may or may not know, Barack Obama Sr. was born and raised in the province I am in and just so happens to be baptized by mom's father way back in the day.

So, at dinner mom tells us about her memories of Barack Sr. and how he used to tutor her son, and I asked about Barack Obama Jr. aka the current president. She says, "Oh Barry? Yes, he is a bright young boy"...... UM! how surreal was that? haha she continued to tell us of a time President Obama had visited in the 80s before him and Michelle were married and how they chose to sleep in his grandmother's mud floor for the night instead of returning to the comfy Asiyo home. She told me the next day, they invited Barack and then girlfriend Michelle to the home for dinner where Mr. Obama Jr. turned to Michelle and asked "Now that you've seen where I come from and the poverty of my origins, do you still want to marry this man?" Ofcourse, she replied with a jovial, "it was romantic". SERIOUSLY HEART WARMING. The above picture is of my and mom at a ceremony honouring her achievements and supposedly celebrating some funding for the area she has received from President Obama himself.

Once and Luo, always a Luo. If there is anything I've observed about the people around me, it's that they fiercely value the preservation of their culture and it has worked in their favour for the most part. The ceremony was also to celebrate the Luo culture without partaking in tribalism and disadvantaging women. Mom was also honoured that night by being named the first female Luo elder. Me and my students partied hard.