From The Times
November 5, 2008

Barack Obama's Kenyan family celebrate by slaughtering bulls, chicken
and goats


There's only one thing to take to a Kenyan election victory feast: a
goat. Preferably still breathing - “a sign of freshness“ - and with
big testicles, apparently the sign of quality breeding.

And so it was that I found myself bouncing along a dirt track towards
the ancestral home of the Obamas in a saloon car with the sound of
John the goat bleating miserably from the boot.

It had not been easy finding such a quality specimen. The local
livestock market had mostly sheep and cattle, with only a few scrawny
goats on hand.

Instead, John was spotted at the side of the road by my driver George,
who was impressed by the size of its belly and, well, other
attributes.

He was mine for 2500 shillings, a little under £20, and roughly the
price of 20 pints of beer or eight malaria-proof bednets.

“This is a fine animal,” said Abongo Malik Obama, at the lush family
homestead in the far west of Kenya, surrounded by grazing cattle and
fields thick with maize. “You are certainly welcome now to stay and
sit around the fire tonight.” By then John will be nyama choma - the
Swahili term for grilled meat.

He was to be only one small part of a vast celebration feast starting
last night and comprising four bulls, 16 chickens and assorted sheep
and goats.

“We are Africans, so our plan is to slaughter a bull and have friends
come over,” said Abongo, the candidate’s oldest half-brother.

“We invite Kogelo (the village where Mr Obama's Kenyan family lives)
to come over and it will be open house. People will just come on over
and bring a couple of sodas.”

Losing has never been considered in a country gripped by Obamamania
for the best part of four years. Ever since their “lost son” was
elected to the Senate everyone has been expecting him to become
president.

Every twist and turn of his primary battle and general election
campaign have been followed in the local papers and on television in
the belief that his rise was inevitable.

Today, early signs of celebration were obvious everywhere, long before
the polls opened.

American flags hung from trees in the city centre of Kisumu, the
regional capital, and flapped from the handlebars of bicycle taxis.

The Jamaican reggae hit, “Barack Obama”, by Cocoa Tea boomed from
matatus - the battered minibus taxis that most locals use to get
around.

And bars were setting up big screens so that patrons could watch
television coverage from the US as a whole nation held its breath for
the signal to celebrate.

In Kogelo, women peeled onions and stoked cooking fires - yet another
reminder of the vast gulf between his American dream and their African
reality.

Children rehearsed their songs ahead of a party being held at a
neighbouring school, the Senator Barack Obama Secondary School, while
gospel music pumped from a marquee where priests were praying for
victory.

Abongo, sitting in front of the tin-roofed shack that once belonged to
Obama’s father, a government economist who died in a car accident more
than two decades ago, said dozens of family members had congregated
for a historic event.

“The reason we are here is that we are looking forward to a great day
to celebrate,” he said, rubbishing any suggestion that Mr McCain might
win. “We are not considering that possibility. I am not,” he said
confidently, as a cock crowed in the shade of a mango tree.” The first
stage of the celebrations was starting tonight.

Relatives, including some from England, were planning to stay up
watching the results start to filter across the Atlantic.

Tomorrow, they will move to the neighbouring school where the chickens
are breathing their last.

“It’s going to be chaotic,” said Ben Semel, from New York, who was
helping organise the feast, “especially when everyone goes through the
election night without sleeping.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5082040.ece

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