As a former President of the United States, it’s normal for people to be curious about him, his roots and what he stands for. Today, it’s time to find out more about the people closest to him… his family, starting with Barack Obama’s mother.
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Barack Obama’s mother
Her name was Ann Dunham and she was born in Wichita, Kansas. Ann was an American anthropologist and she spent most of her adult life in Hawaii and Indonesia. Barack Obama’s mother was an accomplished woman before her death. It just shows that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, a master’s degree, and a doctorate in anthropology from East-West Center. It was at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu. She also attended the University of Washington in Seattle from 1961 to 1962. After that, she developed an interest in crafts, weaving, and the role of women in cottage industries.
Dunham’s research focused on women’s work on the island of Java and blacksmithing in Indonesia.
Towards the end of her life, she worked with Bank Rakyat Indonesia. There, she applied her research to the largest microfinance program in the world. She died in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer.
Barack Obama’s father
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was born on June 18, 1936. He was a Kenyan senior government economist. He was selected for a special program to go to university in the United States. This allowed him to study at the University of Hawaii. It was there that he met Barack Obama’s mother and the two were married in 1961.
After divorcing Barack Obama’s mother, he remarried and divorced again. Nevertheless, he was also quite accomplished in his field, but towards the end of his career he got into trouble. Obama senior first worked for an oil company, before starting to work as an economist in the Kenyan Ministry of Transport.
He got a promotion to Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance and had some disagreements with the Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, which led to him being fired and blacklisted. In his last years on earth he was involved in 3 serious automobile accidents and the last one took his life in 1982.
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Barack Obama’s siblings
Well, Obama actually has a very large family; he has a total of 8 half-siblings from his mother’s two marriages and his father’s four. Here is a list of all his siblings from oldest to youngest.
The first is Abon’go (Roy) Malik Obama and his parents were Barack Obama Sr. and Kezia Obama. Then came Mark Okoth Obama and David Opiya Obama from the union of Barack Obama Sr. and Ruth Baker. While still with Baker, Obama Sr reportedly fathered two more sons, Abo and Bernard Obama.
Maya Kassandra Soetoro was the product of a union between Ann Dunham and the Indonesian Lolo Soetoro whom she remarried in 1965. Then came the last of the offspring, George Hussein Onyango Obama in 1982 from a relationship with fellow Kenyan, Jael.
Barack Obama’s children
It’s no small feat being the daughter of the most powerful man in the world, and we bet Malia and Sasha can tell you that. For eight years, the girls grew up in the public eye while trying to have a personal life… As confusing as it may sound, we can all agree that they have been successful to some degree.
The eldest, Malia, was only ten years old when her father took over, what a thrill and fear it must have been for young Malia at the time. Since then, the world has watched her blossom into the young woman she is today, through the lens of the media.
Having her mother, the very lovable Michelle Obama, as her role model, Malia certainly has some very big shoes to fill for the future (no pressure there). After all, we’re supposed to surpass our parents in terms of achievement, aren’t we? Well, this president’s daughter is already on the right track.
She has just received her diploma from Sidwell FriendsShe has been admitted to the prestigious Harvard University, where she will become the latest in a long line of presidential children to have completed higher education at this establishment. Her parents tried to give her and her sister some semblance of a normal childhood.
Malia and Sasha were named two of the 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014, they’re not really on social media or ‘out there’, but they’ve carved out a place for themselves when it comes to teens and the world. Nevertheless, Malia is still daddy’s little girl and the former president himself called her “one of my best friends”.
Sasha, on the other hand, has people wondering what’s next for her. According to Yahoo News, the youngest in the family, Sasha, has avoided scrutiny over reports of what her sister and parents are up to, asking the question: what’s next for Sasha?
Well here’s the answer in layman’s terms, being that she’s still a freshman at Sidwell Friends School, the former first family will be staying in Washington until she graduates from high school. Here’s what Obama himself said about a restaurant while visiting Milwaukee voters in March.
“We are going to have to stay for a few years so that Sasha can finish her studies, transfer someone in the middle of high school. Tough.’