Obama's rise gratifies Africans in the U.S.

The following article from USA Today features interviews with several Kenyan Denverites (Kenverites?) including metroAfrican's Isabella Muturi Sauve:

Obama's rise gratifies Africans in the U.S.

By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY

DENVER — The nomination of a Kenyan's son as the Democratic presidential candidate has Africans from here to Nairobi inspired, excited and hopeful — maybe, in some cases, too hopeful.

Kenyans living in the U.S. say they have to remind some people back home that it isn't like Kenya, that Barack Obama's election wouldn't mean that everyone in his tribe or extended family can move to Washington.

Nancy Youree, shown here with son Joseph, came to the United States 10 years ago this week. "As an African, you feel you get a late start here," she says. "But (Obama's) dad came here as a student, like us."

"It's that Kenyan mind-set — you help your relatives, all your relatives," says Nancy Youree of Castle Rock, Colo., who's still hoping to get a ticket to Obama's acceptance speech today. "But I keep telling people that Barack will inspire people, as opposed to giving them a handout."

Obama's father grew up in a village in western Kenya. After coming to the U.S. to study economics, he met and married the white Kansas woman who became Obama's mother. They later divorced, and Obama's father returned to Kenya.

Africans living here generally agree that Obama's nomination is as surprising as it is gratifying.

"This is something that we never dreamed could happen in our lifetimes," says John Kimani of Lakewood, Wash., who came to the U.S. in 1976, married and raised five children.

Obama's rise is so sudden some Kenyan Americans fear it can't last.

"It's scary. I don't want to get my hopes up," says Isabella Muturi Sauve, a communications student at the University of Denver.

Some Kenyans here feel Obama's biggest contribution is psychological.

When they compare themselves to Americans, "a lot of Africans don't feel worthy, as if we have nothing to contribute," Sauve says.

Obama's success, she says, "just goes to show people what one of us can do."

Youree, who came to the U.S. 10 years ago Thursday — one reason she'd like a ticket to Obama's speech — says: "As an African, you feel you get a late start here. But (Obama's) dad came here as a student, like us."

The senator from Illinois has become a sensation in Africa, particularly Kenya, where his name graces babies, schools, songs and beer — the brand "Senator Keg" is now known as "Obama."

Sauve has a Nairobi newspaper profile of Obama with the headline: "Our Superpower Son."

This summer the Standard newspaper ran a letter suggesting that Kenyans donate to "our son's campaign" (even though it's illegal for U.S. campaigns to take donations from foreign citizens).

Such hopes amuse Karimi Gituma, a Kenyan who recently graduated from the Harvard Medical School. "There are all sorts of crazy things and rumors like that going around," she says. "Some people over there just don't realize things here don't work like that."

While Sauve agrees Obama can't help everyone, she says he could do more for his octogenarian step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, who lives in his father's old village in a house without running water.

Barack Obama has visited his Kenyan relatives three times, and his grandmother has come to the U.S. twice. She has said they are close, although they have to speak through an interpreter.

Obama's background holds special resonance for Youree and Sauve, both of whom have white American spouses and either have children (Youree) or plan to (Sauve).

Sauve says when she and her husband have what she laughingly calls "our own little Obamas," President Obama will be a role model: "Our kids will have posters of him in their rooms. He's the one they will take after."

Contributing: The Associated Press

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