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November 5, 2008
Posted: 1310 GMT
KOGELO, Kenya - The priest heard it first. Hunkered down with a few policemen, some village elders and not a small number of journalists, his face changed from concentration to confusion to comprehension to joy.
The media turned out in force in Kolego.
"God bless Barack Obama," the priest praised into the PA system. "Obama is going to the White House" the villagers of Kogelo sang in the local Luo language. Children peered over the hedge of the Barack Obama school and poured over to join in and sing in their neatly pressed blue and white uniforms. The journalists couldn't help themselves. This hardened group of old Africa hands and newly parachuted in traded smiles and took snapshots. And breathed a sigh of relief. And through the night the media village that had planted itself in this village had been rushing back and forth from Obama's granny's house to his half brother's house and back. And the village of Kogelo is not even a village really. There is a school and a corner of a road. There are shops and no real market. But today they believe in a better future for this country that struggles with poverty and corruption, where people still haul water out of Obama's relatives' yard with a rope. I spent much of the night sitting on a plastic chair outside Malik Obama's house, Barack Obama's half brother. A tiny TV was hooked up to a small generator that buzzed through the night. A fuzzy transmission of CNN came over the airwaves straight onto local TV (they dropped their normal programming). Most of the assembled guests couldn't understand English but still they let off a quiet cheer when Obama's name was spoken. It is a name that has become a clarion call here. In a land that has been wracked by ethnic tension, Kenyans see unity through his ancestry and possibilities in his success. All the young people I have spoken to in Kenya through this long campaign have been Obama supporters. For them his victory helps them dream. "Barack Obama winning means anything is possible," one young man in Kogelo said, "it means that perhaps my son can be president, or my grandson can be president. It gives me hope." Posted by: CNN Correspondent, David McKenzie |
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