Half a World Away, Kenya Exults at U.S. Outcome

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Obama's Kenyan Relatives Cheer Win

Barack Obama's Kenyan family erupted in cheers Wednesday, singing "we are going to the White House!" as Obama became the first African-American elected president.

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Others just stood there, as John Odihiambo did, taking it all in, tears in his eyes.

"It's like a miracle," he said, confessing to a cynicism that seemed to vanish with Obama's victory. "There was that doubt that with black-white relations in America, that a black man could not be elected. But he was," said Odihiambo, a government worker who, like many here, drew a parallel between overcoming racism in the United States and rising above tribalism, the bane of Kenyan society. "If America can elect a black man, then why can't Kenya shun tribalism and elect anyone, regardless of tribe?"

Down the road, people in the town of Luanda gathered around a little TV at Hawker's Base, a hardware store, and listened to Obama's victory speech -- in which he talked about the ability to change and perfect the American union.

"It's wonderful," said Mboya, the Kogelo salesman, who heard the news on the BBC and sent his wife a one-line text message: "We have done it."

"He's suggesting that the world has finally changed," Mboya said.

As Obama began to invoke the signature line of his campaign -- "Yes, we can" -- before a sea of supporters in Chicago, a Kenyan on the other side of the world finished the speech for him.

"Twa wenza," Mboya said, offering the phrase in Swahili.

Kenyans have been riveted by the U.S. election since Obama announced his candidacy last year. There has been a run on framed photos of Obama, as well as buttons and bumper stickers supporting his cause; artists have recorded reggae songs about Obama that blared from car radios and kiosks Wednesday. Babies have been named Barack Obama. A production called "Obama, The Musical" opened in Nairobi.

In Kisumu, the provincial capital about an hour from here that was hit hard by post-election riots in January, Kenyans held a mock vote Tuesday, with some people walking and biking for more than two hours to cast fake ballots for Obama.

But underneath the exuberant pride at seeing an American with Kenyan roots elected president, there was something else. Many here said Obama's victory could inspire real change in Kenyan or even African politics, where cliques of insiders have dominated elections since independence by appealing to tribal voting blocs.

"Obama does not belong to the lineage of a political class, and he had no particular wealth to begin with except for his own convictions," said Moses Mubula, 35, a farmer who was watching the returns on the white-sheet screen here as the sky began to glow light blue. "So the best part . . . is that it symbolizes the crumbling of racial barriers, age barriers, class barriers, and maybe we here in Kenya can break that jinx, too."

Sitting next to Mubula, Robinson Stanley, 22, seemed to latch on to that idea, saying that Obama's victory might inspire a younger generation of Kenyans to enter politics and pursue an office without appealing to tribalism.

"It is time for a younger generation," said Stanley, who lives day-to-day selling vegetables in Kogelo, quotes Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, and has tentative political ambitions. "This is an inspiration to all young people. We can see that America is a country of many tribes -- you have Germans, British, French, Africans. . . . I see that America can only be great if they all come together."

Obama's grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, watched his victory from inside her home, which has been transformed in recent months as its significance became clear.

A fence was installed around the compound, and armed guards were posted out front to handle intruders and journalists who began camping out there as Election Day approached. For that matter, Kogelo has also been transformed, with its dirt roads widened and power lines installed in an area where people tend to rely on generators for electricity.

By midmorning, Sarah Obama was out in the sunshine dancing with other villagers and slaughtering bulls, goats and chickens for a celebration that carried on until sunset. At times, the festivities veered to the extreme: "Obama is king of the world!" one young man yelled.

About 6 p.m., a truck with an Obama poster plastered to the windshield brought in a load of revelers from Busia, a town near the border with Uganda. The passengers hopped out and began dancing around an American flag.

"We are very much grateful" for Obama's win, said Samuel Walala, 40. "It's as if our son became president. . . . Something has happened in America."