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Kenyan roots: Meet the other Obamas
We all know the First Family: POTUS, FLOTUS, Sasha and Malia. But what about the president's extended Kenyan family? Swipe through the gallery and learn more about the Obamas you didn't know, to whom the 44th President of the United States is simply "Barry."
Barack Obama Sr., pictured with his son in an undated family snapshot from the 1960s, came from humble beginnings, herding goats in the small village of Kogelo, Kenya. He would go on to become a senior government economist, having studied at the University of Hawaii and later Harvard. Obama Sr. separated from Obama's mother shortly after the birth of their son and moved back to Kenya. Despite the separation, Obama Sr. kept up with his son's education, knowing all his grades at school. He remarried and had further children, Obama Jr.'s half-siblings, and died aged 46 in a car accident in Nairobi, 1982. Then-Sen. Obama's bestselling book "Dreams of My Father" closes with an emotive visit to his grave back in Kogelo.
Obama for America/REUTERS/Landov
"Mama Sarah" —
President Obama's paternal step-grandmother, Sarah Onyango Obama, aka "Mama Sarah," is the matriarch of the family. Mama Sarah worked in the past as a cook for British missionaries in Kenya and didn't own a TV the first time her step-grandson was elected. In 2012 she attributed his absence to the busy schedule the president was running, but was "confident he would find the time and visit soon." She still lives in Kogelo.
SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images/file
Auma Obama —
Auma Obama and the president, her half-brother, didn't meet until they were in their 20s. Their initial meeting features in her memoir "And then Life Happens," and tells of her visit to Chicago after receiving a letter from her half-brother in the wake of their father's death. She told CNN that her stay with the man who would become president was "like having a Christmas that doesn't finish." She studied film in Berlin in the early 1990s and spent 16 years as a journalist and broadcaster.
President Barack Obama's half-brother Malik, pictured addressing supporters on January 16, 2013, is a trained economist. He was the president's best man at Obama's wedding.
President Obama's half-brother, Mark Obama Ndesandjo, shares the same father, Barack Sr,. Ndesandjo, who lives near Hong Kong, alleged in his 2013 memoir that their father was an abusive alcoholic and "it would have been a much more difficult upbringing [for President Obama]" had his father been around. He has since gone on to raise awareness about domestic violence.
MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images/file
George Hussein Obama —
George Hussein Obama is the son of Barack Sr.'s fourth wife. The president's half-brother was visited by CNN in Huruma, a Nairobi shanty town, in 2008, when he was training to become a mechanic. More recently he has opened up to the media, telling Channel 4 News that he has battled both drink and drug addictions, and now works as a youth leader, helping others to avoid the same problems.
Thomas Mukoya/reuters/Landov
Kezia Obama —
President Obama speaks with his stepmother, Kezia Obama, at his swearing-in ceremony in 2009. Kezia was the first wife of Obama's father.
![President Obama's half-brother, Mark Obama Ndesandjo, shares the same father, Barack Sr,. Ndesandjo, who lives near Hong Kong, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/20/politics/obama-father-abusive/index.html" target="_blank">alleged in his 2013 memoir</a> that their father was an abusive alcoholic and "it would have been a much more difficult upbringing [for President Obama]" had his father been around. He has since gone on to raise awareness about domestic violence.<br />](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/121102115916-08-meet-the-obamas-1102.jpg?q=w_2945,h_1878,x_0,y_0,c_fill/h_447)
