Thread: Found in a rundown Boston estate

October 30, 2008

Found in a rundown Boston estate: Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango
'Auntie Zeituni', who, with Uncle Omar, dropped out of sight after moving to the US, is backing the presidential candidate from her modest flat
(Tom Pilston/The Times)
Barack Obama's Kenyan aunt, Zeituni Onyango, walks from her home at a housing project in Boston
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James Bone in Boston, Rob Crilly in Kogelo and Ben Macintyre
Barack Obama has lived one version of the American Dream that has taken him to the steps of the White House. But a few miles from where the Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard, his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in modest circumstances in Boston, have a contrasting American story.

Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.

A second relative believed to be the long-lost “Uncle Omarâ€

While Mr Obama was on his voyage of personal discovery in Africa, his aunt and uncle were engaged in their own journey in his homeland.

The Times could not determine their immigration status and an official at Boston City Hall said that Ms Onyango was a resident of Flaherty Way but not registered to vote on the electoral roll. However, that Ms Onyango made a contribution to the Obama campaign would indicate that she is a US citizen. Records at the Boston City Hall confirmed Zeituni Onyango’s birthdate as May 29, 1952.

It is not clear when Ms Onyango first came to the US. She said: “I have been coming to America ever since 1975. I always come and go.â€

Asked why the man believed to be “Uncle Omarâ€

I suspect that Oh Bummer is going to be right.

Is what America really needs now a Jimmy Carter for our times?

NO WONDER OBAMA IS SO PASSIONATE ABOUT AMNESY, HE HAS ILLEGAL RELATIVES LIVING HERE!

[b] She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election. “I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,â€