Obama's Grandmother leads Celebrations in his Ancestral Kenyan Village

Afrik Update

News,Kenya

By Jill Reilly

President Barack Obama's grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama, attends a news conference as she celebrates his re-election in his ancestral home village of Nyangoma Kogelo

A woman sings as she celebrates the victory of Barack Obama in the Nyangoma Kogelo, 430 km (367 miles) west of Kenya's capital Nairobi

Barack Obama's step-grandmother led celebrations in his ancestral homeland today as he rolled to re-election and a second term in the White House.

Sarah Onyango Obama was seen singing and dancing in Nyang'oma Kogelo village where she lives in western Kenya, some 400km north of the capital Nairobi.

It is also the place where the president's late father Barack Obama was raised.

Obama is the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya and has five Kenyan half-brothers and a half-sister. 

Since 2004, when Obama was running for the Senate in Illinois, the Harvard-trained lawyer and civil rights activist has enjoyed rock star status in Kenya.

Hundreds gathered clapping and cheering in front of a screen to find out the results of east Africa's favourite adopted son. 

Well-wishers, family members and armies of local and foreign journalists have descended on Kogelo, the tiny village in western Kenya where Obama's 91-year-old step-grandmother lives.

Babies have been named after him, drinkers knock back 'Senator' beers in his honour, pop stars sing his praises and 'Obama: The Musical' opened in the capital Nairobi on Sunday.

The result was good news for the village's witch doctor John Dimo  - earlier this week he tossed some shells, bones and other items to determine who would win the election. 

After throwing the objects like dice outside his hut in Kogelo village, Dimo, who says he is 105 years old, points to a white shell and declared: 'Obama is very far ahead and is definitely going to win.'