Former President Barack Obama mourns the loss of his step-grandmother Sarah Obama, who passed away recently. The former president took to Twitter to share an old photo with his grandmother as he reflects on her passing.
Obama’s stepgrandmother, Sarah Obama, passed away recently at the age of 99 years old in a hospital in Kenya after battling a short illness, according to a local news outlet the Daily Nation. The former president shared that he and his family are mourning the loss of his grandmother, who is the third wife of his paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama. Obama shared a throwback photo of him and his step-grandmother in Kenya to his post.
“My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother, Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama, affectionately known to many as “Mama Sarah” but known to us as “Dani” or Granny. We will miss her dearly, but we’ll celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life,” tweeted the former president.
Sarah Obama was known among locals in Kenya for her social activism, mostly focused on children’s and family issues. She was interviewed by The Guardian back in 2012 about reproductive health during the outlet’s international reporting trip to Kenya. Sarah Obama, for decades, was the head of a foundation aiming to educate girls and orphans even as she herself could not read. The Obama matriarch was also known among the local schoolchildren in Kenya for her hot porridge and donuts.
The former president visited Kenya on two occasions as a known public figure, one in 2015 and one in 2018. Sarah Obama was also present at her grandson’s inauguration back in 2009 and was a staunch defender of Obama from attacks by Donald Trump and his allies regarding his birthplace and religion.
Speaking of conspiracy theories, anchors at Fox News are now pushing the theory that the former president may still be in charge behind the scenes in the Biden administration. They cited that Joe Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president for two terms, was often on the phone with the former president, but did not further expound on the theory.