In August of 2006, Barack Obama journeyed to his ancestral village in Kenya in order to discover his roots and visit family members. He was received as a hero and feted by the town's folk who turned out en masse to welcome him.
In his tour of the village, Obama walked through the secondary school that was in very bad repair. At that point, Obama made a promise:
He told the assembled press, local politicians (who included current Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga), and students: "Hopefully I can provide some assistance in the future to this school and all that it can be." He then turned to the school's principal, Yuanita Obiero, and assured her and her teachers: "I know you are working very hard and struggling to bring up this school, but I have said I will assist the school and I will do so."
Obiero says that although Obama did not explicitly use the word "financial" to qualify the nature of the assistance he was offering, "there was no doubt among us [teachers] that is what he meant. We interpreted his words as meaning he would help fund the school, either personally or by raising sponsors or both, in order to give our school desperately-needed modern facilities and a facelift". She added that 10 of the school's 144 pupils are Obama's relatives. Obiero was not the only one to think that the US Senator from Illinois, who had recently acquired a $1.65 million house in Chicago, would cough up. Obama's own grandmother Sarah confidently told reporters before his visit: "When he comes down here, he will change the face of the school and, believe me, our poverty in Kogelo will be a thing of the past."
But the Evening Standard has heard that the promises he made to help the school as well as a local orphanage appear to have been empty.
You can imagine how bitterly disappointed those villagers must be. Their hero turns out to be an empty shell, promising much and not delivering.
But hope is just around the corner for the villagers in Kogelo. An American of Kenyan descent, blogger Juliette Ochieng aka Baldilocks, has taken up the cause of the villagers and is seeking to raise enough money to honor Obama's promise:
This is the deal: it will cost $500+ to start a non-profit entity in California for "Save Senator Obama Kogelo Secondary School." In addition a web designer must be paid to assist with obamaschool.org (unless some kind soul is willing to donate his/her services). I have a grand total of $25 in donations to this cause and five of it came from me.* I want to start a Facebook campaign but need a beneficiary.
Do I have to appeal to your emotions to get this done? No, not pity, but pride? Heck, I said I wasn't go to do this but I will.
Don't you want to show the Democrats how it's done?
Obama stuck his neck out and put not only his reputation, but the reputation of America on the line. If he's forgotten his promises, it is up to others to redeem them. After all, he tells us that he is America's symbol.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
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