US senator tackles Aids
2006-08-26 13:31
Kisumu - Thousands of people turned out to greet US Senator Barack Obama in the Kenyan city of Kisumu on Saturday, some perched on trees and others breaking through police barriers at a hospital where the colourful politician took an HIV/Aids test before heading to his grandmother's village.
The fans, many wearing Obama T-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia, struggled to catch a glimpse of their "favourite son" as he entered and later emerged from the freshly-painted Soviet-built New Nyanza General Hospital, where he was tested for Aids on the second day of a much-anticipated visit.
"I am so happy now because I know the status of my wife and I. We are both (HIV) negative and I can take control of my family and all tasks that lie ahead of me," said Obama, wearing a light blue shirt and peach-coloured trousers.
"I urge all of you to gather courage and take the right decison and be tested. I thank all of you for the support," he added.
Nearby, the thousands who had turned up to welcome him shouted for the way to be cleared for Obama, the son of a Kenyan goat herder-turned-economist, the only African-American in the US Senate and a potential Democratic Party presidential nominee.
'Obama is our son'
They shouted slogans usually reserved for local politicians, this time for the senator, who arrived in the western city aboard a commercial flight, to an amazement of many who expected to see a US airforce jet.
"Obama biyo ya oneyo," they yelled using the Luo tribal language of Barack Obama's US-educated father, meaning: "Clear the way, Obama is coming."
"Yote yawezekana na Obama," they added, this time in the national language Swahili, but others repeated it in English, in what sounded like a chorus: "All is possible with Obama."
After the last vehicle in Obama's convoy entered the hospital compound, fans who had been blocked at the main gate forced their way in, pushing aside Kenyan police who had cordoned off the main gate, an AFP correspondent saw.
Irritated by the barriers, onlookers jeered at the stone-faced security forces while others perched on trees cheered the senator.
"Obama is our son, we have a right to see him after such a long time," shouted one onlooker, angry at being denied a chance to greet the senator.
Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle and two daughters, hammered home the need for HIV/Aids tests, which are so feared, if not abhored, in this trash-strewn third city, perhaps best known for its languishing fishing industry, high HIV/Aids rates and grinding poverty.
Community heavily ravaged by HIV/Aids pandemic
"The test I am about to take is very significant to the Luo community, which I am proud of," he said earlier in the sprawling hospital compound.
"The community is heavily ravaged by the HIV/Aids pandemic and I would like to see that lives, especially those of children, are saved through tests that would prevent transmission," he added, his voice occasionally drowned out by cheers.
Streets were filled in Nyangoma-Kogelo village, itself hard hit by the deadly disease, where Obama was expected to sit down and chat with his grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama, as well as tour a school that has been renamed after him.
Police struggled to clear the path for the senator as his convoy snaked its way to the village, about 100km from Kisumu.
At a US-funded malaria and Aids-funded research centre on the road to the village, where elders had gathered, Obama planted a tree and sought to renew the war against malaria, which affects thousands in this lakeside belt.
"When I go back to America, I am going to challenge the people there to shift more focus towards a malaria campaign ... a lot of focus has been on HIV/Aids, but it (malaria) remains a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa that must be addressed," Obama added.
- AFP