President Barack Obama's 91-year-old step-grandmother
suffered bruises and shock after a car she was travelling in rolled over, a
relative and a hospital official said on Monday.
The relative said Sarah Obama was traveling to her home
in the village of Kogelo, in western Kenya, when the accident happened Saturday
night.
He said the vehicle lost control and rolled as the driver
attempted to overtake a truck near the Kisumu airport. The relative asked not to
be named because he is not authorised to speak for the family.
Najim Mawji, the chief operating officer of the Agha Khan
hospital in Kisumu, said doctors discharged her Saturday night after she had
gone through several tests.
Mawji said she coped well with the shock that came from
the accident.
Sarah Obama is the second wife of Obama's paternal
grandfather. Obama referred to her as “Granny” in his memoir, “Dreams from My
Father,” and described meeting her during his 1988 trip to his father's homeland
and their awkwardness as they struggled to communicate.
Barack Obama has visited his Kenyan relatives three times
in Kogelo, and his step-grandmother has gone to the US at least three times. In
a 2008 interview she said they are close, although they have to speak through an
interpreter.
Kenya has a special regard for President Obama, the son
of a Kenyan economist and an American anthropologist. Children, shops and dozens
of minibuses – which carry names in Kenya – are named after the president. –
