Onyango that it would be improper for Barack to have to beg from other relatives for a dowry when everyone knew he
was the son of a well-off man. Onyango saw that I spoke the truth, and he relented. One year after Barack and Kezia
were married, Roy was born. Two years later came Auma.
To support this family, Barack had to take any work he could find, and he finally convinced another Arab, named
Suleiman, to take him on as an office boy. But Barack remained deeply depressed, almost desperate. Many of his age-
mates from Maseno, the ones who were not as gifted as him, were already leaving for Makarere University in Uganda.
Some had even gone to London to study. They could expect big jobs when they returned to a liberated Kenya. Barack
saw that he might end up working as the clerk of these men for the rest of his life.
Then, good fortune struck, in the form of two American women. They were teaching in Nairobi, connected to some
religious organization, I think, and one day they came into the office where Barack was working. Your father struck up
a conversation with them, and soon these women became his friends. They loaned him books to read and invited him to
their house, and when they saw how smart he was, they told him that he should go to a university. He explained that he
had no money and no secondary school certificate, but these women said they could arrange for him to take a
correspondence course that would give him the certificate he needed. If he was successful, they said, they would try to
help him get into a university in America.
Barack became very excited and immediately wrote away for this correspondence course. For the first time in his life
he worked diligently. Every night, and during his lunch hours, he would study his books and do the lessons in his
notebooks. A few months later, he sat for the exam at the American embassy. The exam took several months to score,
and during this wait he was so nervous he could barely eat. He became so thin that we thought he would die. One day,
the letter came. I was not there to see him open it. I know that when he told me the news, he was still shouting out with
happiness. And I laughed along with him, for it was just as things had been so many years before, when he used to
come home after school to boast about his marks.
He still had no money, though, and no university had yet accepted him. Onyango had softened towards his son when
he saw that he was becoming more responsible, but even he could not raise the money to pay university fees and
transport abroad. Some in the village were willing to help, but many were afraid that if Barack went off with their
money they would never see him again. So Barack wrote to universities in America. He wrote and he wrote. Finally, a
university in Hawaii wrote back and told him they would give him a scholarship. No one knew where this place was,
but Barack didn’t care. He gathered up his pregnant wife and son and dropped them off with me, and in less than a
month he was gone.
What happened in America, I cannot say. I know that after less than two years we received a letter from Barack saying
that he had met this American girl, Ann, and that he would like to marry her. Now, Barry, you have heard that your
grandfather disapproved of this marriage. This is true, but it is not for the reasons you say. You see, Onyango did not
believe your father was behaving responsibly. He wrote back to Barack, saying, “How can you marry this white woman
when you have responsibilities at home? Will this woman return with you and live as a Luo woman? Will she accept
that you already have a wife and children? I have not heard of white people understanding such things. Their women
are jealous and used to being pampered. But if I am wrong in this matter, let the girl’s father come to my hut and
barré
(Barré)
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