Sarah Onyango Obama, known as Mama Sarah, the third wife of former US president Barack Obama’s paternal grandfather, died on Monday in the lake-bordering western city of Kisumu, in Kenya, the Kenyan presidency announced. She was 99 years old. “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,” Obama tweeted on Monday. “We will miss her dearly, but we’ll celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life.”
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. pic.twitter.com/avDY4f1PVu— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 29, 2021
We’ve lost a strong, virtuous woman,” said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, “a matriarch who held together the Obama family and was an icon of family values.” She passed away while receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Kisumu. The statement did not specify what the illness was, but a spokesperson for the family clarified to the BBC that she did not die of COVID-19, Business Insider noted. She was born in either 1920 or 1921, The New York Times reported, quoting her as saying that she wasn’t sure of her exact date of birth. At the time, the newspaper noted, birth records were not reliable or exact. She told the Times in 2007 of her strict and dedicated commitment to Islam: “I am a strong believer of the Islamic faith.”
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