General
‘Mama’ Sarah Obama, Barack Obama’s step-grandmother, dies aged 99 from non-COVID-19 illness
Sarah Obama, the step-grandmother of former US president Barack Obama, has died at the age of 99 at a hospital in Kenya.
Key points:
- Sarah Obama was the second wife of Barack Obama’s grandfather
- Her family said she did not die of COVID-19, but from an unspecified illness
- She worked tirelessly to help orphans
The matriarch of Mr Obama’s Kenyan family and the second wife of his grandfather, she was known affectionately as Mama Sarah.
She outspokenly defended her grandson during his run for president in 2008, when his political opponents claimed baselessly that he had been born in Kenya and was a Muslim.
Ms Obama died around 4:00am local time in a hospital in Kisumu, western Kenya, according to her daughter Marsat Onyango.
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