When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he became an icon of collective hope and progressiveness. Everyone around the world wanted a piece of hm, including Kenyans, many of whom claimed him as “our son in the US.” This was by virtue of Barack’s father, Barack Obama Sr., having his ancestral roots in Kogelo village in the western part of Kenya. But a year before this buzz, very few Kenyans had heard of Kogelo village. It remained relatively unknown, even in 2006 when then-Senator Barack Obama made a pilgrimage to visit his grandmother in the desolate township. But his victory in the US presidential elections is what really put the town on the map.

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