Updated
barry, brother Mark and his wife meet in Beijing (pix)
barry’s half brother, Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo (same father different white mothers – Ruth Nidesand of Jewish-Lithuanian background) gave a press conference re: his new book: “Nairobi to Shenzhen“. Although based on his life it is a work of fiction – 15% of the proceeds will be donated to charities for children.
As far as his name, the majority of his life he used only his stepfather’s Tanzanian surname: Ndesandjo because he “didn’t want anything to do with the Obama name”. He since added Okoth, a word from his father’s Luo Tribe. (Haven’t come across the meaning.)
American citizen
Presently lives in China
Younger than barry (doesn’t tell age – 43?)
Spent most of childhood in Kenya
Educated in Nairobi and then the US
Brown University, BS Physics
Standford University, Masters Physics
Emory University, MBA
Telecommunications and marketing
Nortel Works, Atlanta
Met barry in the 80’s (Dreams excerpt)
Saw him in Austin, TX before the debate there
Was at the Inauguration
Will meet up with barry in Beijing
Moved to China “after Sept 11 when his job was cut”
Taught English
Volunteered as a piano teacher at an orphanage
Speaks fluent Mandarin, does calligraphy, writes
Trained classical pianist
Met his wife, Liu Xuehua, in China
She is native of central Henan Province
Married 1 year, no children
They live in Shenzhen (hour train ride from Hong Kong)
Works as a consultant in strategic marketing
WorldNexus
The protagonist, upon arriving in China in the wake of 911 and the onset of a terrifying global war, is forced to confront his early experiences in Kenya and the United States as a result of his growing love for a beautiful Chinese woman and a young orphan. Parallels between his own upbringing and the potential family that lies before him lead to questions about his true identity, the complexities of his multi-racial family and the relationship he had known with his father.
My mother used to say of my father he was a brilliant man but a social failure.
I remember situations when I was growing up, and there would be a light coming from our living room, and I could hear thuds. I could hear thuds and screams, and my father’s voice and my mother shouting. I remember one night when she ran out into the street and she didn’t know where to go.
Another of the president’s half brothers, George Obama, 27, of Huruma, Kenya, has penned a memoir that will be published by Simon and Schuster in January 2010.
Other Obama relatives working on books include a half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, daughter of Obama’s mother and her second husband, Lolo Soetoro; and Craig Robinson, first lady Michelle Obama’s brother.
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