Obama and me: As close as I could get

About two years ago I heard for the first time of Barack H. Obama. In reading his life story I realized that our imaginary paths have crossed several times. While in secondary school, I was dreaming of travelling in tropical Africa to discover new medicines from plants in the virginal forests. But above all, I was interested in the people living there. I had read about them in an anthropological book that I found in a huge trunk on the attic at home. After finishing my medical studies I decided to quit my military training and grasp the opportunity to serve a more useful purpose. The government made it possible to work as a doctor in a developing country for 3 years instead of military service. This made my childhood dreams possible. But I was in doubt where to go. Because of stories about Netherlands East Indies (later Indonesia) which I heard from people in my village, who had lived there, I also became fascinated by that country. Unfortunately going to Indonesia was not an option for me, because in the beginning of the seventies, the relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands were at the lowest point ever. So I chose for Africa and was posted to Kenya from 1971 till the end of 1974. I worked as a medical officer in Alupe Leprosy Hospital in West Kenya, bordering Uganda. Part of my work was to set up a network of clinics so that patients could receive treatment close to their home. The isolation principle of leprosy patients had been abandoned. I travelled at least once a month to Siaya District, where the Luo tribes live along the shores of Lake Victoria. I must have been many times very close to the homestead of the father of Obama. I remember picking up a school teacher along the road to Bondo. When I dropped him at the boma (fenced homestead with family and cattle) of his father, I was invited to stay overnight. Their hospitality was royal. Most of the family members (his father had four wives) spoke English.  Apart from Swahili, I also spoke a few words of Luo. This was creating trust and friendship. I tasted the African way of life: tribalism, family ties, religion and culture and found that it was good. Just in the way you can judge and enjoy food from various parts of the globe and the beauty of a face, whether it is black, yellow, red or white. At this stage Obama was about to leave Indonesia. He had been there from his sixth till his tenth year (1965 till 1971) before going back to Honolulu.

In 1975, I started my career in Dermatology in Amsterdam. My chief and spiritual father was Professor Rudi Cormane. He was the great-grandson of a princess from Yogyakarta and a Dutch captain of a sailing ship of the Dutch East Indian Company. I went in 1983 for the first time to Indonesia with Rudi Cormane.I will never forget the event, because a team of American astronomers were studying the gravitational redshift on the Borobudur during the solar eclipse, confirming Einstein’s theory of relativity. Since then I went back to Indonesia at least 20 times, I never felt like a tourist, because I was invited to stay with friends.

With Prof. Rudi Cormane and Brig. Gen. Dr. H.A. Hassan at exhibition

 

With family Hassan

 Religion was never in the way. Most of the Indonesians, including the inhabitants of Java are Muslim. The people in Celebes (the northern part) are Christian and the Balinese are Hindu. I became under the spell of their numerous temples, wayang plays and mystical artistry. The Indonesians like ceremonies and singing. They always give presents to whoever visits them. I have many treasures in my study, also an ornamental Muslim prayer cap.

Wiebe with prayer cap

My grandson was allowed wearing it when he was playing in my study.

In mid-1988, Obama traveled for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time. He returned in August 2006 in a visit to his father’s birthplace, Kogelo village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.

 

In 2004 I retired. Apart from some research tasks I left my medical work behind me. With my colleague and close friend Dr. Henk Menke and his brother Jack, I had established in 1997 a foundation to study medical, but above all the social aspects of human skin color, to further harmonious relations between people world wide. We chose Suriname, the fatherland of Henk and Jack, as the base for Color Foundation, because in this rainbow nation exemplary relations exist between the kaleidoscopically ethnic groups, most of them moved there by the Dutch colonial rulers. We maintain a weblog along our views of equality, regardless of skin color. In this respect we can speak of a more spiritual path followed by me, just like Obama, although we come from different directions. Our paths seem not to cross but to join.

 

Late last year I decided to go back to Kenya, to see the grandmother of Obama. I contacted my old friend, Prof. Haroun arap Mengech (psychiatrist), whom I know since 1972, when he came with a group of medical students from Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi to the Alupe Leprosy Hospital in Western Province to follow a course in public health. Much later, he was asked by the second president of Kenya (Daniel arap Moi) to build the medical faculty of Moi University in Eldoret. He was during 5 years the Dean of the Medical Faculty and is presently the Medical Director of Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital in Eldoret. He smoothened for me the way to go to Kogelo, the birthplace of Obama’s father. On January 9^th, 2009 I reported at the gate of the homestead. It was all fenced and guarded by Kenyan police and it was whispered that there were also black American Marines from the USA present. The grandmother, Mamma Sarah, had just left to the nearest city Kisumu, for passport photographs. She was preparing her trip to Washington, where she was invited to attend the presidential inauguration on January 20^th 2009. After signing the visitors’ book of the police, we were received by Hussein Sidiqui, a great-grandson of Mama Sarah and a young cousin of Obama.  After signing another visitors’ book of the family, we were given a tour around the compound.

Two graves

There were two graves: one of Obama’s grandfather and the other of his father. Before we left I handed over the ornamental Muslim prayer cap  as a present to Hussein Sidiqui. I explained to him that it was in the spirit of Barack Hussein Obama, who is from many backgrounds, and who tries to unite. He was visibly pleased with the gift.

Gift to Hussein Sidiqui

 

 

I was told that the new content of the visitors’ book was forwarded daily to President Obama. So, there may be a small chance that my name caught his attention. My hope is to meet him some time in the near future and to have philosophical discussions about how people are meant to live together. Because the economical crises is one thing, but there are more fundamental threats to humanity.

 

 

Wiete Westerhof