Obama visits his father’s homeland

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Kenya and Ethiopia, HIS FATHER’S HOMELAND  which concluded Tuesday, was marked by stirring images of throngs of thousands coming out to cheer the motorcade for the first visit by a sitting American president.

Pictures of Obama can already be found across Africa and especially in Kenya, the birthplace of his father, where it isn’t unusual to see gargantuan murals of his face on buildings or cardboard cutouts outside cafes.

T-shirts for the visit proclaiming “Father has reached home” were sold in the streets and he was greeted at the airport by his half-sister Auma Obama in an emotional embrace that was a strong reminder of his ties to the East African country.

There was pomp and circumstance aplenty at Nairobi’s State House, where Obama was serenaded by the Kenya Air Force band while he reviewed the honor guard with his counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta.

Overhead, U.S. military Blackhawk helicopters surveyed the scene with the legs of the snipers dangling out the open side doors as part of the heavy security that marked the five-day visit.

While not everyone could attend Obama’s speeches, crowds converged on the roads taken by his motorcades and enthusiastic spectators took selfies of themselves during this historic moment.

Inside Nairobi’s Safaricom Arena, Obama was treated like a rock star as a sea of hands surged forward to be shaken.

In his speech at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Obama urged the continent’s leaders to build for future generations by creating jobs and fighting corruption.

He promised help in this “enormous undertaking” and underlined U.S. help by visiting projects in the two countries, including Ethiopia’s Faffa Foods factory that is part of an American “Feed the Future” program to help small farmers.