Kenyans in Barack Obama's ancestral homeland danced with joy on Wednesday and the election of America's first black president sparked hope that he would tackle poverty and disease in Africa. As a pink dawn lit the sky, hundreds in a field at Obama's late father's village clapped and cheered when key swing states fell to east Africa's favourite adopted son.
Then came the news they had been waiting for: Obama had won. "We are going to the White House! We are going to the White House!" relatives sang at the top of their voices as they danced around the family's modest homestead in Kogelo, pausing only to hug each other and hoist small children into the air.
In the tiny village in western Kenya where Obama's 87-year-old grandmother lives, family members prepared to roast a bull in celebration while villagers swarmed the family home, banging drums, ululating and waving tree branches. Born in Hawaii to a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, Obama is idolised by many Africans the way the Irish saw US President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s: as one of their own who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Many Africans fervently hope his victory will mean more US support for local development and an improvement in living conditions for the majority on the world's poorest continent. "We trust that you will also make it the mission of your presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere," former South African President Nelson Mandela said.
South African Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu likened Obama's victory to his country's triumph over apartheid and Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua said the result had "finally broken the greatest barrier of prejudice in human history." Analysts have cautioned, however, that Obama may have little scope to bring tangible benefits to Africa, and that he does not have a strong track record of interest in the continent.
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