Although Mama Sarah Obama did not get formal schooling, her love for education and improving the welfare of the underprivileged pushed her to establish a foundation.
She set up Mama Sarah Obama Foundation in Kogelo, Siaya county, with the aim of improving the education and welfare of disenfranchised children so they can achieve their goals and have a better future.
According to the foundation website, Mama Sarah started off small with a feeding programme. She then adopted several orphans before establishing the foundation.
Through donors aid, she was able to build the first nursery school at Senator Obama Primary School in Kogelo.
Her goal was to build more schools in the area to get her family and the community educated.
In a past interview, she talked of how she would receive letters she could not read.
She said she didn’t want her children to be illiterate and swore to ensure all her family’s children went to school.
BBC News says Mama Sarah ensured Barack Obama Snr, the father of former US President Barack Obama, got a formal education.
“She would ride him on a bicycle to school when he was a kid,” BBC reports.
Sarah Obama died on Monday at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu aged 99 years. She was buried on Tuesday in Kogelo.
According to sources at the facility, she had been admitted to the ICU for management of diabetes.
A neighbour said she had been battling diabetes for nearly two years that saw her admitted to various hospitals in Siaya and Kisumu.
She was the third wife of Hussein Obama, the paternal grandfather of former US President Barack Obama.
She has been eulogised as a philanthropist, educator and a motherly figure.
Siaya Senator James Orengo eulogised her saying, "President Barack Obama, your grandmother's magnetic personality and ability to care deeply for others allowed her to cultivate many lasting relationships.
"She will always be remembered."
Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o said, "Kenyans will miss her dearly. She was always charming and warm to those who visited her in her home in Kogelo."
He said she was not only a role model to the larger Obama family, but also a motherly figure to many people.
"She was a philanthropist who helped to mobilise funds to pay school fees for many orphans and vulnerable children," Nyong'o said.
Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga said she came across as generous, loving, caring and quite compassionate in her passion for doing good to the less-endowed in society.
"With the demise of Mama, the people of Siaya county will miss her gentle guidance on cultural matters as well as her noble works as an ambassador of peaceful co-existence of our people," he said.
"I send my heartfelt condolences to the Obama family during these difficult moments and pray for God's peace and consolation in dealing with this unfortunate loss."
Edited by A.N
