Rita Auma Obama (born 1960) is a Kenyan-British community activist, sociologist,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and half-sister of the 44th

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Obama serves as the executive chairwoman of Sauti Kuu Foundation (Strong Voices Foundation), a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

that helps orphans and other young people struggling with poverty in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Background and education

Auma Obama is the daughter of

Barack Obama Sr. Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (; born Baraka Obama, 18 June 1934 – 24 November 1982) was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He is a central figure of his son's memoir, ' ...

and his first wife,

Kezia Obama The family of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, is a prominent American family active in law, education, activism and politics. Obama's immediate family circle was the first family of the United States from 2009 to 2017 d ...

(''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Aoko). She is the older

half-sister A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the other person. A male sibling is a brother, and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raise ...

. After attending a local elementary school and The Kenya High School for secondary education (1973–1978), she secured a scholarship to attend university in Germany. She studied

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

from 1981 until 1987. After her graduation from Heidelberg, she went for graduate studies at the

University of Bayreuth The University of Bayreuth (German: Universität Bayreuth) is a public research university located in Bayreuth, Germany. It is one of the youngest German universities. It is broadly organized into seven undergraduate and graduate faculties, with ...

, graduating with a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in 1996. She also studied at the

German Film and Television Academy The Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB, German Film and Television Academy Berlin) is a film school in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1966. In the German film school rankings by FOCUS in 2006 (Issue 22), the DFFB was ranked 2nd a ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Obama's final project at the Film Academy was the twenty-minute film ''All That Glitters'' (1993), which blends genre conventions in depicting the vulnerability of Black lives in post-unification Germany.

Humanitarian commitment

Obama lived in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

after her studies. While there, she helped her mother, Kezia, to relocate from

to the UK. Kezia was granted British citizenship in 2011. In 1996, Obama married an

Englishman The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common ancestry, history, and culture. The English identity began with the Anglo-Saxons, when they we ...

, Ian Manners. They are the parents of Akinyi Manners (born 1997). Obama and Manners divorced in 2000. In 2007, Obama and Akinyi relocated to Kenya. Obama worked for five years in Kenya with the international charity

CARE International CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...

as the organization's East Africa Coordinator before starting her own charity, Sauti Kuu Foundation, sometimes referred to as ''Auma Obama Foundation''. In 2010, the Jacobs Foundation’s board of trustees has appointed her as a new member. This foundation (the 1st wealthiest Swiss

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

), with its registered office in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, provides funding and support worldwide and has an annual funding budget amounting to approximately CHF 35 million ($33.66 million in 2010) for projects benefiting young people and their integration into society.

Other considerations

Obama attended Barack Obama's, her half-brother's, inaugurations to the Senate and the presidency, in 2005 and 2009, respectively. In 2011, Obama was interviewed for

Turk Pipkin Turk Pipkin (born July 2, 1953) is an author, actor, comedian and director. He is the co-founder of The Nobelity Project, a non-profit organization which seeks to find solutions to global problems, and which advocates for basic rights for children ...

's documentary '' Building Hope'' and was the subject of a German documentary film '' The Education of Auma Obama''. In 2017, Obama was honoured with the fourth International

TÜV Rheinland TÜVs (; short for , ) are internationally active, independent service companies from Germany and Austria that test, inspect and certify technical systems, facilities and objects of all kinds in order to minimize hazards and prevent damages. T ...

Global Compact Award in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. At the award ceremony, she received a specially made bronze sculpture ''Der Griff nach den Sternen'' (Reaching for the stars) by artist

Hannes Helmke Hannes Helmke (born 10 May 1967 in Heidelberg) is a German sculptor creating bronze sculptures. Life After an education in wood sculpture, Helmke attended postgraduate studies in free art at the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in ...

. Obama is the author of the book ''And Then Life Happens'', released in 2012 by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

. Obama is a member of the

World Future Council The World Future Council (WFC) is a German non-profit foundation with its headquarters in Hamburg. It works to pass on a healthy and sustainable planet with just and peaceful societies to future generations. FuturePolicy.org The futurepol ...

. She is also a member of the board of trustees of the Germany Reading Foundation, as well as a member of the advisory board of the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies at the University of Bayreuth. She serves on the council of the Kilimanjaro Initiative in Nairobi. Since 2014, Dr. Obama has been the

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the International Storymoja Festivals in Kenya. She is also the initiator of the Sauti Kuu Act Now Awards. In 2021, she agreed to participate in the German dance show '' Let's Dance'', the German version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''. She reached 5th place.

References

External links

Profile at the Auma Obama Foundation (Sauti Kuu Foundation)

As of 3 July 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Obama, Auma Living people 1960 births Kenyan women in politics Kenyan journalists Kenyan women journalists Kenyan sociologists Kenyan women sociologists Heidelberg University alumni University of Bayreuth alumni Obama family Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of Kenya High School