I am a member of the British Council and recently I borrowed the book “Who is Barack Obama”. Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Hawaii. His first name means “blessed” in Swahili which is an African language. But his parents always called him Barry. Barry’s father was from Kenya and his name too was Barack. Barack’s mother was a white American and her name was Ann. Barry also has a sister named was Maya. Barry had a pet ape named Tata while he grew up in Indonesia.
When Barack was ten he moved back to Hawaii. One day Barack’s father came to his school to talk about Kenya. The children he spoke to were amazed that, in Kenya, animals like elephants, lions, buffaloes and hippos lived in the wild and not in zoos. His father taught him to dance in African style.
When Barack grew up he went to Columbia University and Harvard University and became a lawyer. He married Michelle Robinson, also a lawyer. They have two daughters named Maliya and Natasha. On January 20, 2009 he became President of the United States.
After they moved into the White House Malia and Natasha got a Portuguese dog named Bo. In November 2008, 62 million people voted for Obama and he became President of the United States for the second time.
Nethra Bulankulame,
Grade 3 H,
Ladies’ College,
Colombo.