Caught up in a controversy over her immigration status, Barack Obama’s aunt hasn’t been seen at the South Boston housing project where she lives for days, neighbors say. Zeituni Onyango, a quiet 56-year-old Kenyan native, lived in total obscurity until a week ago when The Times of London reported that she was Obama’s aunt. She is the half-sister of Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr. and is believed to be the “Aunti Zeituni” in Obama’s memoir, “Dreams From My Father.” Two women who know Onyango and live in the same housing complex off West Broadway said they hadn’t seen Onyango in four days - about the time it was revealed that she was living in the United States illegally. When asked how she felt having the president-elect’s aunt living next door, one neighbor, Sasha, who voted for Obama yesterday, replied: “I think it’s cool.” “The president’s family lives right there. That’s cool,” said Sasha, 28, who didn’t want to give her last name. Her friend, who also didn’t want to give her name and wore an Obama pin, described Onyango as a “very honest” woman, who talked fondly of her children and told stories about Kenya. “She has a lot of knowledge,” she said. No one answered the door at Onyango’s Boston Housing Authority apartment inside 111 Flaherty Way this morning. Onyango had previously shunned media attention and told reporters that she would give interviews after the election. Since then, though, the Associated Press has reported that in 2004 an immigration judge rejected her application for asylum and she was ordered to be deported. A BHA official told the Herald this weekend that the agency was never notified of a deportation order issued for Onyango, who has been living in federal-and state-funded public housing since 2003.boston herald.com
Obama aunt not seen in recent days
By Jessica Fargen
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 -
Friday, 7 November 2008
jfargen@bostonherald.com
Posts
