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Nov-04-2009Obama brother emerges from quiet life in China to promote book(topic overview)
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"My father beat me. He beat my mother. We simply can not do that," he said at a press conference Wednesday at the American Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou, in the presence of the General Consul of the United States on the occasion of the release of his book. Mark Ndesandjo who lives in China since 2002, publishes "From Nairobi to Shenzhen," one year after the election of his half-brother. The Kenyan father of Barack Obama has separated from his wife when the child was only two and the U.S. president spoke about the difficulties of a childhood without a father. Mark Ndesandjo, who did not specify his age, is the son of the third wife of his father, Ruth Nidesand. He never used the name of his parent and had not even discussed this relationship with his family, until the media revealed it. Presenting a strong resemblance to his brother Barack - his face and voice - Mark Okoth Ndesandjo Obama, recounts how scenes from the evening of the election helped him reconcile with many issues, "including the name Obama." [1] President Barack Obama's half brother has broken silence to launch his novel on a painful childhood with an abusive father. Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo made a rare appearance on Wednesday in southern China to unveil his novel, 'Nairobi to Shenzhen', the semi-autobiographical story of an abusive parent. Barack Obama's Kenyan father and American mother separated when he was two years old. Obama's late father had Ndesandjo from his third wife, Ruth Nidesand. Ndesandjo did not use the name 'Obama' and hid his connection with the president until it was reported in the media. The book gave his full name 'Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo'. The name Obama does not lend itself to being used with his distressing past in mind.[2]
GUANGZHOU, China, Nov 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's half-brother made a rare appearance on Wednesday in southern China, his home for seven years, to launch a novel he says draws on his painful childhood under an abusive father. Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo -- who had the same, late, father as the U.S. President -- has kept a low public profile since reports surfaced last year that he was living and working in the southern Chinese capitalist and manufacturing haven of Shenzhen, around an hour's train ride from Hong Kong. After repeatedly shunning media attention, Ndesandjo's first major public appearance to launch his debut novel comes less than two weeks before the U.S. president travels to China for the first time. While he said his work, "Nairobi to Shenzhen" is a fictional account, it started off nearly 10 years ago as an autobiography and "reflects many experiences in my own life as a child brought up in Kenya" including a troubled relationship with his father. "My mother used to say of my father, he's a brilliant man but a social failure," Ndesandjo told reporters at a press conference in Guangzhou, near his adopted city of Shenzhen.[3] Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, Barack Obama'''s younger half-brother, has finally broken his media silence, just weeks before the U.S. president'''s first visit to China. Ndesandjo, who has lived in the south China city of Shenzhen since 2002, appeared in Guangzhou Wednesday to launch his first novel, "Nairobi to Shenzhen,''' which was started 10 years ago as an autobiography, Reuters reports. Ndesandjo'''s final version, a work of fiction, reflects his own experiences of growing up in Kenya, living in the U.S., and eventually settling in China. It also makes reference to the author'''s difficult relationship with his late father, Barack Obama Sr., who Ndesandjo describes as emotionally and physically abusive. '''My mother used to say of my father, he's a brilliant man but a social failure," Ndesandjo told reporters.[4]
GUANGZHOU, China — U.S. President Barack Obama's half-brother Mark Ndesandjo Wednesday broke his silence to speak of their abusive father at the launch of his first novel. Ndesandjo, who has lived in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen for seven years, said he wrote "Nairobi to Shenzhen" after a string of extraordinary events -- including his brother being elected president -- made him come to terms with his past.[5] Beijing - U.S. President Barack Obama's half-brother has revealed at a book launch in China that his father used to beat him. Mark Ndesandjo, from Obama's father's third marriage with a U.S. woman, introduced his book From Nairobi to Shenzhen on Wednesday in southern China where he now lives, Chinese media reported.[6]
BEIJING ''' By the standards of some other presidential siblings, Mark Obama Ndesandjo ''' the U.S. president'''s half brother who lives in China ''' is a positive boon. Normally he keeps himself very quietly to himself in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen where he lives with his Chinese wife, practicing calligraphy and teaching piano to orphans. Though, he emerged briefly to promote a semi-autobiographical book he has published which he says draws on his childhood with an abusive father ''' who was President Barack Obama'''s father, too. '''My mother used to say of my father, he'''s a brilliant man but a social failure,''' Mr. Ndesandjo, who took the name of his stepfather, told reporters at a short press conference in Guangzhou. That was pretty much the image the U.S. president painted of his dad in his best-selling memoir '''Dreams From My Father''': no scandalous revelation there. His half brother resolutely refused to discuss politics with reporters. Ndesandjo, who will tell outsiders no more about his job than that he is a marketing consultant, looked trim and athletic, according to journalists at the press conference. He had a crewcut, a purple bandana and a pierced ear in which he sometimes wears a diamond.[7] Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, a half-brother of U.S. President Barack Obama, introduces his novel 'Nairobi to Shenzhen' during a pre-launch news conference held by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou Wednesday.[7]
GUANGZHOU, China (AP) ''' President Barack Obama's half-brother has finally spoken out, discussing his new, semi-autobiographical novel. It's the story of an abusive parent patterned on their late father, the mostly absent figure Obama wrote about in his own memoir. In his first interview, Mark Ndesandjo tells The Associated Press that he wrote Nairobi to Shenzhen in part to raise awareness of domestic violence. He says he and his mother were beaten by their father "and you don't do that." His mother was Barack Obama Sr.' s third wife.[8] The Washngton Post reports today on Ndesandjo speaking out for the first time. He attended his half-brother's inauguration last year, and says he plans to see the president when he makes an official visit to Beijing later this month - Obama plans to leave Washington on Nov. 11 for an annual APEC summit of Pacific-rim nations and tour of Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China. Ndesandjo credits Obama's election with helping him come to terms with a painful past and finishing his book. His self-published novel features a character called David and depicts his Kenyan father as an abusive alcoholic who beat him. Barack Obama Sr. married the author's mother, Ruth Nidesand, while he was studying at Harvard, after divorcing President Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. The elder Obama and Nidesand lived together in Nairobi, Kenya, where Mark spent much of his childhood.[9]
"I remember times in my house when I would hear screams and I would hear my mother's pain.''' Ndesandjo, who is described as bearing a striking resemblance to his half-brother in terms of '''height, complexion and gait''' by the NYT, also shares other deeper similarities. Ndesandjo'''s mother, Ruth, is a white American, nee Nidesand (she became the elder Obama'''s third wife and moved with him to Kenya, where she still lives). After high school in Nairobi, where he attended international schools, Ndesandjo moved to the U.S., where he attended Brown and Stanford. He also cites his maternal grandmother, a Lithuanian immigrant who inspired his love of classical piano, as a major influence in his life. The protagonist, upon arriving in China in the wake of 911 and the onset of a terrifying global war, is forced to confront his early experiences in Kenya and the United States as a result of his growing love for a beautiful Chinese woman and a young orphan. Parallels between his own upbringing and the potential family that lies before him lead to questions about his true identity, the complexities of his multi-racial family and the relationship he had known with his father. While still hesitant to speak at length about his brother, whom he is in touch with but not close to, Ndesandjo told the NYT that he hopes to introduce Obama to his new wife, who is Chinese, during the president'''s upcoming trip to China. Another book is apparently in the works: An autobiography that will give a more in-depth account of the brothers''' relationship.[4] In height, complexion and gait, the resemblances are striking. President Obama hardly knew his father, who left home when Obama was two. Mr Ndesandjo, however, grew up in the stormy presence of a man he said he came to hate. ''My father beat me and my mother, and this is something you just don't do,'' said Mr Ndesandjo, 43, who was raised in Kenya but whose American accent is the product of international schools. ''He was a brilliant man but, as my mother used to say, he was a social failure.'' Over the past decade, as Mr Obama's political career took him to the apex of power, Mr Ndesandjo's life fell apart, then slowly came together again. In 2002 he left the U.S. to start a new life in China. He taught English and gave piano lessons to orphans; last year he married a Chinese woman. The President is closer to his relatives on his mother's side of the family. Friends say he knows his half-brother, but does not have a close relationship with him.[10]
For the past seven years, Mr Ndesandjo has been living in the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, and has until now refused all interview requests. He said he planned to meet his half-brother in Beijing when the U.S. president visits later in November. Barack Obama Sr divorced the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, in 1964 and had at least six other children in his native Kenya. He died in a road accident in 1982. President Obama hardly knew his father, but wrote of the impressions he formed of him in his 1995 book Dreams From My Father.[11] U.S. President Barack Obama's half-brother Mark Ndesandjo has released his first novel, Nairobi to Shenzhen, which is about a man who is forced to confront his early experiences in Kenya and the United States after arriving in China in the wake of the September 11 attacks.[12] I was so proud of my brother Barack. This has removed the harshness that I felt during all these years," he said. His novel, which would be an autobiography, tells the story of a man forced to confront his past, in Kenya and in the United States after arriving in China after September 11, 2001. A graduate of the prestigious Stanford and Brown universities, he said he left the United States after losing his job at a time when he sought a direction to his life. He now devotes himself in Shenzhen to music and is a consultant for Chinese exporters. Asked what he would say to his brother before his first visit to China in November 15, Ndesandjo Mark replied: "I would encourage my brother, President Obama, to understand that family is central in China."[1]
Nov. 4, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Mark Ndesandjo, the half brother of Barack Obama, has lunched a new novel in which he speaks about his abusive father. This is the first time any of the two brothers are speaking about an obviously painful part of their childhood that was so long under wraps. He mentioned that he wrote his previous novel, "Nairobi To Shenzen" after the election of his brother as President of the States. He said that this, and a series of other events had helped him come to terms with his past, and that that had helped him to write the novel.[13] American president Barack Obama's half brother Mark Ndesandjo has launched a new novel. In his new novel, Ndesandjo speaks about his abusive father. This is for the first time that any of the two brothers have discussed the painful part of their childhood. He gave his first interview to the Associated Press in which he told them that he wrote "Nairobi to Shenzhen". He told The Associated Press that the main purpose behind writing the novel is to raise awareness of domestic violence.[14]
The half brother of President Barack Obama Mark Ndesandjo has a new book "Nairobi to Shenzhen". Mark Ndesandjo says Barack Obama Sr beat his mother Ruth Nidesand and Mark. Mark Ndesandjo has not talked to media until this week as his book gets released, one of several from Obama relatives.[15] Barack Obama Sr split from Mr Obama's mother when the future president was aged two. Mr Ndesandjo, who lives in China, had previously shunned the media since his link to Mr Obama emerged in 2008. In a news conference to promote the novel Nairobi to Shenzhen, he said a string of extraordinary events - including his brother being elected president - made him come to terms with his past.[11]
Mr Ndesandjo, who lives in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, is the son of Barack Obama senior and his third wife, Ruth Nidesand, an American. In a rare appearance to promote his semi-autobiographical novel, Nairobi to Shenzhen, Mr Ndesandjo said: "My father beat me. He beat my mother.[16] Until now Mr Ndesandjo has avoided the press, wrapping himself in the anonymity of Shenzhen, a former fishing village near Hong Kong that is now a city of 8 million. Mr Ndesandjo has now written an autobiographical novel, Nairobi to Shenzhen: A Novel of Love in the East, that reflects his wanderings, the wrestling over his racial identity, his quest to find acceptance in modern China, and, mostly, the struggle to understand his father. ''I wanted to find something redeeming about him,'' he said. In the novel, Mr Ndesandjo invents his father's diary, which gives the book's protagonist insight into his father's philandering, outbursts and a self-destructive decline that paralleled Kenya's descent into corruption and tribal conflict. Mr Ndesandjo said Mr Obama's election was a crystallising moment, prompting the completion of his book and forcing him to confront issues that had dogged him. ''Emotions and attitudes that had been around for so many years were turned upside down within a few weeks,'' he said. Like his half-brother, Mr Ndesandjo struggled with racial identity. His mother, Ruth Ndesandjo, is an American Jew, born Ruth Nidesand, who met the elder Obama in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then followed him to Africa.[10]
Obama's Kenyan father and American mother separated when Obama was just two and the president has spoken about the problems children face growing up with an absent father. Ndesandjo, son of Obama's late father and his third wife Ruth Nidesand, had been dodging the media since his identity came to light during Obama's election campaign. He had not used the name "Obama" and had not even told his close acquaintances about his connection with the president until it was reported in the media. The backdrop at his book launch Wednesday named him as "Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo". Bearing a strong resemblance in facial features and voice to President Obama, Ndesandjo recalled scenes of the election night at Chicago's Grant Park which helped him come to terms with the many issues "I had shut out of my life, including the Obama name."[5]
The conference was attended by members of the United States Consul-General. Mark spoke at length about his turbulent childhood. He recounted events from his childhood when he had to spend days listening to the screams of pain of his mother. He admitted that his father abused not only him and his brother, but also his mother. His mother, Ruth Ndesandjo was his father's third wife. They got divorced two years after the birth of Barack. Mark told the press that his first novel was written in order to raise awareness about domestic violence. As he spoke to the press, tears streamed down his face. His novel is semi-autobiographical, and is based much on the terrible experiences he had to face as a child. He refused to speak about the relationship with his brother.[13] The members of the United States Consul-General also attended the conference. In the press conference, Mark Ndesandjo spoke about the painful period of his childhood in detail. He recalls that his father abused him, his mother and also his brother (not Obama). He didn't discuss about his relationship with Barack Obama.[14]
CANTON (China) - Mark Ndesandjo, half-brother of Barack Hussein Obama who lives in Shenzhen, southern China, who had remained silent so far on his relationship with the U.S. president, spoke Wednesday about their violent father.[1] The U.S. president and Ndesandjo share a common father, Barack Obama Sr. The revelation came shortly before Obama is due to make his first official visit to China.[6] One of U.S. President Barack Obama's half-brothers has spoken about their "abusive" father at the launch of his semi-autobiographical first novel.[11]
President Barack Obama's half-brother Mark Ndesandjo has claimed their father physically abused him as a child.[16] MAYBE it is the easy smile. Or perhaps the eyes, at once self-assured and searching. When Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo walks into the room, the similarities with President Barack Obama, with whom he shares a father, are quite unmistakeable if hard to pinpoint.[10]
Mr Obama senior went on to have at least six other children in Kenya. The president has written of his fatherless childhood in his book, Dreams of my Father. In it, he described a visit to Kenya to learn more about him, and described his father as a gifted man but an abusive alcoholic. "I knew that he was a drunk and showed no concern for his wife and children. That was enough," he wrote. Until now, Mr Ndesandjo has refused to capitalise on his family connection and has maintained a low profile. He has declined to discuss his earliest memories of the president or describe their relationship over the years. He said on Wednesday that he hopes to meet his brother in Beijing when the president makes his first visit to China at the end of next week. "My plan is to introduce my wife to him. She is his biggest fan," he said.[16] Harley Seyedin, president of American Chamber of Commerce in South China and host of the book launch, described Ndesandjo as a talented pianist, writer, artist, and businessman, and a long-time good friend of his. Ndesandjo said that 15 percent of the proceeds of his novel would go to helping disadvantaged and orphaned children in China and the rest of the world. Asked if there was anything he would like to tell his brother ahead of Obama's first presidential visit to China in November 15, Ndesandjo, who speaks fluent Chinese, said: "I would encourage not only my brother President Obama, but also American people, (to understand) that China is about family.[5] "We're family, I love my family," said the crew-cut Ndesandjo, who wore a burgundy bandana and professes a love for the piano, Chinese calligraphy and classic works of Chinese literature. "I was so proud of my brother Barack," he said of his sibling's becoming the first African-American U.S. president. At a news conference in which he would only take five written questions drawn from a box, he avoided any mention of politics or U.S.-China relations but said Americans could learn from China's culture and deep-rooted family ties.[3]
"My skin had turned hard emotionally for so many years because of what I'd seen my mother go through," said Ndesandjo, who is slim and bears an appearance similar to the president. Ndesandjo's book details how the protagonist, David, made an improbable journey to China in 2001 just after the September 11th attacks, inspired by his "growing love for a beautiful Chinese woman and a young orphan", and reflects Ndesandjo's own marriage to a young Chinese woman and his charitable work for Chinese orphans. He was less forthright about his relationship with his famous brother, however, saying that they are in touch and an upcoming autobiography, for which he still hasn't found a publisher, would give a fuller account of their family background and ties.[3]
Mark Ndesandjo was born along with a brother David who later died in a motorcycle accident, reports AP. There in Kenya Obama Sr had children with his first wife even while with Ruth. President Obama would be born in Hawaii in 1961 and in 1963 his mother Stanley Ann Dunham and Obama Sr separated. The AP reports says "at least" six other children by Obama Sr were born in Kenya before his passing in 1982 in a car crash.[15] Mark Ndesandjo told reporters: "My father beat me. He beat my mother." The author is the son of Mr Obama's late father and his third wife.[11]
Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who has lived in the Chinese city of Shenzhen for seven years, has produced an autobiographical novel, From Nairobi to Shenzhen. It's quite a different tale than that of the best-selling memoir that Obama wrote years ago, Dreams From My Father.[9] For the past seven years, Mark Ndesandjo has been living in China. The American Chamber of Commerce hosted a press conference for his latest novel's launch.[14] "My father beat me. He beat my mother. You just do not do that," he told a press conference hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China and attended by representatives of the U.S. Consul-General here.[5]
"I remember times in my house when I would hear screams and I would hear my mother's pain." His American mother Ruth was his father's third wife. [3]
Little is known about the President's father, mother and siblings, and no one in the so-called mainstream news media appears curious. President Obama saw his father only once after his parents divorced, when he was 10 years old. In a best-selling memoir, "Dreams from My Father," Obama wrote about his fatherless upbringing and search for identity.[17] President Obama, born in Hawaii, was mostly raised there. Obama wrote his own book telling of his comng of age after graduating from Harvard Law School, years before he found a path to the presidency. His half-brother's book, about a life on another continent and published on yet another, tells of another path altogether. "It's a work of fiction, but there's a lot going on in there that parallels my life," Ndesandjo said of his own book in an interview before a news conference launching the book.[9]
How good Ndesandjo'''s novel is, however, remains to be seen; it went on sale Wednesday from Aventine Press, a self-publishing company less charitably known as a '''vanity press.''' It is in for some competition: Among other books in the works from the extended First Family are ones by another half brother, a half sister and Michelle Obama'''s brother.[7] I was so proud of my brother Barack. That peeled away the hardness I had felt for so many years." Ndesandjo said his novel, which was originally meant to be his autobiography, was about a man who was forced to confront his early experiences in Kenya and the United States after arriving in China in the wake of the September 11 attacks. He said he would publish his second book, an autobiography, in the next few months.[5] My skin had turned hard emotionally for so many years." Ndesandjo said his novel was about a man who was forced to confront his early experiences in Kenya and the United States after arriving in China in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. He said he would publish his second book, an autobiography, in the next few months. "I want to tell my story, not have others tell it for me," he added.[11]
Ndesandjo's semi-autobiographical novel concerns domestic violence and its effects on children. He said that 15 per cent of the proceeds from the book would go to children's charities. Ndesandjo was born in Kenya and studied in the U.S. but is now married to a Chinese woman and lives in the economic boomtown of Shenzhen where he works as a business consultant. [6] "I want to tell my story, not have others tell it for me." A graduate of Stanford and Brown universities, Ndesandjo said he left his hometown for China when he lost his job and did not know where his life was heading. He said he eventually decided to devote most of his time to music and service. He reportedly runs a business consultancy in Shenzhen helping to connect Chinese exporters with U.S. buyers.[5]
For the past seven years, Ndesandjo has been living in the booming southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, and has refused all interview requests until now.[8] My skin had turned hard emotionally for so many years." Ndesanjo does not use the Obama name and has remained out of the spotlight in the Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen where he runs a business consultancy. He plans to publish his second book, an autobiography, in the next few months.[12] President Obama's half brother emerged from his usually low-key life in the Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen to promote his semi-autobiographical book, which describes their father as abusive.[7]
Ndesandjo did not use the name 'Obama' until media unveiled his relation with the U.S. president. [2] Mark Ndesandjo explains that Barack Obama Sr met Nidesand as a graduate student at Harvard University.[15] Barack Obama is due to visit Shanghai and Beijing between November 15 and 18 as part of a trip to Asia. Ndesandjo plans to meet his half-brother in the Chinese capital.[6]
In spite of holding an office that's arguably the most powerful in the world, President Barack Obama continues to be a political mystery man. Surprisingly, few if any Americans seem to care about President Obama's childhood and''family background, and those who are interested utilize his acclaimed ''though self-serving ''autobiography.[17] The father, Barack Obama snr, was an imposing presence, a baritone-voiced charmer prone to haughty outbursts.[10]
My skin had turned hard emotionally for so many years." Mr Obama's own mother separated from their father two years after he was born in Hawaii in 1961.[16] The novel is on sale today by the self-publishing company Aventine Press. President Obama's parents separated two years after he was born in Hawaii in 1961.[8]
"China is about family. there is a tremendous, wonderful sense of family here." Ndesandjo gave a sense of his personality quirks and a latent flamboyant streak during the conference. He sprinkled his answers with references to Tolstoy and the Chinese literary classic "A Dream of the Red Mansion", also speaking of passion for music as a "universal language". Reporters shown a video of a piano performance by the diamond-earring wearing Ndesandjo, in which he tickled the ivories for a catchy tune "Viper's Drag" by Fats Waller. [3]
SOURCES
1. Ennahar Online - Mark Ndesandjo half-brother of Barack Obama
2. Obama's half brother recalls abusive father
3. Obama's brother emerges in China with novel | Reuters
4. Obama's Brother Speaks (And Writes) - China Real Time Report - WSJ
5. AFP: Obama's half-brother speaks of their abusive father
6. Obama's half-brother reveals father beat him : US World
7. Obama brother emerges from quiet life in China to promote book | csmonitor.com
8. Obama's half brother recalls their abusive father - KHON2.com
9. Obama's brother: Nightmares from father: The Swamp
10. President's half-brother makes novel debut
11. BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Son says Obama father 'abusive'
12. Obama's half-brother releases a novel and tells of abusive father | Book Case
13. Mark Ndesandjo Unveils New Novel, Speaks Of Abusive Father
14. Mark Ndesandjo
15. Mark Ndesandjo Book!
16. Barack Obama's father beat me, claims half-brother - Telegraph
17. The Reality Check » Blog Archive » Obama's Abusive Father Exposed by Sibling
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