'New era' for Obama's Kenyan home

Karen Allen on how the residents of Barack Obama's hometown in Kenya are celebrating his inauguration
By Karen Allen BBC News, Kogelo People here in western Kenya are celebrating the birth of a new era.
Kogelo, the hometown of the father of US President-elect Barack Obama, is normally a sleepy village of 5,000, but has become a riot of colour and sound. The festivities have already begun, as they count down the hours before "their son" becomes the 44th president of the most powerful country in the world. There are women in brightly coloured "kangas", the Kenyan sarongs which are so popular here. Some have the image of Mr Obama on the cloth, worn mischievously around their waists so that when they dance, he appears to be dancing too. It is like one enormous wake, but for the fact that no one has died. Many men are also sporting traditional dress. One wears an elaborate feathered head dress and dances with a traditional spear or ratung. It is not dissimilar to the ceremonial one Sarah Onyango Obama - the president-elect's grandmother - was hoping to take with her as a gift to him.
In her 80s, she and many of the Obama family are in Washington to witness Kenya's most famous son being sworn in. Tourist draw Since his victory back in November, electricity has been supplied to parts of the village, there is also more water to quench the thirsty soil where millet and sugar cane grow more..http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7838617.stm