Obama aunt may live in Boston
She has worked for BHA, city says
This story was written and reported by Adrian Walker, Michael Levenson, and Sally Jacobs of the Globe staff.
Barack Obama's story, spanning from his mother's roots in Kansas to his father's in Kenya and his childhood spent in Hawaii and Indonesia, has been well chronicled and a central part of his allure as a candidate who transcends national and racial lines.
But one small part might have remained largely hidden from public view. In a first-floor apartment of a brick public housing complex on a side street in South Boston lives a woman who city officials believe is Obama's aunt. Her name is Zeituni Onyango, as in the "Auntie Zeituni" in one of his books, a polite and playful resident with an accent that recalls a more exotic place than where she is now.
She has shunned public attention and made little fuss over Obama's meteoric rise from modest means to the near pinnacle of American politics. But word has been spreading among those in her building.
William McGonigle, deputy director of the Boston Housing Authority, said Onyango told agency officials earlier this week that she is Obama's aunt. McGonigle said Onyango has been a resident of public housing for several years. She has worked for the agency as a resident health advocate, receiving a small stipend. He said she had hoped to avoid attention resulting from the campaign.
The Globe could not confirm last night, through genealogical records or the Obama campaign, that there is a relationship. The Obama campaign declined to comment or acknowledge a relationship.
During two visits by reporters to her apartment yesterday morning and afternoon, and in a phone conversation last night, Onyango made clear her desire to stay out of the way of Obama's campaign, with only days to go before the election.
"I'm proud of everybody," she said. "I ask God to bless everybody."
Chuckling to a reporter, she added, "I'm praying for you, not only him."
She said she wanted to wait to tell her story in full.
"We'll talk after the election," she said. "Come talk to me after the fifth."
Outside her apartment, her nurse said Onyango has been so worried about the attention that she has been calling public housing police when reporters show up. Last night, officers stationed outside her home shooed away reporters who had come to talk to her.
Federal Elections Commission records show Onyango donated at least five times to the Obama campaign in July and September of this year. Three of the donations were for $5 apiece, and two of the donations were for $25. She listed her job as a volunteer resident health advocate.
Other records on a website, The Huffington Post, show she gave a total of $260 to the campaign.
The Times of London reported in a story first posted on its website last night that a photograph of Zeituni Onyango was shown to George Hussein Onyango, Barack Obama's half brother in Nairobi. He confirmed that it was their aunt, the newspaper reported.
George Onyango, 26, the youngest child of Barack Obama Sr., said he had spent weekends with his Aunt Zeituni when he was growing up, and instantly recognized her. Onyango said his aunt had left for the United States about eight years ago but sent him e-mails.
"She left to find work and I suppose she thought her life would be better there," he said. "She was kind and caring."
Zeituni Onyango is Barack Obama's paternal aunt, one of several children fathered by Hussein Onyango Obama. In his book, "Dreams From My Father," Obama describes meeting the tall, slender woman for the first time in Kenya as he got off the airplane.
Obama's sister, Auma, introduced him to his aunt, saying: " 'Barack, this is our Auntie Zeituni. Our father's sister,' " Obama wrote.
" 'Welcome home,' Zeituni said, kissing me on both cheeks," Obama wrote.
Obama's late father, Barack Obama Sr., and many of his siblings were raised in Alego, a village near Lake Victoria. The candidate's paternal grandfather was a cook and a respected village elder. At least one of Obama's uncles remains in the village. A few of his seven surviving siblings - his father had three wives and many girlfriends - live in Africa.
Obama's father was one of a group of talented young Kenyans who were sent to the United States in 1959 on an "airlift" to attend a university.
Obama Sr. attended the University of Hawaii, where he met Ann Dunham, Obama's mother. He left to study economics at Harvard University when Obama Jr. was 1 year old. He would see his son only one more time in his life, during a monthlong visit to Hawaii in 1971.
A chronic drinker, Obama Sr. died in a car crash in Nairobi in 1982. He was 46, one year younger than Barack Obama is now.
Back in Boston, a BHA official who visited Onyango this week found the walls of her apartment adorned with photographs of the Democratic presidential nominee, including some that appeared to be more than two decades old.
Milton J. Valencia of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 