Here in the capital, office workers turned their attentions to the radio and television stations that constantly replayed Mr. Obama's victory speech. Unemployed men in the slums toasted the moment with a popular brand of beer, Senator Keg lager, that Kenyans have renamed "Obama."

Beneath the sense of joy was cautious optimism. Despite the milestone reached by Mr. Obama, whose father was Kenyan, many Kenyans say that Republicans in the United States remain powerful, well financed and difficult to beat and that Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has the inexorable advantage of being a white candidate in a largely white nation.

[snip]

But in the west, in Nyangoma-Kogelo, a collection of tin-roofed shacks and rutted dirt roads with little electricity or running water, a celebration occurred without him. Scores of villagers flocked to the home of Sarah Obama, his step-grandmother, to dance in the family compound and pray.

"Everybody there is full of excitement," Barack Karama, a journalist in western Kenya, said. "There are many journalists, as well as people who are streaming in and out to offer congratulatory messages to the grandmother."

[snip]

Because of his celebrity, the village has become something of a focal point, with journalists of many stripes putting up at a nearby port, Kisumu.

"I have spent the whole day here in Kisumu talking with journalists," said Said Obama, an uncle of the senator.

[snip]

"Since Obama has his roots in Kenya, it is obvious that Kenya and Africa will receive a lot of international attention," Maurice Ogola, 31, computer technician, said. "That international limelight on Kenya and Africa is very good."

My own life has been enriched by a woman that my ex happened to befriend just three years ago. Her name is Brigitte, she is a nurse holding down two jobs, is in her mid-fifties, and she immigrated from Cameroon in West Africa. My ex tutored Brigitte in English in preparation for Brigitte's nurse certification exam (Cameroonians speak French.)

After knowing Brigitte for a year we saw why she worked her then three jobs with little sleep and few complaints - she saved enough to attained visas and plane tickets and secure a larger apartment to bring over her four kids from Cameroon. They were: Arianne, age 20, Donald, age 16, Ornella, age 14, and little Olive, age 7.

Like many immigrant kids, they had a self-reliance and discipline and maturity unmatched by a lot of their American-born classmates. Donald, Ornella and Olive immediately shot up to the tops of their classes in Math, and my ex and I have helped them along in English and History (though they need little help at this point.)

The transition for them has been fairly swift, but they've discovered a tense rift between American-born blacks and African immigrants. I don't know how closely they've been following Obamamania, I would try to get them excited about his candidacy but they are just teenage kids adjusting to American life and there is only so much they can handle with homework and after-school jobs and teenage gossip that American politics could not be a priority.

I will call my ex and Brigitte today to arrange a celebration of this historic day.